Sunday 8 September 2013

FILM: Contraband (7/10)

Why did I watch it?
I remember deciding that I would catch this film on TV rather than at the cinema. I thought the cast looked decent enough and the modern day smuggling story appealed to me for some reason.

What's it all about?
Retired master smuggler Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) is forced to make one last run to Panama and back when his brother-in-law, who unbeknown to Chris is running drug contraband himself, loses a package and becomes indebted to local mobster Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi) to the tune of $700,000.

Should you watch it?
I wasn't expecting Contraband to deliver too much and I ended up being pleasantly surprised. You can always count on Mark Wahlberg too deliver a steely, non-nonsense, man-caught-in-a-drama type performance. I'm a big fan of Ben Foster, although I think he has had better roles than this one, and with Ribisi, the two provide strong counter foils to Wahlberg, who does what he does best. Kate Beckinsdale is really just window dressing caught up in the drama.

Character development isn't top priority and the film suffers because of it but in the end for a short and punchy heist film, that gives an interesting insight into the world of international smuggling, you could do worse.




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