I've fallen a bit behind on reviews with school starting again, so I'm going to try to catch up with some abbreviated ones. Here's the first:
Contraband is a typical January action movie that views like it was thrown together without much thought or care. It's a standard "one-last-job" plot where Mark Wahlberg's ex-professional thief Chris Farraday is forced to take part in an elaborate job upon a cargo ship headed toward Panama. Farraday agrees to take part after his wife's (Kate Beckinsale) younger brother finds himself in debt to local scum bag Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi).
As is commonplace in films of this nature, just about everything that can go wrong does. That may be the biggest issue here, as the worse things get, the more director Baltasar Kormakur seems to lose track of the actual plot. When Wahlberg and his crew venture into Panama to carry out their plan, the time line gets so out of whack that we basically see the same characters in multiple locations just moments apart.
Wahlberg is capable of quality performances, but he's on autopilot here. The only actor whose performance is worth noting is Ribisi, who is so over the top that he borders being caricaturish. Nonetheless, he's pretty fun to watch.
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The first 20 or so minutes feel so rushed that it's a wonder the final product drags so considerably. As far as action sequences go, Contraband is lacking in that department as well, with only a couple of scenes that surpass the borderline entertaining mark. It's fitting that the movie's poster depicts Wahlberg concealing large amounts of cash as this film is clearly a money grab.
Rating: 4/11
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