Film Review: Contraband
Tue, January 17, 2012 
A lot of people were surprised yesterday when the official box office estimates were released showing the new Mark Wahlberg film, Contraband, winning the 4-day MLK weekend with close to $30 million.
While many experts had pegged it to win the weekend box office title, few expected it to reach the heights it did it terms of revenue. I for one saw the film over the weekend and have to say it turned out to be a solid action flick, set in a world that hasn't been shown much on the big screen recently, that of international smuggling.
I'm not one to spoil an entire movie in a review so the layout I'll give here is the barebones of the film and what I mostly liked and didn't like so much about it.
The premise of the film revolves around Mark Wahlberg's character, Chris Farraday (who use to smuggle goods through international customs for a living), coming back into the game to settle a debt for his young and stupid brother-in-law, Andy (played by X-Men: First Class' Caleb Landry Jones). Andy has just thrown away a shipment of cocaine he was smuggling into the country for the sole purpose of not getting caught, only the man he was working for, Tim Briggs (played by the always exceptional Giovanni Ribisi), doesn't see it that way. He wants his drugs or the money it's worth, otherwise, Andy is dead. Chris is forced to get his old team back together to settle the debt with the help of his longtime friend, Sebastian (an underused Ben Foster) and against the wishes of his wife, Kate (the bland as hell Kate Beckinsale).
While the film follows a generic action plot and and succumbs to a few Hollywood clichés, the story is definitely engaging and doesn't waste any time in getting to ball rolling. All the action was practically done (which is refreshing in this day and age) and the whole film looked to be shot on-location (as opposed to studio work or cheap fill-in environments).
The acting is mainly solid with Wahlberg once again proving himself as being capable lead while the underrated Giovanni Ribisi looks like he's having a blast playing the main bad guy. Lukas Haas and J.K. Simmons fit nicely into their supporting roles, with Haas playing Wahlberg's sidekick, Danny, and Simmons once again playing an hilarious asshole as a ship sea captain.
My only real complaint is the fact that Ben Foster was incredibly underused and Kate Beckinsale is still getting roles in Hollywood. I'm sorry but Foster deserves better than this and Beckinsale couldn't act her way out of a paper bag. To me, she's nothing more than a pretty face in Hollywood and I found myself rolling my eyes when her name was credited with Wahlberg's above the film title. Completely undeserving. Foster, on the other hand, is tremendously talented and I'm really not sure why he picked such a prototypical role where he's the best friend but you know he's hiding something else.
Overall, I gave the film a solid B as being both a good action flick and refreshing take on what could have been a generic premise.
Well done Wahlberg.
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