I’ve never been a massive Mark Wahlberg fan and Contraband hasn’t changed my mind. Although I have liked some of his movies (Boogie Nights) he just never has come across as a presence on screen for me.

Anyway, all that aside this is a decent heist/thriller but you can’t help but feel it could have been so much better. Wahlberg as the protag got most the screen but other shall we say better actors got a lot less to do like Kate Beckinsale and Ben Foster who I like a lot and will go onto better things in the future no doubt.

SPOILERS:

The plot is pretty simple, a former smuggler Chris (Wahlberg) is forced back into the game after his brother in law gets involved with some bad-ass drug dealers. He smuggles some counterfeit bills over only to discover that his best friend (Foster) was behind it all along.

We get all the clichéd moments from “one last heist” to “If you want to save your family” but other than some great scenes in Panama where they had to get back to the container ship before it left. I found most the action pretty lacklustre to be honest and could never get into this one.

Don’t get me wrong, it moved at a steady pace and kept me entertained enough but I felt a little flat by the end. I don’t know whether it was the movie as a whole or the Wahlberg factor.

Certainly worth watching but what was just a decent movie could have been a whole lot more especially with all the acting talent (Wahlberg aside) on display.

Hey Coop.

I'm pretty much in agreement on this one.
Simple and steady are good words for this one.

I much prefer the foreign source film, Reykjavík Rotterdam.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1233576/

Ironically, the lead actor of that film, directed the remake.
Further oddness is he didn't direct the original.
That guy must have one hell of an agent! ;D

Regards,
E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer I much prefer the foreign source film, Reykjavík Rotterdam. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1233576/ Ironically, the lead actor of that film, directed the remake. Further oddness is he didn't direct the original.

Now that is an interesting little nugget of information.

You're like a movie encyclopedia, Brett. ;D