Firmly anchored by his Boston roots, his Catholic faith, and his family, Wahlberg has steadily climbed to Hollywood stardom over the past eighteen years through such hits as Boogie Nights, Three Kings, Four Brothers, and The Departed, for which he won an Oscar nomination.
#MARK WAHLBERG CONTRABAND MOVIE#
Kormákur, the director of 101 Reykjavík and Jar City (which took home the Crystal Globe at the 2006 Karlovy Vary IFF), starred in and produced Reykjavik-Rotterdam, the 2008 Icelandic film that Contraband is based upon.Mark Wahlberg has put his Marky Mark, teen-pop period of the early nineties so far behind him that by now, there’s a whole young movie audience that probably doesn’t even remember it. Foster, typically a manic, wild-eyed presence, underplays throughout picking up his slack, however, is Ribisi as the slimeball dealer who isn’t too far from his drug-addled character in The Rum Diary. Unfortunately, the scenes back in New Orleans don’t fare as well, with Beckinsale’s character put through the ringer just to add a little extra tension. Best bit: a running gag involving a Jackson Pollock piece. It shouldn’t work at all, but the disparity between what the director is filming and how he is filming it adds an ironic subtext that makes it all the more palatable, and for a little while, Contraband is a real blast. Mind you, all this is being filmed in Kormákur’s gritty-authentic style: handheld camera, quick cuts, cool hues. The counterfeit dough is no good, but no worries, they have all of 30 minutes to find a replacement.Ī dealer friend (Diego Luna) will give Chris the 15 million in counterfeit US currency he just happens to have lying around, if – and here’s the catch – he participates in an armed robbery that’s being carried out right now.
When they get to Panama, the absurdity is ramped up three levels as Contraband begins to fly off the rails. Simmons) knows who Andy is and what he’s up to, so they’ll have to be extra careful. So he leaves wife (Kate Beckinsale, wasted) at home with good friend (Ben Foster, so you know something’s not right), puts in some paperwork, and gets a job with the rest of his crew – Andy, Danny (Lukas Haas), and Tarik (Lucky Johnson) – aboard a transport ship headed for Panama. Ignoring the logical concerns behind smuggling this kind of material, he’s also greatly increased the technical difficulties of the operation.īut he knows a guy.
#MARK WAHLBERG CONTRABAND FULL#
No, his plan is to smuggle in millions of dollars in counterfeit US currency (a van full of it) from Panama to cover his brother-in-law’s debt. What does he smuggle? Not drugs, no, he has standards.
That brother-in-law is Chris Farraday (Wahlberg). Luckily, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) has a brother-in-law who just happens to be a former smuggler himself. Now the bad guys, including Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), want their money back, and aren’t afraid to ask. The film begins with a pair of drug smugglers dumping their goods into the New Orleans bay following a police raid. But the absurd script eventually wins out, and any fun Contraband has to offer is delivered with B-movie relish. A more authentic feature might benefit from the style here, it’s a distraction. It starts out pretty rough: background, character development, and story are nil as we’re dropped into a faux-gritty neorealist style that seems to be at complete odds with the over-the-top story.
A grimy B-movie caper flick with the cast to match, Baltasar Kormákur’s Contraband lacks any kind of ambition but gets the job done fans of star Mark Wahlberg in action hero mode – think Four Brothers, Shooter, or Max Payne – should be sated.
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