‘
Contraband’ is the new action thriller about Chris Farraday (
Mark Wahlberg), who was a contraband runner and a very good one at that.
He turned his back and left that life of crime behind him once he married his wife Kate (
Kate Beckinsale) and settled down with his family. Now working a 9-5 job installing house alarms his life is pretty good and more importantly clean and void of crime.
That’s until his brother-in-law Andy (
Caleb Landry Jones) stuffs up a drug deal for the ruthless Tim Briggs (
Giovanni Ribisi). Chris is forced to return to his life of crime in order to clear the debt of his brother-in-law and protect his family. Despite how legendary Chris was at contraband running, this last one isn’t going to be easy so he enlists the help of his best friend Sebastian (
Ben Foster).
He has to return to Panama and bring back millions in counterfeit bills, though plans don’t always work and things start to unravel. Chris must use his skills to elude the network of drug lords, cops and hit men after him and his family, while learning who he can and can’t trust along the way.
‘Contraband’ seems easy work for Mark Wahlberg as in it doesn’t push his acting boundaries, and the same goes for when you watch this film. It doesn’t push your boundaries but instead supplies you with a good action-caper film set between Panama and New Orleans.
You get the feeling the director and screenplay had a lot more to offer in this film but instead it skips over important set up in aid of getting to the juicy features and keeping it under two hours.
However it’s the cast that keep you engaged in ‘Contraband’ with Giovanni Ribisi an excellent and scary thug, while Ben Foster is one to watch.
6 out of 10In Cinemas 23rd FebruaryBy Dane Anderson