“See, Chris. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen.”
What’s it all about? Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) is reluctantly pulled back into his former life as a smuggler when his brother-in-law (Caleb Landry Jones) cannot pay a debt after dumping a package on a drug run. CONTRABAND also stars Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, and Giovanni Ribisi.
Based on the 2009 Icelandic film, director Reykjavík-Rotterdam (who starred in the original) presents his audience with a world that is all-too familiar for those who frequent Mark Wahlberg’s filmography; He’s quick with his gun as he is his insults, playing Chris Farraday, an ex-smuggler and family man who has opted for a legitimate job installing security systems. Of course, he’s brought back into the fold and starts smuggling again.
The camerawork in CONTRABAND is that affected documentary kind of sloppy; often unfocused, suddenly and not fluidly zooming in. This was the first sign to me that CONTRABAND was trying extremely, extremely hard to be “real,” “gritty,” and “street.” This overeagerness made it difficult to buy into the fact that Mark Wahlberg and co. were actually smugglers. (They openly speak about their smuggling careers at weddings and bars. Everyone looks like a pencil-pushing nerd using slang they’ve learned in the movies. Despite making a career out of deception, the film’s antagonists — and some of the protagonists, let’s be honest — make mistakes that even I could have avoided.)
What CONTRABAND lacks in the bulk of its run-time, however, it makes up for in spades with its ending. Chris Farraday one-ups his opponents in a very satisfying, entertaining way; The last twenty minutes made me forget I didn’t like the film all that much. I should also iterate that Ben Foster, easily the best performance in CONTRABAND, needs to be cast in more movies.
All in all, CONTRABAND is exactly what you’d assume from a Mark Wahlberg smuggling movie. I did, however, learn that if you want to smuggle something, you hide it in the rat-infested mangoes. So, I’ll take that with me from the film, if nothing else.
Notes: Directed by Baltasar Kormákur; Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Baltasar Kormákur, Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg; Written by Aaron Guzikowski, Arnaldur Indriðason, Óskar Jónasson; Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi; Music by Clinton Shorter; Cinematography by Barry Ackroyd; Editing by Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir.
