Contraband: Review By harveycritic - MovieWeb

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CONTRABAND

Universal Pictures

Reviewed for MovieWeb by Harvey Karten

Grade: C

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Screenwriter: Aaron Guzikowski, adapted from the Icelandic film "Rejkjavik-Rotterdam"

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas

Screened at: AMC Empire, NYC,1/10/12

Opens: January 13, 2012

It would be tempting to say that "Contraband" is full of plot holes, but the story is so convoluted, with so many scene changes picked up by photographer Barry Ackroyd's shaky hand, that what remains is more a set of scenes missing a narrative flow that could make more sense of what's going on. The framework is clear enough, bearing the theme "one last job."

Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg), married to Kate Farraday (Kate Beckinsale) and father of two kids, needs to bail out his young and stupid brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones).

Andy made a mess of a smuggling job, importing

ten pounds of cocaine for drug lord Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi). After ditching the bag at sea and coming home empty when customs boarded the boat, Andy is threatened with death unless he digs up with the money within a couple of weeks, but not only that: Chris, Chris's wife Kate, and their two kids are threatened as well. To make good on the debt Chris, a former smuggler gone straight with a security business of his own, must return to a life of crime by bringing in a fortune in counterfeit currency from Panama.

The film is adapted by Baltasar Kormákur from the 2008 movie in which he starred, "Reykjavik-Rotterdam," which showed that some Icelanders, generally known as the most party-loving people in Europe, as a violent bunch intent on smuggling booze. (That movie received no reviews on rotten tomatoes and two on the internet movie database.) The action here takes place in New Orleans, in Panama, and on a boat under its captain (J.K. Simmons--who, rumor has it, begged for a role as a tough guy). Chris's job is to load tens of millions of counterfeit dollars onto the ship under the noses of the crew, some of whom are in on the job, and to get the loot past customs, which, on a tip, is making a thorough search back in the Port of New Orleans.

Gradually Chris finds out that his best friend, Sebastian Abney (Ben Foster) may not be the trustworthy pal he took him for.

You might say the movie is targeted toward those with ADD, folks who cannot tolerate gazing at a single scene for more than five seconds, the violence and most of the action dealing with the smuggling operation photographed so swiftly that one wonders just how the intricate details are executed. Mark Wahlberg once again demonstrates his biceps as well as his character's blue-collar culture and principles: he drinks beer at a friend's wedding, he kisses his wife on the dance floor, he is taking on a job not to enrich himself but to bail his brother-in-law out of a mess. Nor would he consider smuggling drugs. But the dialogue runs to four-letter words (Kate Beckinsale is not too prim to use her share), car crashes and flying fists, in short what insiders and some general audiences know is the stereotypical January entry.

Rated R. 109 minutes (c) 2012 by Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online

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