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How entertaining? ★★☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ 16 March 2012
This article is a review of CONTRABAND. |
“I've got to try and fix this. Trust me, I know what I'm doing.” Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg)
Are you getting sick of those crime capers where the lead(s) have perpetrated plans of such intricacy against the baddie that every preposterous eventuality has been accounted for? I am. They can be lots of fun when done with significant panache – think THE STING or Steven Soderbergh’s OCEAN’S 11. It was in the wake of the success of the latter that triggered a whole slew. Ultimately the majority are by the numbers, because there is no real danger of the good guys not winning. The best of the genre are when the loveable protagonists don’t quite succeed (think Michael Caine’s THE ITALIAN JOB, and DUPLICITY). Mark Wahlberg adds CONTRABAND to his dire remake of THE ITALIAN JOB. It is a ridiculous escapade with an added layer of violence.
Are you getting sick of those crime capers where the lead(s) have perpetrated plans of such intricacy against the baddie that every preposterous eventuality has been accounted for? I am. They can be lots of fun when done with significant panache – think THE STING or Steven Soderbergh’s OCEAN’S 11. It was in the wake of the success of the latter that triggered a whole slew. Ultimately the majority are by the numbers, because there is no real danger of the good guys not winning. The best of the genre are when the loveable protagonists don’t quite succeed (think Michael Caine’s THE ITALIAN JOB, and DUPLICITY). Mark Wahlberg adds CONTRABAND to his dire remake of THE ITALIAN JOB. It is a ridiculous escapade with an added layer of violence.
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Wahlberg’s Chris is an ex-smuggler who gets sucked back in for one last job, when his young brother-in-law, Andy, ends up owing a rather merciless thug, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), 700 grand. Chris is married to Kate (Kate Beckinsale). Andy is her bro. And when you’re wife is Kate Beckinsale I imagine you would do all you can to keep her from being unhappy. So with the help of Sebastian Abney (the always very watchable Ben Foster) and Danny Raymer (Lukas Haas), among others, Chris heads to Panama City to gather counterfeit money to smuggle back into the USA. A ridiculous amount of close-calls occur, including when our lead is told he has 10 minutes to get to a ship he needs to be on – he not only has to get across a city in that timeframe, but also rob an armoured car. Laughable.
The cast is an array of familiar faces, including J.K. Simmons and Diego Luna; and the direction is not without slickness. Ok, so not too boring then, but formulaic and uninspired.
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