Contraband

How about that Mark Wahlberg? He has expanded his reach in Hollywood with work in comedy (The Other Guys) and been right in the middle of Oscar contenders (The Fighter.) But he knows what his real strength is, and returns to the tough guy role in the action film, Contraband. Wahlberg plays a former smuggler who must run one final job in order to save his brother-in-law from a drug smuggler (Giovanni Ribisi). As an actor who usually plays likeable characters, Wahlberg does well as a family man with a criminal background. He surely isn’t pushing his acting abilities. With the familiarity of the role comes a familiar act. Then when you least expect it Wahlberg pulls a scene like the one in which he jumps Ribisi’s character for mentioning Wahlberg’s character’s wife and children. Impressive.

The film suffers from trying to jam everything they can into the script. While the smuggling is enough for one movie, the characters are forced to partake in an armored car heist followed by a high speed chase. These scenes do pick up the pace from the slower trafficking crimes that make up the basis of the plot, but they aren’t necessary. And it also hurts the believability aspects of the film when almost everyone in the scene is shot and killed except for the characters the audience cares about.

Contraband is an entertaining early year entry into the action genre. With Kate Beckinsale playing the wife of Wahlberg’s character, there is significant time spent on the home front as well as the trip to score the counterfeit bills. This makes for a complete picture, and more depth than is expected. If a few characters and plot points were eliminated to streamline the story, it might be strong enough for a December or summer release. But for now it works well in January where good action movies aren’t expected.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.