Elaborate scheme? Send in Mark Wahlberg
Remember Gone In 60 Seconds? You know, the one where Nicolas Cage plays a car thief dragged back into the life in order to save his brother from said life and all its violent repercussions? Well, Contraband is very, VERY similar.
Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, a family man who owns an alarm system business (how ironic), who used to run as a smuggler of all things illegal. Retired from the game with only his legendary status, Chris is happy he avoided the inevitable pitfalls of the life, as represented by his imprisoned father.
However, his barely pubescent brother-in-law Andy has followed a similar lifestyle, and, after failing to bring in a shipment of cocaine, attracts the attention of a violent gangster called Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi). The only thing keeping Andy from the morgue is the potential profit there is to be made by roping Chris back into the life of smuggling.
For all its lack of originality, Contraband is a very effective action/thriller that gets most of its strength from authenticity. The film benefits from a very adult script – enough swearing to rival a Scorsese flick – and the darker colours make for a more appealing cinematography.
Performances are limited at best, although Ribisi does prove to be a worthy, tattoo-strewn villain, whose wild, unpredictable character delivers most of the better scenes.
Better than you would probably expect, and definitely worth watching if you like films such as Gone In 60 Seconds and Fast and the Furious (although don’t expect any nice cars).
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