Mark Wahlberg, in a scene from "Contraband."
Was anyone else underwhelmed by the trailers for “Contraband?” The previews only served to make the film resemble a lackluster, made-for-cable rip-off of “Heat;” something so generic and forgettable that it could only be released during the cinematic dead zone that is January. But in an unexpected development, “Contraband” is nothing like the strictly by-the-numbers bore you’ve seen in the trailers. Sure, it’s yet another movie about a “heist gone wrong,” but it’s so fast paced and well-executed you’ll be more than willing to overlook the fact that you’ve seen a film like this many times before.
Mark Wahlberg, yet again playing a character so likable you’ll almost be able to forget he was the same horrible asshole who infected the world with a rash called “Entourage,” stars as Chris Farraday, a man once known as “The Houdini of Smuggling” but in a cheap bit of irony now runs a home-security company. Chris’ past comes back to haunt him when his useless, mouth-breathing brother-in-law (Caleb Landry Jones) dumps an expensive shipment of drugs into the ocean during an ill-fated smuggling run. With his brother-in-law’s as well as his family’s lives in the balance, Chris finds himself indebted to a cartoonishly weird drug dealer (Giovanni Ribisi) who strong-arms Chris into performing one last smuggling run to Panama City.
Like many Hollywood remakes of foreign films, “Contraband” (which was based on the Icelandic box-office hit “Reykjavik-Rotterdam”) jettisons some of the grittier and more hopeless elements of its inspiration (such as the fact that in the original film the fate of Kate Beckinsale’s character was a little more grim, and Chris’ decision to get back into smuggling had less to do with his screw-up of a brother-in-law and more to do with his bleak financial situation) in favor of happier, more audience-friendly plot developments. But in spite of these obvious and typical examples of studio tampering, director Baltasar Kormakur (who also helmed “Reykjavik-Rotterdam”) still manages to give us a simple but effective action thriller.
As in any heist movie, the most entertaining elements found in “Contraband” come when Chris’ carefully executed plans slowly unravel, and he’s forced into devising a hastily considered “Plan B.” Such as that one scene in which he’s coerced into assisting a gang of counterfeiters who, in their masks made out of duct tape, violently rob an armored truck even as half of Panama’s police force opens fire on them.
Apart from Ribisi and a Foghorn Leghorn-esque J.K. Simmons (as well as his aggressively phony mustache), who all seemed to have awkwardly stumbled in from Friedberg and Seltzer’s parody version of “Contraband,” the performances are surprisingly strong and believable, particularly Wahlberg, who is well within his wheelhouse here as a conflicted working stiff. Even more surprising is the site of Lukas Haas who apparently is not dead. Welcome back Lukas Haas. If there is one thing America loves, it’s someone who is not dead.
At any rate, “Contraband” is solid. It’s an engaging little sleeper that, unfortunately, would have been overlooked had it been released during any other time of the year. Hopefully, unlike other foreign directors, Kormakur’s promising talents won’t be compromised by the Hollywood system.
Rating: W W W
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