CONTRABAND DVD (2012)

SYNOPSIS: Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best - running contraband. Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men.

MOVIE REVIEW:

“Contraband” is a Hollywood movie that ironically doesn’t look like one. It’s a remake of a 2008 Icelandic film, Reykjavik-Rotterdam and it’s helmed by the original director Baltasar Kormakur.

Shot on location in New Orleans and Panama, Kormakur takes us behind-the-scenes of illegal smuggling through the onscreen protagonists, a subject not widely tackled by studios. Thrown in a highway heist that went all wrong and a complicated brotherhood and you have a decent, gritty crime flick headed by Mark Wahlberg.

Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, an ex-smuggler who is forced to return to his old illegal trade to save his brother-in-law, Andy from being killed by his ruthless boss, Tim (Giovanni Ribisi). Andy has earlier lost the drugs he supposed to smuggle in and Chris offers to pay Tim back the money on account of his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale). The problem is Chris refuses to touch anything to do with drugs and the solution he can think of is bringing in fake US dollars from Panama onboard a freight ship with the help from his old gang.

Kormakur and his stunt coordinator mentioned several times during the making-of features that they wanted to keep the action organic. By organic, I guessed they meant shaky cams and plenty of hard-hitting punches and kick-ass moves. The action sequences are tense, erratic and look the least choreographed.   

Wahlberg has been making a few interesting career moves lately, dabbling in comedies and award-winning dramas and so long as he avoid crappy stuff liked “Max Payne”, Wahlberg certainly is impressive with his charismatic screen presence. Giovanni Ribisi might be over the top with his slicked hair and facial stubble however you can’t deny that he is an underrated actor. Ben Foster (The Mechanic) appears as the buddy of Chris and his character I must emphasis not his performance is letdown by the script midway through. Kate Beckinsale for the first time appears as Kate Beckinsale not the tough cookie she usually portrays though you might need some time to adjust seeing her getting knocked cold.

There’s nothing spectacular and everything becomes predictable when our working class hero, Chris Farraday effortlessly overcome one obstacle after another. Yet it manages to keep things afloat by smuggling in a few thrills and clever execution. “Contraband” ultimately is a joy ride from start to finish.   

SPECIAL FEATURES:

12 very brief Deleted Scenes are included here. 


The director and stunt coordinator talks about making the stunts look organic in this 7 minutes segment, Reality Factor: The Stunts and Action of Contraband


We get to see how Kate Beckinsale got wrapped with plastic plus interviews with the main cast and filmmakers in Under The Radar: The Making of Contraband


Feature Commentary with Director/Producer Baltasar Kormakur & Producer Evan Hayes is a quite a dry account of how they make the movie.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Shot in ways similar to a documentary, the visual is intended to be dark and gritty though overall details remained sharp. The audio falls short largely because of the sole Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that constraints the liveliness of the bombastic sound effects.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee