2 stars (out of four)
Needless to say, Mark Wahlberg’s wife (Kate Beckinsale) is
not pleased with this plan. They have two young boys now and he runs a small,
successful business selling and installing alarm systems. But Mark Wahlberg has
to do what Mark Wahlberg has to do. So he and his old, smuggling buddy,
Sebastian (Ben Foster), prepare for the job just like old times. They get on a
freighter to Panama City where they’ll pick up a few million dollars worth of
uncut counterfeit bills and bring the funny money back to the States.
Don’t worry, Mark Wahlberg tells his wife. Nothing will go
wrong. But we know something will go wrong because we wouldn’t be watching the
movie otherwise. As it turns out, a lot of stuff goes wrong and the last third
of the movie becomes so convoluted that it’s hard to even figure out how this
job was supposed to go right.
Director Baltasar Kormákur doesn’t do much to clear things
up. Poor use of handheld cameras and muddled editing sometimes keep us from
understanding exactly what is going on. There are too many subplots and
ulterior motives, and Mr. Kormákur attempts to weave everything together into a
frenetic climax but the result is mostly just confusing and we soon lose
patience with the film.
Anyone seeing this movie is doing so for one reason: to
watch Mark Wahlberg be a badass, something Contraband does not deliver nearly enough of. He does beat the
living bejesus out of a handful of guys but a movie like this should be giving
him every opportunity possible to pummel thugs and toss off one-liners.
Instead, long passages of the film go by without any action.
During these scenes, Mark Wahlberg is like the eye of a
storm; he is calm and levelheaded but you get the impression he could blow his
cool at any moment. Few actors can get as much mileage out of not doing
anything the way he does, but when the movie drags its heels, the minimalist approach
is less effective and starts to look lazy. He has been much better before and
here mostly relies on the tough guy persona he has developed in other movies.
The supporting cast is filled with talented characters
actors who do their best to bring depth to otherwise forgettable roles.
Giovanni Ribisi, boasting some truly bizarre facial hair and a hard to place
accent, plays the crime boss Briggs way over the top, and J.K. Simmons shows
up, huffing and puffing, as the ship’s captain. Diego Luna is also memorable as
the paranoid cartel leader, Gonzalo, in a handful of scenes.
As the sole female representative in this macho bash, Kate
Beckinsale has a thankless role; she is tossed around and beaten, occasionally
getting a moment’s rest to clutch her children and look panic-stricken. She is
an object used for the film’s convenience to motivate Mark Wahlberg to run
faster and shout louder.
This is the sort of movie where nameless Spanish characters
shout subtitled lines like, “Move! Move!” It is a routine cool guy action flick
that tries to complicate things late in the game and only succeeds in muddying
a simple formula. Contraband is based on
a 2008 Icelandic film that starred Mr. Kormákur and maybe the many plot strands
worked better in a European thriller. In an American action vehicle for Mark
Wahlberg, they needlessly clutter the movie and distract from the main
attraction.
- Steve Avigliano, 1/15/12
- Steve Avigliano, 1/15/12
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