Contraband (9/10)

Contranand_ Movie_ Review

Last year the best film I saw was early in the year, a French film called Point Blank. I thought I might see some better, but the only thing that approached it was Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.

I feel the same way after seeing Contraband and I can't anticipate seeing anything much more entertaining this year. Mark Wahlberg is a former drug smuggler who is cast back into using his experience to smuggle in counterfeit currency to save his brother-in-law, Caleb Landry Jones, after he botches a drug deal, alienating Wahlberg's former drug boss, Giovanni Ribisi. Also in jeopardy are Wahlberg's wife, Kate Beckinsale, and two children, in what turns into a violent caper film with twists and turns.

The quality performances by Wahlberg, Beckinsale, and Landry Jones, are aided by the fine performances by Ben Foster as Wahlberg's best friend, and Diego Luna, as a brutal Panamanian drug runner.

The tension is increased as a result of terrific cinematography by Barry Ackroyd and music by Clinton Shorter, ably directed by Baltasar Kormákur, who keeps the pace moving from start to finish, from a script by Aaron Guzikowski based upon the film Reykjavik-Rotterdam written by Arnaldur Indridason and Oskar Jonasson. Much of the action takes place in New Orleans, Panama, and on a container ship run by J.K. Simmons, who suspects Wahlberg because of a prior history with his father. Simmons gives his usual good performance.

Good, entertaining movies don't need long reviews which tell the story and ruin the experience, and I don't have much to criticize.

Run time 104 minutes.
Not for children.

Tony Medley is a film critic accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America. His reviews may be read in several newspapers as well as on Rottentomatoes.com, the Movie Review Query Engine, mrqe.com, and at www.tonymedley.com. In addition, he’s written numerous newspaper and magazine articles for publications like The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Magazine, The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and Good Housekeeping Magazine.

Tony Medley is a Silver Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), an ACBL-certified Director, and the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge. With over 100,000 copies in print, it is the best selling basic bridge book. He is also the author of UCLA Basketball: The Real Story, available on Kindle, and Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed, first published in 1978 and now in its third edition with over half a million copies in print, the first book ever written about the job interview for the interviewee.