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Contraband (2012 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Contraband' is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormkur, starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Caleb Landry Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Diego Luna and J. K. Simmons. The film is a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film 'Reykjavk-Rotterdam' which Baltasar Kormkur starred in. It was released on January 13, 2012 in the United States by Universal Pictures.
Plot
Former smuggler Chris Farraday lives a peaceful life with his wife, Kate, and their two sons in New Orleans. They learn that Kate's brother Andy was smuggling drugs, but disposed of them in the Mississippi River during a surprise inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Andy's boss, Tim Briggs threatens to kill Chris's family if Andy does not reimburse him for the drugs. Chris returns to smuggling to raise the money, working with his former partner, Sebastian Abney, who now works in construction. Chris then joins a cargo ship, planning to buy $10 million in fake bills in Panama and smuggle them into the U.S. He is joined by Andy, and his good friend Danny Raymer. After Briggs breaks into Chris's house and intimidates Kate and their children, they move into Sebastian's house for safety.
In Panama, Chris discovers that the only one who can provide high quality fake bills is crime lord Gonzalo. Leaving Andy in the van with the money for the fake bills, Chris meets with Gonzalo to negotiate. Briggs calls Andy, threatens to kill one of Chris's sons and forces him to take the money to buy cocaine. With the money gone, Chris and Danny agree to help Gonzalo rob an armored car in exchange for the fake bills. During the robbery, Gonzalo and his men are killed, but Chris and Danny successfully steal a Jackson Pollock painting that resembles a splattered tarp. Upon reaching the docks, Chris and Danny place the van with the contraband into a container, which is loaded onto their cargo ship.
Meanwhile, Sebastian, desperate to pay gangster Jim Church, has been secretly working with Briggs. Sebastian calls Chris and learns that Chris plans to get rid of the cocaine Andy bought. Sebastian instructs Briggs to threaten Kate, and through her, Briggs warns Chris not to dump the cocaine. Sebastian contacts the cargo ship's captain, Camp tells him of Chris's smuggled contraband, and promises him a share if he secures it. Unable to get Chris to give up the contraband, Camp calls U.S. Customs to inspect the ship in New Orleans. The Customs agents find the container with Chris's van, though it is empty except for the painting, which they ignore.
Once Chris is on shore, Briggs and his thugs demand the cocaine. Chris takes Briggs to Camp's house, having made a duplicate key while on the ship, and activates the security system. After giving Briggs and his gang the cocaine, Chris sneaks out. Camp awakens to the noise and encounters the gang as the police arrive. Both Briggs's group and Camp are then arrested for possession of the cocaine.
Warned by Chris, Kate leaves Sebastian's house. When she goes back to retrieve some personal items, she has a confrontation with Sebastian, who accidentally pushes her against a bathtub. Thinking she is dead, he dumps her unconscious body in a foundation at one of his construction sites. Chris goes to Sebastian's construction site and beats him up for his betrayal, then manages to locate and save Kate by calling her cellphone. Sebastian is arrested and sent to prison, where he is greeted by a lynch mob.
Danny retrieves the fake bills, which were dumped into the Mississippi River by Chris before docking in New Orleans. At a U.S. Customs auction, Andy buys the escape van confiscated from the cargo ship, and finds the painting still in it. Church pays Chris $3 million for the fake bills and asks about the missing painting, which Chris learns can be fenced for over $20 million on the black market. With the money, Chris, Kate, their children, and Andy begin a new life in a waterfront house.
Cast
* Mark Wahlberg as Chris Farraday
* Kate Beckinsale as Kate Farraday
* Ben Foster as Sebastian Abney
* Caleb Landry Jones as Andy
* Giovanni Ribisi as Tim Briggs
* Diego Luna as Gonzalo
* J. K. Simmons as Captain Redmond Camp
* Lukas Haas as Danny Raymer
* Robert Wahlberg as John Bryce
* Jaqueline Fleming as Jeanie Goldare
* William Lucking as Bud Farraday
* David O'Hara as Jim Church
* Kirk Bovill as Crewman
* Lucky Johnson as Tarik
* Viktor Hernandez as Edwin
* lafur Darri lafsson as Olaf
* Jason Mitchell as Walter
Production
Filming took place in New Orleans, Louisiana and Panama City.
Release
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 51% based on 165 reviews, with an average score of 5.4/10. The site's critics consensus states: "It's more entertaining than your average January action thriller, but that isn't enough to excuse 'Contraband's lack of originality and unnecessarily convoluted plot." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "A" on an A+ to F scale.Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' gave the film 2 out of 4 and felt that "'Contraband' involves a lot of energy," but he was growing "tired of violent retreads of these heist elements." Tom Long of 'The Detroit News' criticized the film for having "too much plot and too little character" and concluded that it "comes off the factory floor with its engine running and ready to drive. But the ride feels overly familiar." Claudia Puig of 'USA Today' called "the 'one last job' trope ... a particularly tired one" and remarked that while it "has a few moments of tension," the film "adheres to a predictable heist formula hardly worth trafficking in." Andrew O'Hehir of 'Salon' characterized the film as "exactly the sort of movie that Hollywood specializes in, the kind which seems on paper as if it ought to be entertaining, but winds up a massive and chaotic drag" and observed that "it's much more like a cynical hash job, whose faux-realistic manner can't hide all the hackneyed crime-movie situations."
Peter Travers of 'Rolling Stone' thought the film "goes down in a sea of Hollywood clichs" and that Mark "Wahlberg could sleepwalk through this role, and does. See this movie and you'll surely follow his lead." Kyle Smith of the 'New York Post' derided the film, noting that "watching a hero progress due in large part to lucky breaks and idiot moves by others does not make a movie" and that "it's puzzling why anyone considered this script worth shooting." Scott Tobias of 'NPR' dismissed the film as a "mediocre [...] thriller," something "to be remembered, vaguely." Rafer Guzman of 'Newsday' expressed disappointment that "a little action is all you'll get" and opined that the film "fails by overreaching: It aspires to the heightened drama of 'The Departed' but lands instead in the bargain bin of forgettable action product."
Justin Chang of 'Variety' praised the film as "reasonably swift and effective" and for taking "a hard-driving line of action and a commitment to one-damned-thing-after-another storytelling", while suffering from "preposterous detours." Michael O'Sullivan of 'The Washington Post' compared the film to "an 'Ocean's Eleven' movie, minus the glamour". Owen Gleiberman of 'Entertainment Weekly' stated that the film, "while often grungy and far-fetched, does keep you watching", which is sufficient for a film released in January.
Home media
'Contraband' was released to DVD and Blu-ray on April 24, 2012.The Blu-ray was reissued in twice 2015 and 2019. In 2021, Mill Creek Entertainment released a Blu-ray double feature featuring 'Contraband' and fellow Universal 'Fear' in which Mark Wahlberg also starred in.
References
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