Contraband

I like Mark Wahlberg, I don't care what anybody says.

I like this poster a lot more than the poster that has Markie Mark with the cash strapped to his chest. That was just a bad way to sell the movie in my opinion.

Contraband is a story of Chris Farraday, a smuggler who went straight and now has a family. Until his dumb ass brother in law (played by the dumb ginger from X-men First Class) screws up a smuggling job he's assigned to. The dealer (Played by Giovanni Ribisi) he was suppose to deliver coke to starts threatening him and Mark Wahlberg takes it on himself to pull off one more big job in order to pay off the debts of his brother in law.

This movie has a very predictable story. Was it enjoyable? Sure. Was it necessarily good? No. Does it matter? Not really. The truth is, this is an action movie. Nothing more. I don't think this movie was trying to be anything more than an action movie about an interesting crime topic of smuggling.

Look at this picture. Can you look at this picture and tell me what movie this is from? You'd probably guess Contraband because this is a review of the movie, but you could guess Shooter, Max Payne, 2 Guns, or any other movie where Mark Wahlberg plays the same characters and it wouldn't be a bad guess.

There was no backstory to this character besides the fact he used to be a smuggler. I don't even think they told him a character, they just said, "Mark, go on set and play yourself." This was pretty much the case for every characters with the exception of Ribisi.

Though this guy wasn't given any kind of backstory either, he was a character. If you think about the variety of character Giovanni Ribisi has played from Saving Private Ryan, to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, to Ted. This guy can act.

But his character was so under developed and underused in this movie that it kind felt like it went to waste.

Ben Foster is in this movie too. And unfortunately I think the director told him the same thing as Wahlberg because his character was quite frankly boring. Sure there were glimpses of a character but it was hard to sympathize with him even though there was room for some real conflict that was never realized. Its a shame, I thought he was phenomenal in 3:10 to Yuma.

Like I said, the movie is predictable. It was a fun action movie I could have on the background while I played GTA 5. I don't hate movies like that, I just don't give them too much credit.

I wish I could leave you with a video of Mark Wahlberg talking to animals... but its not allowed on youtube. Instead I'll leave you with this.

Do you like these actions movies that are just that, actions movies? I personally enjoy them but I want to know what you think? Let me know!