Contraband Review

OK, this is going to be something new I'm going to be trying out. I'm going to write full reviews of all of the new movies I see at work. Reason being? 1. I'm trying to see if I can see EVERY movie that gets released this year... Minus one or two cause I'm a wuss when it comes to horror movies, and I don't want to see "Rom/Com"s by myself cause it only makes me feel horrifically depressed. 2. I just want to try something new. I want to document my experiences at the movies this year and share them with you lot. So let's kick this off with the first new movie I've seen from 2012: Contraband.

Contraband is the story of an  ex-smuggler, named Chris Farraday (more on this later). Chris has left the life of the smuggler behind to be a clean full time family man. With his wife, Kate, they raise their two sons by the docks where Chris used to use as a point of operation and still keeps in touch with the gangsters and dealers in the local area. When Kate's brother, Andy gets involved with a drug smuggling job that goes wrong, the dealer, Briggs, threatens to kill Andy. Chris steps in and tells Briggs that he'll do an other job for him that'll more than make up for his loss in the drug bust. So begins the journey of Chris trying to smuggle thousands of dollars worth of forged bills into the country on an cargo boat.

Mark Wahlberg as Chris

This is a pretty straight foreword movie. Chris (Mr. "I'm not part of this life style anymore") is forced into doing one last job with his family's life on the line. There's no real twists or turns in this movie cause if you've seen movies of this genre before, you know how this movie is going to play itself out. Its very predicable. You see everything coming from a mile away, the surprise back-stabbings, the job going horribly wrong in the worst way possible, and even how the happy ending is going to present itself. There's no element of suspense in this movie and it is by far the movie's greatest downfall. It's not done horribly, but it does nothing to make it stand out, and its not very entertaining because of it. Story wise, this movie couldn't keep its head above water.

Kate Beckinsale as Kate

On a cinematography level, this is very "film student"-ish. The movie is very grainy, and there isn't a single image throughout the movie that was impressive. Its all very plain. All of which doesn't help the fact that this movie is almost internally shot handheld. A handheld shot here and there isn't too bad, but the way this movie was shot, it seems like they didn't have a budget big enough to afford a tripod. The handheld footage is far too noticeable and it does nothing to move the story along.

Another weird problem I have is the main character's name, Chris. For those not aware, Chris is my real first name. Its a name I like to say is too popular to be in a movie, and there isn't a single character named Chris from any short of fictional media that stands out and is beyond amazing. A polar opposite example of this would be the name John. John has multiple characters attached to it, all of which are pretty awesome, John McClain, Little John, John Carter of Mars, and John Smallberries. But with Chris, you've got nothin'. So here comes this movie, Contraband with its main character named Chris, and he's just a beyond generic character from the blandest of bland action/heist movies. So this movie is yet another example of Chris just being a horrible name to give any child. Thanks for the reminder movie! (This critism is just a bit of silliness, but seriously what the hell?!)

Giovanni Ribisi as Briggs

Also this is a movie where, just about all of the villain interactions in the movie feel unnessacry. Briggs is a stupid villain who hides behind a shadowy master (his identity is something else you can tell right way as well). His thought process behind the choices he makes doesn't make any sort of since. For example, Briggs at the beginning of the movie is holding all of the cards in order to make Chris do this smuggling gig and that's because Chris doing this job is the only thing keeping Andy alive. So why does he start to go after Kate and the kids later into the movie? Cause the movie needs Kate to be a distressed damsel which keeps getting put in harms way while Chris is performing the art of smuggling. Having the Briggs character constantly threatening Kate makes little sense since Chris is already under Brigg's thumb.

Although here's the important thing, its not a horrible god awful piece of crap movie. Contraband is a Netflix Watch Now movie you'll find scrolling through the new releases after midnight. You'll start watching it, be mildly entertained by it as you slowly drift to sleep. You'll be interested in what's happening, but its not enough to make you want to force yourself to stay awake and finish it. More or less what I'm trying to say is, there's no reason for anyone to go out of there way to see this in the movie theater.

Overall, I'm giving this movie a 2/5. While I don't personally recommend this movie, there are a lot of other movies out there that are far worse than this.