Review - Contraband

Grade: D

Yin: Languid pacing and one-note characters quickly undo this rote rehash of typical criminal actioners.

Yang: Grim and dingy aesthetic reveals the griminess of often-overlooked smuggling culture.

In-Between: Ever wonder if Memphis Raines little brother turned his life around? He didn’t.

TV networks are always trying to mimic the HBO formula. Their attempts to create compelling, meditative dramas that peek into unexplored cultures has led to turgid, funereal, slow-paced exercises in character and plot building with variable success. This approach is acceptable on TV because languid pacing is part and parcel of the medium. Applying such an approach to film can be successful depending on the genre or narrative, but it is not necessarily the best approach for a “white-knuckle” action thriller. Hence the problem with Mark Wahlberg’s latest, Contraband.

Based on 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavik-Rotterdam, which starred Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur, Contraband follows retired smuggler Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) as he is forced to do the requisite ‘one last job’ after ne’er-do-well brother-in-law Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) gets in deep with some local heavies led by Giovanni Ribisi, here practically reprising and extending on his role from Gone in 60 Seconds. Chris reluctantly takes the job, much to chagrin of wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale), but seemingly to the reserved agreement of longtime friend and recovering alcoholic Sebastian (Ben Foster). All Chris has to do to save his brother-in-law is forge his way onto a Panama-bound freighter, pick up some primo counterfeit sheets, and drop the load back at the Port of New Orleans. Simple, right? Of course not. Complications and the occasional gunfire ensue, and Chris is eventually forced to outrun drug lords, a slimy sea captain (J.K. Simmons), and, most frighteningly, US Customs and Border Patrol as he attempts to save his brother-in-law and return to his family in one piece.

On paper, this sounds terribly exciting. In fact, the TV ads sell Contraband with shots of slow-mo explosions and gunfights, all with rap music thumping in background. It’s a shame that action makes up less than five minutes of this crawling bore. While I can appreciate Kormakur’s ambition to establish atmosphere and play around with typical action movie pacing, Contraband suffers immensely for such experimentation. Nothing truly compelling happens for the first half-hour, at least nothing that seasoned filmgoers haven’t seen more than a dozen times. Screw-up brother. Check. Square-jawed roguish protagonist who loves his family and only wishes to leave behind his regrettable past. Check. Shady best friend. Check. Dangerous thug/criminal who is nowhere near as smart or tough as the hero. Check. This is, note for note, the setup for any typical crime actioner with criminal protagonists. If Kormakur thinks he’s doing something different by setting this in N’awlins and trying ape the feel of HBO’s Treme then allow me to direct him to a little movie called 12 Rounds, also starring a square jawed Boston tough guy ‘actor’. Making matters infinitely worse is the snail’s speed pacing that is common for most European films, often a boon but outright detrimental here. I was impressed I made it through the first half awake because nobody else in my row did.

The performances in Contraband do little to ease the suffering. Mark Wahlberg continues to play the smartest, toughest guy in the room, despite wandering around with a confused look on his face until things get serious. Kate Beckinsale shows little range in the consistently thankless role of the simultaneously disapproving then supportive then disapproving wife and mother. Poor Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi fare even worse as they are saddled with broadly drawn roles as shady and slimy, respectively. I feel particularly bad for Ribisi who is forced to use a pitiful squeaky voice throughout in a half-assed effort to appear dangerous and grimy.

Interestingly, griminess is the one thing, aside from languid pacing, that Contraband excels at. Everything about Contrband looks dirty, dark, and dingy, from the characters to the settings to the aesthetic. Sure, New Orleans and Panama have their fare share of unkempt, less-than-desirable neighborhoods, but, based on Contraband, that’s all these cities seem to have. Despite general underachievement on almost all fronts, Contraband does provide some insight into an culture of criminal activity that hasn’t been explored, at least in American television and film, since the second season of The Wire, which addressed this type of crime far more masterfully despite being one of the least popular seasons of the show. You could do far better things with your time and money than wasting them on Contraband. Come to think of it, if you really want to see a gripping, slow burn drama, albeit with slightly less action, about smuggling, just rent or download season 2 of The Wire. I assure you the twelve hours will feel infinitely shorter than the two you would be tempted to waste on this clunker.