Friday, August 10, 2012

Movie review - "Contraband" (2012) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Dull action movie which never seems to rise above its stock situations: Mark Wahlberg is an ex smuggler so you know he's going to be dragged back in; he's got a best mate since he was kids Ben Foster who hangs around and doesn't pull his weight story-wise to start off with so you know he's going to turn out to be traitor; there's a long explanation about a smuggling technique at the beginning so you know it's going to pop up at the end; he loves his wife so you know the baddies are going to go after them; you know Kate Beckingsale isn't really going to die.

Look, I don't mind a predictable action film, sometimes it's part of the charm, but this feels lethargic - there's none of the coarse base pleasures of say a piece of Liam Neeson schlock. There's a bit of action and suspense but not much, mostly just a lot of running around and yelling. There's a lot of repetition (Beckingsale and her kids are threatened twice) and coincidence (e.g. the day Wahlberg tracks down Beckingsale).

The best thing about it was all the characters lived in scuzzy houses and never seemed to have any money  -this felt realistic. It has a good sort of look, too.

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