Contraband

Fret ye not people, the annual run of the mill thriller starring Mark Wahlberg is with us. Though on initial inspection it looks like there could be more here than the usual join the dots plot as this is a remake of one of Iceland's most successful films in recent years, Reykjavik-Rotterdam. Also this version has the same star of that film, the popular Nordic Baltasar Kormakur, though this time he's in the directors seat. Things have got a bit lost in translation though. In the film Wahlberg stars as Chris Farraday, a former smuggler who has to take on one more job in order to protect his brother-in-law who has fallen foul of the wrong crowd. A number of the Reykjavik-Rotterdam crowd involved in this also had a hand in Jar City. If you've seen that film it'll give you some idea of the pace of this one. For a thriller there's actually very little action, which is a disappointment as when mayhem does occur Kormakur handles it well. The main problem the film has though is that as the story is pretty unoriginal the script becomes overly convoluted to mask this. However, instead of making a simple story smarter it actually makes it far too talky and confusing to follow, especially in the code of smuggling via ships. There's plenty of paperwork, shouting and swearing thrown around, but little explanation to the audience as to the machinations behind such scheming. Also, casting Ben Foster as Wahlberg's best mate is an instant plot give away if you recall the type's of characters Foster usually plays. Acting wise Wahlberg just sleeps through this, but Giovanni Ribisi continues to do a good line in nut jobs as the mobster to which Farraday must pay the debt and J K Simmons as a cantankerous ships captain gets a few laughs, particularly in one of the film's smartest scenes when a load of gangsters inadvertently break into his house. Overall, harking back to my opening line, this is just a standard thriller, though Kormakur does show some promise and there are also some impressive aerial shots of Panama to enjoy. However, this is 30 minutes longer than the Icelandic version and that's the only clue you need to know when you start to look at where certain things have gone wrong here.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
As they say, if you like this kind of thing.....Rating: 6/10.