MOVIE REVIEW - Contraband

Mark Wahlberg back agaim, here comes the new drug running movie, Contraband.

Generally Wahlberg has been picking very good projects the past couple of years, and has developed a real nice following. Contraband though is a movie that in one way shape or form, you have seen a number of times before. There's nothing really wrong with this movie, I'm not so sure there's anything abnormally right with it.

Wahlberg play Chris. He was, at one time the worlds premiere smuggler. He could smuggle virtually anything into the United States via container ship. But after a long run of drug running, he gets out of the game and goes legit. He marries Kate (Kate Beckinsdale) and has a couple of kids. Then his much younger brother in-law who still is running drugs, screws up. And when about to be caught, tosses a 7 hundred thousand dollar load of cocaine overboard to save his won skin. Needless to say, the drug dealers want their money back.

That forces Chris back into the game. He is going to make a run to Panama, and make things right for his brother in law. Trouble is, who is working with him and against him? That is the eternal question that runs through the entire movie. He is operating on a deadline, as the dealers have vowed to take things out on his wife and kids, if not made right in time.

Contraband has a nice cast, including Giovanni Ribisi, and J.K. Simmons. This does have some real nice scenes where the authenticity is really stark, and real. But to counter that, there is much of this that is highly convenient. things just kind of "happen" with no real explanation. There is a bunch of this. And that gets a bit tiresome after a while. There are a number of holes in this story, and credibility does get compromised. But one thing this does very well is have a few real nice twists and turns that do give it a bit of smarts. With emphasis on a bit.

But in the end, Contraband is just another drug movie. But it's not an afternoon or evening wasted, but it falls short of being really, really good.