Thriller. R. 1 hour, 50 minutes. At area theaters.
Mark Wahlberg delivers the goods in “Contraband,” a B-movie about smuggling in boozy, corrupt New Orleans. It may telegraph its punches and follow that “one last job” formula. But the cascading collapse of first one best-laid plan and then another and the odd moment of jaw-dropping surprise give the movie its share of nail-biting moments.
Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, a smuggler who has gone legit selling household alarm systems. His wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), runs a beauty salon. They have two kids. He’s wised up and left “the life” behind.
But his wife’s younger brother (Caleb Jones) hasn’t. And after he dumps drugs overboard when the Customs and Border Protection guys board his ship, the in-law’s in the hole to a pretty bad hombre, played with his usual goateed glee by Giovanni Ribisi. To save the kid and his own family, Chris takes on that one-last-you-know-what.
And just as sure as Chris reassures Kate — “I know what I’m doing; nothing’s gonna happen,” you know at least half of that statement is a whopper. No amount of help from his pals (Ben Foster, Lukas Haas) will make this go smoothly.
Director Baltasar Kormakur ratchets up the suspense as the tale ups the ante. Sure, we pretty much know where this is going once it gets going. We’ve been here before.
But with its sleazy side of the Big Easy settings and its Scandinavian spin on action and violence, “Contraband” is still a thoroughly entertaining boat ride.
