To protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord, a former smuggler heads to Panama to score millions of dollars in counterfeit bills.
Watchable if hardly world-class entertainment.
Don’t expect glamorous outlaws, sunny locales and exotic masterplans – this low-key thriller lifts the rusted lid off an all-too-real world of despairing criminality.
It’s not exactly put-your-manicurist-on-danger-money time, and Kate Beckinsale’s role is shamefully underwritten (especially for an actress capable of carrying a franchise), but Contraband is a cut above cookie-cutter heist thrillers, and director Baltasar Kormákur looks ready for the big time.
Sound familiar? Of course it does, and not just because it’s a remake of the 2008 film Reykjavik-Rotterdam.
Kate Beckinsale is wasted...and a smug ending leaves a slightly sour taste but a well cast Wahlberg carries the day.
A tasty, popcorn movie – if you can ignore the predictability.
A cockamamie smuggling thriller.
The central family dynamic (Kate Beckinsale is terrific as Wahlberg’s wife) recalls Ben Affleck’s The Town, but with bonus machinery fetishism: much of the action takes place on a lovingly photographed cargo ship.
Just another dumber than average caper.
Worth a whirl, but best to keep expectations low.
It's a thriller in which the twists become so absurd that it becomes a kind of caper, but without the humour.
The ensuing mayhem is just a knockoff of Heat. Don't let this one through customs.
This solid but forgettable outing, co-starring Giovanni Ribisi, is best enjoyed by lads, post-pub, on DVD.
Conventional, fairly exciting stuff, its most distinctive feature perhaps is the realistic, atmospheric photography by Ken Loach's regular collaborator, Barry Ackroyd.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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