Tense, high speed action but with terrible acting, especially Ribisi and J.K. Simmons.
Without question, Giovanni Ribisi and Simmons go way overboard with their characters. No matter how many weird characters Ribisi plays (THE RUM DIARY, FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX), I keep seeing him desperately trying to erase his performance in THE OTHER SISTER.
They are all here working hard to sabotage Baltasar Kormákur’s CONTRABAND.
In THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’S Actors Roundtable Discussion (December 2011), THR asks George Clooney, “Do you think you were bad and have become better?”
Clooney: I think scripts make people better. Direction makes people better. You can find a lot of projects where actors were tremendously good in one project, but you’ll see them not work necessarily well in others. I think scripts make a huge difference in that department. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-clooney-albert-brooks-oscars-christopher-plummer-descendents-267221
Yes, a strong director certainly helps.
Alfred Hitchcock said: “The better the villain, the better the picture”.
Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) was the greatest smuggler there ever was. We know this because people keep introducing him that way. But what happened to all the money he earned from smuggling? He and his family live in a middle-class dump, his wife works as a hairdresser, and he is struggling with his contractor business. Farraday has a mantra. All he keeps saying to his wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale) – all through the absurd heist – is “I love you”. After the tenth time, I said, “I get it. You love her.”
Chris gets his best friend and fellow former smuggler Sebastian (Ben Foster) to put together the usual “one last job”. Chris, Andy, and Danny (Lukas Haas) get crew jobs on a ship going to Panama. Guess who is onboard? All of Chris’s former crew. Chris, who is against drug smuggling on ethical grounds, plans on bringing back millions in counterfeit bills.
Written by Óskar Jónasson, Arnaldur Indriðason and Aaron Guzikowski, CONTRABAND is based on a 2008 Icelandic thriller which starred this film’s director, Baltasar Kormákur. Kormákur knows how to stage tension but he cannot direct his cast. He is talented, but with seasoned American actors, and with Wahlberg as a producer, you have to hold the reins tight.
Member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association: www.bfca.org/ and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society: www.lvfcs.org/
Victoria’s weekly column, “The Devil’s Hammer,” is posted every Monday. http://www.fromthebalcony.com/editorials.php. If you would like to be included on Victoria’s private distribution list for a weekly preview, just email her at masauu@aol.com.
Victoria Alexander lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and answers every email. You can contact Victoria directly at masauu@aol.com.