Written by James M. Tate / 1/13/2012 / No comments / action , heist , mark walhberg , suspense , tens
CONTRABAND

year: 2012
cast: Mark Walhberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Foster
rating: ***1/2
Give us an antihero that’s gonna break the law for a substantial reason and not only can anything happen, but the audience will embrace it with open arms. But prepare to sustain disbelief through this action/suspense yarn involving a freshly retired contraband smuggler who, because of his brother-in-law's involvement in the same trade but with unlucky results, returns to his old life to straighten things out. It’s a piece of cake… with exploding candles… as Mark Walhberg goes from ship to land back to ship: dodging bullets, tricking drug dealers, and getting smashed up… after which the real fun begins. Old school melodrama envelopes the b-story as his wife and two children, vulnerably at odds with grimy, over the top mobster Giovanni Ribisi – but the suspense relies on how the ex smuggler can figure to sneak stuff through without being caught, and most importantly, to save his family as the goons move in. Wahlberg carries the movie with more cool than edge, and even when the story gets mazy and convoluted, he’s a genuine enough protagonist to make everything seem precisely clear: exactly when it needs to be. And veteran actor William Lucking looks perfectly gruff as Walhberg’s imprisoned father.
Labels:
action,
heist,
mark walhberg,
suspense,
tens
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
All Time Popular
-
Robyn Hilton enters into an eclectic exploitation comedy career in Wonder Women circa 1973 As mentioned a few posts ago, ROBYN HILTON, b...
-
year: 1978 cast: Allen Garfield, Leif Garrett, Kathleen Lloyd, Tony Alva, Pam Kenneally rating: ***1/2 Although promoted as a Leif Garr...
-
Kari Michaelsen in Saturday the 14th year: 1982 In LOVE AT FIRST BITE, a popular comedy that took the vampire genre by satire, Richard ...
-
Mary-Louise Weller in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE ANIMAL HOUSE, directed by John Landis and produced by Ivan Reitman, stars John Be...
-
Robyn Hilton on STARSKY AND HUTCH Model/Actress ROBYN HILTON played Mel Brook's secretary in BLAZING SADDLES and turns up in an epis...
-
Cornelia Sharpe in BUSTING Year: 1974 Rating: **** Starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake as determined vice cops BUSTING hookers, makin...
-
Kerri Green and John Candy in SUMMER RENTAL Year: 1985 John Candy, in his first leading role, plays a burnt-out air traffic controller ...
-
WILLIAM SMITH AS FALCONETTI ON RICH MAN POOR MAN The baddest of all TV bad guys… Matt Dillon’s character in BEAUTIFUL GIRLS calls Antho...
-
Robyn Hilton in Video Vixens the same year as Blazing Saddles: 1974 The Anthology of Comedic Parodies, already done in several Woody All...
-
Susan Dey in Skyjacked YEAR: 1972 Some of the best elements of hijacking, plane crashing, ship sinking, building burning or any other di...
Featured Post
ROBERT URICH IN WES CRAVEN'S TV-MOVIE 'INVITATION TO HELL'
Robert Urich as Matt Winslow in Wes Craven's INVITATION TO HELL Year: 1984 Being hassled to join the local gym can be downright annoyin...

No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.