Thanks for the memories!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Today's film I randomly caught on TV. I was hooked from the start, wasn't even in the mood for a movie, it just caught my eye.It seems like such a generic film, nothing overly interesting or original about the plot, it's carried by great actors. Marky Mark puts in some work, being a large portion of why I even continued to watch this movie. The script seems to be a mash up of clichés, from the one last heist to the we have your family bit. It isn't something you need to see, but it's something worth seeing.62%http://afilmadaykeepsthedocaway.blogspot.co.uk/

I really expected more out of this movie.I like Mark Walberg generally. "Boogie Nights" was wonderful, and I also enjoyed "Happenings"."Contraband" doesn't match up against these other films.It's disjointed, choppy, and difficult to keep up with.If you like Mark, you'll probably enjoy this movie.Without him it wouldn't be much.That's starpower for you.It begins to pick up speed at about 1:20 minutes.This is probably a watch-it-once-and-forget-about movie, but you might like to watch it once.

CONTRABAND is a tale of cross-border drug-smuggling, centred around a tough, everyman character played by the underrated Mark Wahlberg. The film for the most part sidesteps modern-day Hollywood clichés, like shoehorned-in action scenes that add nothing to the storyline and are merely there to give choreographers and special effects guys a chance to earn their keep. For the record, there's only one (relevant) car chase.Instead this is a taut, suspenseful story that plays realistic for the most part, and all the better for it. The truth is that it doesn't bring anything new to the table and the thrills it chronicles are very familiar, but its depiction of the minutiae of the scenario keep it moving merrily along. It also has some suitably unpleasant bad guys to boo at.CONTRABAND also features a cast of former youthful stars who are nowadays moving into more mature roles. Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi play to type, but it's good to see Lukas Haas given some proper material and even Kate Beckinsale isn't too shabby. J. K. Simmons stands out in a supporting role as the ship's captain and Diego Luna once again delivers an edgy turn. The film might be no classic but for solid thrills and suspense you could do a lot worse.

There is something rather derivative about Contraband. Then again Giovanni Ribisi who plays a drug kingpin who somehow lives in a housing project threatens the life of Mark Wahlberg's brother in law for a drug smuggling operation gone wrong and it falls to Wahlberg to put things right you recall Gone in 60 seconds when it was Ribisi who was the unfortunate brother who had to be rescued by Nicolas Cage who had to steal customised cars in order to placate the gangsters.Mark Wahlberg and his crew are former ace smugglers now going straight. He has a wife (Kate Beckinsale) and 2 kids. However because his brother in law dumped drugs on the side of a ship, he is forced to go to Panama with some of his crew to make amends.For some reason his best friend (Ben Foster) stays behind but he is not left to protect Wahlberg's family who surely are in the mercy of Ribisi, especially as Wahlberg earlier attacked him and pulled a gun on him.In fact things would had been more simpler but also shorter if Wahlberg had just shot Ribisi there and then.What we have is a convoluted and confusing smuggling story where they plan to smuggle fake bills. However the brother in law steals the fake bills and buys cocaine as Ribisi keeps on threatening. Not sure how he knew his way around the Panama underworld, worse still by stealing the money he left the rest of the gang in the mercy of a gangland war lord. Lucky for them the warlord needed several people for a heist involving a Jackson Pollock and Wahlberg comes in handy.Still Ribisi always seem to be in the know and Wahlberg cannot really put his finger on it even though he is constantly keeping Foster in the loop.This really is one dumb action film. Its like a bad Tony Scott action film. You have scenes where Beckinsale who is being terrorised by Ribisi and she leaves her kids alone. She gets attack again, goes to stay with another friend and then goes to Foster's house to get some things. Why?There is not an ounce of originality in this film. Its badly shot, boringly directed and only J K Simmons as the ship's Captain makes the most of his brief role.