''Contraband'' is a 2012

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Baltasar Kormákur Baltasar Kormákur Baltasarsson is an Icelandic actor, theatre and film director, and film producer. He is best known for directing the films '' 101 Reykjavík'', '' The Sea'', '' A Little Trip to Heaven'', ''Contraband'', '' 2 Guns'', ''Eve ...

, and starring

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), formerly known by his stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, producer, and former rapper. Mark Wahlberg filmography, His work as a leading actor, leading man spans the Comedy film, come ...

Kate Beckinsale Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress. The only child of actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe, she debuted in the series premiere of the 1975 daytime drama ''Couples.'' In 1993, she made her theatrical film deb ...

, Ben Foster, Caleb Landry Jones, Giovanni Ribisi,

Lukas Haas Lukas Daniel Haas (born April 16, 1976) is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. His notable ...

Diego Luna Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, director, and producer, best known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in ''Rogue One, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016) and the Disney+ series ''Andor (TV series), ...

and J. K. Simmons. The film is a remake of the 2008

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic film '' Reykjavík-Rotterdam'' distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

Plot

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Chris Farraday, a reformed

smuggler Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

, enjoys a quiet family life with his wife, Kate, and their two children. Their tranquility is shattered when they discover Kate's brother, Andy, has become entangled in drug smuggling. To make matters worse, Andy panicked during a

U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilita ...

inspection and dumped his illicit cargo into the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. Andy's boss, Tim Briggs threatens to kill Chris's family if Andy does not reimburse him for the drugs. Chris plans to smuggle $10 million in fake bills from

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

into the U.S. in a van. He asks former partner Sebastian Abney, who owns a construction business, to fund the scheme before joining the crew of a cargo ship with Andy and partners Danny and Davis. After Briggs breaks into Chris's house and intimidates Kate and their children, they move into Sebastian's house for safety. In Panama, Chris creates a diversion on the ship so he, Andy, and Danny can leave and retrieve the fake bills. Chris and Danny eventually go to meet an unstable crime lord named Gonzalo for the fakes, leaving Andy in the van with their money. Briggs calls Andy, threatening to kill one of Chris's sons if Andy doesn't go to another address to buy cocaine with the money. With Andy and the money gone, Chris agrees to help Gonzalo rob an armored car in exchange for the fake bills. Gonzalo and his men are killed during the heist, but Chris and Danny escape with the van, the fake bills, and the

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...

painting Gonzalo was trying to steal, loading it all onto the cargo ship. Meanwhile, it's revealed that Sebastian is in debt to gangster Jim Church and was secretly working with Briggs. Sebastian hears that Chris plans to dump the cocaine and tells Briggs to threaten Kate in order to stop Chris from doing so. Rattled, Kate leaves Sebastian's with the kids but when she goes back to retrieve some personal items, he drunkenly confronts her and accidentally knocks her out against a bathtub. Sebastian contacts the ship's captain, Camp, and tells him of the cocaine, promising him a share if he secures it. Camp calls Customs to inspect the ship in New Orleans. The Customs agents find the spot where Chris' team hid the bills, but it's empty. They detain Chris and search the van, but thinking the painting is just a tarp, ignore it and let Chris go. Chris and Andy are captured by Briggs, who demands the cocaine. Chris takes Briggs to Camp's house, having made a duplicate key while on the ship, and activates the security system. After giving Briggs and his gang the cocaine, Chris sneaks out. Camp awakens to the noise and encounters the gang as the police arrive; they're all arrested for cocaine possession. Having figured out Sebastian was working with Briggs, Chris drives to Sebastian's house, then his job site, looking for Kate. Sebastian, thinking her dead, had dumped Kate's body in a foundation at the site. Chris beats him up for his betrayal before locating and saving Kate. Sebastian is arrested and sent to prison, where he is greeted by a gang led by Chris Farraday's incarcerated father. Danny and Davis retrieve the fake bills which Chris had dumped into the Mississippi River reaching New Orleans. At a U.S. Customs auction, Andy buys the van for $750 and finds the painting still in it while Chris sells the bills to Church for $3 million. Church asks about the missing painting and tells Chris it can be fenced for over $20 million on the black market. With the money, Chris, Kate, and their children begin a new life in a waterfront house.

Cast

as Chris Farraday *

as Kate Farraday * Ben Foster as Sebastian Abney * Caleb Landry Jones as Andy * Giovanni Ribisi as Tim Briggs *

as Gonzalo * J. K. Simmons as Captain Redmond Camp *

as Danny Raymer * Michael Beasley as Davis * Robert Wahlberg as John Bryce * Jaqueline Fleming as Jeanie Goldare * William Lucking as Bud Farraday * David O'Hara as Jim Church * Kirk Bovill as Crewman * Lucky Johnson as Tarik * Viktor Hernandez as Edwin * Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Olaf * Jason Mitchell as Walter

Production

Filming took place in early 2011 in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

Release

The film was released on 13 January 2012 in the United States.

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film holds an approval rating of 50% based on 163 reviews, with an average score of 5.4/10. The site's critics consensus states: "It's more entertaining than your average January action thriller, but that isn't enough to excuse ''Contrabands lack of originality and unnecessarily convoluted plot."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film two out of four, and felt that "''Contraband'' involves a lot of energy," but he was growing "tired of violent retreads of these heist elements." Tom Long of ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...

'' criticized the film for having "too much plot and too little character" and concluded that it "comes off the factory floor with its engine running and ready to drive. But the ride feels overly familiar." Claudia Puig of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' called "the 'one last job' trope ... a particularly tired one" and remarked that while it "has a few moments of tension," the film "adheres to a predictable heist formula hardly worth trafficking in." Andrew O'Hehir of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

'' characterized the film as "exactly the sort of movie that Hollywood specializes in, the kind which seems on paper as if it ought to be entertaining, but winds up a massive and chaotic drag" and observed that "it's much more like a cynical hash job, whose faux-realistic manner can't hide all the hackneyed crime-movie situations."

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' thought the film "goes down in a sea of Hollywood clichés" and that Mark "Wahlberg could sleepwalk through this role, and does. See this movie and you'll surely follow his lead." Scott Tobias of ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

'' dismissed the film as a "mediocre ..thriller," something "to be remembered, vaguely". Rafer Guzman of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' expressed disappointment that "a little action is all you'll get" and opined that the film "fails by overreaching: It aspires to the heightened drama of ''

The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 crime film, crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both an English-language remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-lif ...

'' but lands instead in the bargain bin of forgettable action product." Justin Chang of '' Variety'' praised the film as "reasonably swift and effective" and for taking "a hard-driving line of action and a commitment to one-damned-thing-after-another storytelling", while suffering from "preposterous detours". Michael O'Sullivan of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' compared the film to "an ''

Ocean's Eleven ''Ocean's Eleven'' is a 2001 heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ted Griffin. A remake of the 1960 film of the same name, it serves as the first installment in the ''Ocean's'' franchise. The film features an ense ...

'' movie, minus the glamour".

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' stated that the film, "while often grungy and far-fetched, does keep you watching", which is sufficient for a film released in January.

Home media

''Contraband'' was released to DVD and Blu-ray on April 24, 2012. The Blu-ray was reissued in 2015 and 2019. In 2021, Mill Creek Entertainment released a Blu-ray double feature featuring ''Contraband'' and fellow Universal film ''

Fear Fear is an unpleasant emotion that arises in response to perception, perceived dangers or threats. Fear causes physiological and psychological changes. It may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the ...

'' in which Mark Wahlberg also starred.

References

External links

* * {{Baltasar Kormákur 2012 films 2012 action thriller films 2012 crime thriller films 2010s American films 2010s British films 2010s English-language films American action thriller films American crime thriller films American remakes of foreign films British action thriller films British crime thriller films Films directed by Baltasar Kormákur Films produced by Tim Bevan Films produced by Eric Fellner Films produced by Mark Wahlberg Films scored by Clinton Shorter Films set in New Orleans Films set in Panama Films set on ships Films shot in New Orleans Films shot in Panama Relativity Media films Remakes of Icelandic films Universal Pictures films Working Title Films films English-language crime thriller films English-language action thriller films