Contraband Review

Contraband stars Mark Wahlberg as Chris Farraday, a former smuggler turned family man and, full-time business owner, installing home security systems. During a few scenes of scattered "back in my day" talk, we are given a sense that he was some sort of black market legend.

Unfortunately for Farraday (Wahlberg), he has a brother-in-law, the brother of his wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale), who does not heed the words of the wise to stay out of that smuggling life. After a deal gone wrong, the kid ends up in the hospital, with a death threat that leads back to the Farradays, furthermore leading the man of the house back into the life of a smuggler, for one last run, as a favor to his wife to save her baby brother.

It is a good movie—solid story, good acting & actors, not very much to complain about, unless it is just not your type of film. If there is one complaint I have, it is that Chris Farraday, this black market legend, seems to border the line of not really knowing what he is doing, when just about every plan he has seems to fall apart before he even gets halfway through, or maybe it is just rust. Another "well, why did he do that?" moment comes when (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) he decides to take his brother-in-law on the smuggling run, the same kid who got him into this nifty little situation. Anyway, those are just my complaints.

Other movie attractions come in the form of Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma), who plays Sebastian Abney, a brother/uncle  like family friend, looking after Chris's family while he is gone on his run.

All in all, this is a film that I would recommend to any moviegoer, looking for an entertaining watch.