« Back to all posts in FilmOlogy

Mark Wahlberg Sinks 'Contraband'

Film Rundown:

Genre:

Action/Adventure

Parental Rating:

NC-17

Director:

Baltasar Kormákur

Starring:

Mark Wahlberg, Giovanni Ribisi and Kate Beckinsale

Runtime:

110

Our rating:

B+

by The Ology Team .

On Jan 13, 2012

Mark Wahlberg just isn't a very good actor. Every now and then he'll work with an especially talented director -- Paul Thomas Anderson, David O. Russell and Martin Scorsese to name a few -- who knows how to dial up or down the various limited aspects of his preexisting personality, but otherwise, he's just Mark. Such is the case in Contraband, where he hits his marks and says his lines with the reliably perturbed tough-guy swagger we've come to know and accept. "You think you're the only guy with a gun?" he blurts. No, but I'm positive I've heard that line before, buddy.

Even the presence of Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi doing solid character work isn't enough to rouse Wahlberg from his routine posturing, nor is the energetic Michael Mann-ish directing style of Baltasar Kormákur, an Icelandic filmmaker fresh to these United States. Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, a former Louisiana smuggler forced to pull One Last Job when his family's well-being is threatened by a twitchy drug lord (Ribisi). You know the drill -- he gets The Old Crew back together to enact An Impossible Scheme that's Just Crazy Enough To Work. Cars, boats and helicopters whiz by as explosions and bullets blow people off their proverbial feet. It's fun stuff, but it'd be a lot funner if the protagonist looked like he gave a flying f*ck.

SumOlogy: More like Contra-bland!

Be sure to check out my awesome interviews with Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi.

Connect with other Filmologists on My.Ology and follow me on Twitter.