Wahlberg and Ribisi's chemistry steals the show in Contraband

By ATOM GAUTHIER
Staff Writer

Mark Wahlberg made the audience “feel the vibrations” in the new crime drama Contraband.

Over the past years Wahlberg has made fans happy and sad with his acting role choices. He made some bad choices when choosing to act in The Happening and the remake of Planet of the Apes, but made good decisions with The Departed and The Fighter. His new film should keep smiles on his fans’ faces.

In Contraband, Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, a former smuggler turned family man, whose brother-in-law gets into trouble with the wrong kind of people.

Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi) is one of these people, and he wants his money back, by any means necessary. Briggs threatens Chris’s family, which includes his wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale). Chris makes a deal to get Briggs’ money back and save his family in the process.

Unfortunately for Chris, this means he must do some smuggling again. Chris and a few associates hop on a boat to Panama to get the counterfeit bills they will use to smuggle back across the border. While his wife and family wait at home with his best friend Sebastian (Ben Foster), it’s a race against time, not knowing when Briggs will become impatient and go after this family.

Contraband is a well-made film and doesn’t get boring when it goes from action to drama.

Ryan Perron, 22, says. “The movie kept you interested and made you excited to find how they were going to smuggle the money.”

All the actors in the movie portrayed their characters to the best of their abilities. Wahlberg carried himself well, and Foster was great, as usual, but especially in the way his character changes it will make every audience’s eyes widen. Ribisi was absolutely the best of anyone in the film. He was the perfect loser crime leader who thought he was“all that” until he came against Wahlberg.

“Ribisi was awesome, the best part of the movie,” says Perron.

Stacy Weaver, 40, says, “I like seeing all of Marky Mark’s movies. This is one where I am not disappointed with him.”

Contraband brings a lot of excellent qualities to the screen: fast-paced action, dramatic confrontations and even a few twists. With an ending that will make you wonder how it was filmed, it just adds to a good quality film.

“It was certainly worth the money, a great watch,” says Weaver.