PCP on DVD - Contraband

Mark Wahlberg is often typecast as a tough guy anti-hero (The Italian Job, Shooter, Four Brothers, just to name a few examples), and he regularly stays inside that role.  When he does go outside the typecasting, he can turn in an amazing performance (Boogie Nights, The Fighter, The Departed), but it seems he goes back to the well of his usual type of role on a regular basis.  Contraband is one of those films where he goes back to his typecast role.

Contraband - 2012, rated R.  My rating:  6 out of 10.
There's not a whole lot of depth to the story in Contraband.  Mark Wahlberg is an ex-smuggler who is pulled back into the life in order to save his family.  The film is pretty light on action for the first half of the film, unlike how it is depicted in the trailers.  The second half of the film is where things really start to pick up, but by then I'd unfortunately lost most of my interest in the film.

The good thing in the film is seeing how Wahlberg pulls off the smuggling.  Similar to his role in The Italian Job he uses a lot of sleight of hand and deception to pull off his smuggling.  The reveal doesn't come until the end, but when it does come the payoff is nice.  There's also a few plot twists along the way that keep the film from being too straightforward and obvious, but they aren't particularly shocking twists and in fact you can see them coming a mile away.

All in all, if you are a fan of Wahlberg's movies, you'll probably like this one.  If you don't see this, then you aren't really missing much.