DJariya

Synopsis:

Trailer:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3sYntGCj8R0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Opens today. Surprised there is no thread for this. Going to go see it tonight. Hopefully it's good.

Mondo Kane

Not a remake, correct?

devilshalo

It was easier when it was just stealing 50 cars.

DJariya

Alright, so I just got back from seeing this.

I had a Free Movie ticket from Regal Cinemas (I have their Rewards card and earned one recently)

It's a good B movie and I would say it's worth seeing as a matinee if your a fan of B action movies. Wahlberg does a good job carrying the movie and is believable as a former con who turned his life around and will do whatever it takes to protect his family including one last job to help to stupid piece of shit brother in law.

The only negatives I could think of were the performances of Giovanni Ribisi and JK Simmons. I've never liked Ribisi and to me he's just not believable as some badass thug. Especially Simmons, who gave a really over the top performance as the ship's captain.

There is a really well directed and exciting shootout sequence in Panama. I would say the most exciting parts of the movie were Wahlberg dealing with the Panamanian Underworld and the counterfeiters.

I would say if you like Heist movies and are a fan of Wahlberg, I would recommend this. If this wasn't really on your radar, but you like Wahlberg, but are too lazy too see it in theatres, I would say rent it.

Overall I would give it a B-

Boba Fett

So they were outwitted by his tough-guy threats and assaults on minorities?

JumpCutz

Wahlberg is/was indeed a swell guy.

http://zzzlist.wordpress.com/2009/08...ties-the-knot/

PopcornTreeCt

Despite popular belief, we do have some semblance of taste on here.

DJariya

Okay I know your being snarky due to his reputation, but I could have phrased that a little better.

I meant the parts that I found quite compelling were his dealings with the Panamanian counterfeiters and underworld as opposed to the scenes in New Orleans where most of the movie takes place.

If anyone thinks by the posters or commercials that this is a badass action movie, your going to be disappointed. As I said it's more of a heist movie. The most badass part of the movie was the shooting sequence I mentioned earlier.

I actually thought this was a better action movie than Shooter, which Wahlberg was also the lead in. The plot was alot easier to follow and not as covoluted.

Oh and I don't like Kate Beckinsale as a blonde, which she is here.

Boba Fett

It was phrased fine; I was an ass for derailing your review for a cheap joke.

DJariya

It's all good.

meritocracy

Not of Fulci, but it is a remake:


Baltasar Kormákur, who directed Contraband, was the lead in the original.

Patman

Mark Wahlberg headlines this new addition to the criminal heist genre, with Chris (Wahlberg) and his gang being really good at smuggling stuff into the country, but trying to go straight until his brother-in-law forces Chris to go back to his smuggling ways one more time to settle a score and save the brother-in-law from harm. Getting back into the swing of things proves to be a little challenging, but Chris and his buddy Sebastian (Ben Foster) overcome obstacles, while the final act deals with a dumb lovestruck subplot with Sebastian having the hots for Chris's wife (Kate Beckingsale). The other weak point is Giovanni Ribisi, who plays the ditziest bad guy on the big in quite a while, fairly not believable in the villain role in this film.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

EdTheRipper

The wife and I caught this a bit earlier today. We enjoyed it. Like DJariya said, it's a good B movie. I agree with everyone about Ribisi though...he wasn't very impressive. Never really been a big fan of his anyway.

wmansir

I just watched this and I found this comment funny because one thing that stuck out to me was that Wahlberg's "legit" career is the owner of a home security business and yet his family is forced to flee his own home after thugs break in to threaten and assault his wife and kids. During the sequence we see no indication that his own home had any security system at all, no alarms, no cameras, the front door isn't reinforced so it's easily pushed in, and one intruder just walks in the unlocked back door. Keep in mind this is after the gangster threatened to hurt his wife and kids.