Contraband

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Contraband

R

2012

1h 50m

Action

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

50%

Tomatometer

164 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Ex-smuggler Chris Farraday gave up his criminal ways long ago. But, he's forced back into the game after his brother-in-law, Andy, botches a drug deal for a crime lord, leaving Chris to settle the debt. With the help of his best friend, Chris assembles a team to run to Panama to retrieve a fortune in counterfeit bills. When things go awry, Chris must call on his rusty skills to complete the task before his family pays the price.

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Critics Consensus

It's more entertaining than your average January action thriller, but that isn't enough to excuse Contraband's lack of originality and unnecessarily convoluted plot.

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Keith Uhlich

Time Out

May 9

2/5

Amounts to little more than Marky Mark’s South American Vacation.

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Tara Brady

Irish Times

03/19/2012

3/5

A-Team rules apply: this is a gore-free zone that, in common with ye Lethal Weapon movies of yore, yokes family values to gunplay.

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London Evening Standard

03/16/2012

2/5

How this confused and mediocre heist-cum-action movie reached - albeit briefly - the top spot in the US box-office ratings passes all understanding.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

03/01/2023

2/4

This flavorless action fodder goes from tiresome to mildly unpleasant.

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David Bax

Battleship Pretension

03/16/2021

Everything about Contraband is fleeting. It's an exercise in formula that only manages to excite you a little bit more than it will surprise you, which is not at all.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

12/01/2020

3/10

The excitement may be there at times, but skimped character development and a camera that just won't settle down only result in indifference.

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Damon G

@Dmoney420 Feb 22

Another one of marks classics

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Oaklee D

@ODie63 May 21

Your standard stereotypical Mark Wahlberg action flick.

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Frans B

@FransB May 3

Lots of intertwined events and action. Lacks a little direction, sometimes feels like it is aimlessly wandering about. Stellar cast all excels in character, cinematography is great and enough adrenaline rushes. Just nice movie night flick

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Calvin T

@Calvin504 02/20/2025

Wasn't good or bad....just too much going on

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d m

@RT02542716 07/29/2024

#Recommended 8/10

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Peter G

@Petermovielover 11/16/2023

I have seen a number of Kormakur‘s absorbing Icelandic films & this, a re make of a Icelandic film where he played the Mark Wahlberg character (but did not direct) has a pretty interesting premise but is handled with enough contrivances not to mention plot holes that could sink a ship (figuratively) the size of the tanker in the film sailing between New Orleans & Panama. Little logic plays a part in this mess which, since the script seems thrown together without any sense of linear clarity. Trying to make some rational attempt at a coherent plot & it's unbelievable details is a losing proposition. The action set pieces are also awkwardly handled besides & what motivates them is, IMO, unfocused & devoid of sufficient tension & excitement. Too bad because the cast is a solid one set adrift (pun intended) in a sea of mediocrity. Another Kormakur American film EVEREST was a bit of an improvement over this farrago but his Icelandic works as a director are of considerably greater quality, so far anyway.

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Baltasar Kormákur

Director

Mark Wahlberg

Chris Farraday

Kate Beckinsale

Kate Farraday

Ben Foster

Sebastian Abney

Giovanni Ribisi

Tim Briggs

Caleb Landry Jones

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Synopsis

Ex-smuggler Chris Farraday gave up his criminal ways long ago. But, he's forced back into the game after his brother-in-law, Andy, botches a drug deal for a crime lord, leaving Chris to settle the debt. With the help of his best friend, Chris assembles a team to run to Panama to retrieve a fortune in counterfeit bills. When things go awry, Chris must call on his rusty skills to complete the task before his family pays the price.

Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg
Screenwriter: Aaron Guzikowski
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Leverage, Working Title Films, Blueeyes, Closest to the Hole
Rating: R (Pervasive Language|Brief Drug Use|Violence)
Genre: Action, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 13, 2012, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 1, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $66.5M
Runtime: 1h 50m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby SRD, DTS

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