Contraband

Actors:  Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Lukas Haas, Caleb Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Diego Luna, J.K. Simmons
Rating:  8 out of 10, a very workable and enjoyable action flick with a very appealing cast.  Wahlberg does well when cast as a blue collar type and he and Beckinsale (blonde for some reason) make a good pair.  Ribisi is a total creep as the violent bad guy.  As an actor he’s become quite the chameleon and is a good enough actor to be an appealing good guy and a despicable bad guy, such as here.  Part of the movie was shot in Panama which was very interesting for me although it did lead me to question the authenticity when they showed Wahlberg taking part in a gunfight on one side of Panama City and then making it to the port of Balboa in less than ten minutes – totally impossible in the real world.  Beckinsale shows that she’s more than just a pretty face and is very believable as a working class mom.  The plot was convoluted enough with a couple of surprises and a nice tying up of loose ends.  Luna was very good as a totally out of control Panamanian bad guy.  Wahlberg shows once again he is more than capable of carrying an entire movie. Not a lot of depth here, but lots of action, suspense, and solid acting.  The only miss in the cast was surprisingly Foster who seemed to have mailed this one in. 
MVP:  Wahlberg as Chris Farraday the talented smuggler forced back into the profession to protect his family