Contraband

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

I somehow managed to avoid ever seeing a trailer for this film so going in all a knew about it was Mark Wahlberg has some money strapped to his abs, from the poster in the lobby.

So imagine my delight when I see Lukas Haas, Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Foster's names come up in the opening credits. Damn solid supporting cast there. Also noted that it's a remake of some foreign film (Iceland's 2010 Oscar entry Reykjavik-Rotterdam, which oddly enough stars the guy who ended up directing the remake) which gave me some hope as to the story being worthwhile enough to consider remaking. I should probably track down the original now.

Indeed the plot flows well for what you would think to be an uncinematic heist. They layer on some ransom kidnapping drug dealers and squeeze in an armoured car robbery too.

The morals in this story are a little grey though, apparently crime doesn't pay, unless you're a nice guy like Mark Wahlberg. The film has so many moments where it's completely obvious the plan is going to fall apart that it almost made me uncomfortable. But I guess that means it's working.