Some Great Contraband

 Mark Wahlberg is back! Contraband is the latest vehicle and it delivers.
Smuggling is highly illegal and often dangerous, and Chris Farraday is one of the best at it, that is until he married and had a couple of kids. He started his own business and leads a quiet life with the family. Of course a movie with Marky Mark frolicking with the family would be boring, his past comes back to haunt him.

 Things go bad when Farraday's brother-in-law, played by Caleb Landry Jones (Banshee from X-Men First Class), gets into some trouble for smuggling drugs. Wahlberg comes out of retirement to keep the kid alive by coming up with 700,000.00 to pay off Briggs, played very well by Giovani Ribsi. Wahlberg and his crew set sail for Panama while his best friend Sebastion(Ben Foster) keeps his kids and wife (Kate Beckinsale) safe.

 The smuggling plot is fantastic. Your interest is kept trying to figure out how they can actually pull this off in the small amount of time given. They must avoid drug lords, U.S. Customs, and the corrupt ship Captain, played perfectly by J.K. Simmons (J Jonah Jameson-Spider man). There are obvious twists that you see coming, but the over all smuggling operation is done very well. Wahlberg is completely believable and Ben Foster is creepy in almost every movie he has been in. Giovani Ribsi plays the tattooed out thug perfectly and Kate Beckinsale is good, even though she does little more than be troubled and look smokin hot! Next we see how well she can do in the next installment of Underworld.

 I personally like Mark Wahlberg when he plays the intelligent criminal. Contraband is a lot like the Italian Job minus all the Mini Cooper fun, but still very fun to watch. Their could be potential tough competition this weekend from Beauty And The Beast and Joyful Noise, but Contraband definitely packs some bang for the buck. Good cast. Good plot. Good movie.