Contraband

Contraband was released earlier this year into theaters in mid-January, and only until now, did I feel like watching it. I don't know. I just didn't feel like going to go and pay $10.00 to see it in theaters when it was still in. Well, I have finally gotten around to watching it, and I really must say, that I think that it would have been certainly well worth it to go and see it when it was still in theaters, and that while it is still a good movie, than when you watch it on DVD, you just really don't get the full experience of the movie, overall, and that I think that it would probably be best viewed in theaters. But, anyways, here we go. Now, Contraband tells the story of Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg, still rocking the action movie roles), a man, who, back in his day, was one of the best smugglers around. now, he just want's to have a nice quiet life with his family and friends, and to focus mainly on his home built business of selling and installing house alarms. Well, that is, until his wife's (Kate Beckinsale) younger brother, who is also a smuggler, get's involved in a botched attempt for a very powerful and sadistic smuggler named Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi, who plays the role beautifully, and very memorably), who does not take this news very well. Soon, Chris is sent oft Panama, where he must find an alternate way to pay him back. Now, Contraband is a unusually well made film, with lot's of time and effort got into the production, including some very gritty performances from the entire cast, but not limited to oodles of suspense, gritty camerawork and cinematography, and even some very well shot-action sequences, which really make this thriller easily worth checking out, or maybe, dare I even say it, even worth a blind buy, perhaps. But, this movie is Rated R, and is absolutely, in no way at all, intended for children: There is infrequent but very strong brutal violence throughout, including one extended and very long shootout sequences, with lots of dead bodies, spraying blood and gore; also, there are a substantial amount of brutal beatings, scuffles, fighting and arguments, not to mention a very memorable sequences where the main villain breaks into the main characters home when he is away, and threatens his wife and young children with a gun, all the while using terror against them. Also, there is frequent drug use, as well, including several scenes of it being packaged and distributed, and even one scene of a main character briefly snorting a line of cocaine on a coffee table. and, finally, and most explicit of all, there is a massive amount of profanity throughout the movie, including 173 F-words and it's derivatives, but also including many, many uses each of sh-t, h-ll, g-dd-mn, d-mn, p-ss, c-nt and more. So, even though Contraband was released in the movie dead zone known as January, it is definitely worth a look see for most fans of action films and thrillers. Definitely reccomended.