Contraband (DVD)

Contraband is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormákur, starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Caleb Landry Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Diego Luna and J. K. Simmons. The film is a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam which Baltasar Kormákur starred in. It was released on January 13, 2012 in the United States by Universal Pictures.

Plot

This article s plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Former smuggler Chris Farraday lives a peaceful life with his wife, Kate, and their two sons in New Orleans. They learn that Kate s brother Andy was smuggling drugs, but disposed of them in the Mississippi River during a surprise inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Andy s boss, Tim Briggs threatens to kill Chris s family if Andy does not reimburse him for the drugs. Chris returns to smuggling to raise the money, working with his former partner, Sebastian Abney, who now works in construction. Chris then joins a cargo ship, planning to buy $10 million in fake bills in Panama and smuggle them into the U.S. He is joined by Andy, and his good friend Danny Raymer. After Briggs breaks into Chris s house and intimidates Kate and their children, they move into Sebastian s house for safety.

In Panama, Chris discovers that the only one who can provide high quality fake bills is crime lord Gonzalo. Leaving Andy in the van with the money for the fake bills, Chris meets with Gonzalo to negotiate. Briggs calls Andy, threatens to kill one of Chris s sons and forces him to take the money to buy cocaine. With the money gone, Chris and Danny agree to help Gonzalo rob an armored car in exchange for the fake bills. During the robbery, Gonzalo and his men are killed, but Chris and Danny successfully steal a Jackson Pollock painting that resembles a splattered tarp. Upon reaching the docks, Chris and Danny place the van with the contraband into a container, which is loaded onto their cargo ship.

Meanwhile, Sebastian, desperate to pay gangster Jim Church, has been secretly working with Briggs. Sebastian calls Chris and learns that Chris plans to get rid of the cocaine Andy bought. Sebastian instructs Briggs to threaten Kate, and through her, Briggs warns Chris not to dump the cocaine. Sebastian contacts the cargo ship s captain, Camp tells him of Chris s smuggled contraband, and promises him a share if he secures it. Unable to get Chris to give up the contraband, Camp calls U.S. Customs to inspect the ship in New Orleans. The Customs agents find the container with Chris s van, though it is empty except for the painting, which they ignore.

Once Chris is on shore, Briggs and his thugs demand the cocaine. Chris takes Briggs to Camp s house, having made a duplicate key while on the ship, and activates the security system. After giving Briggs and his gang the cocaine, Chris sneaks out. Camp awakens to the noise and encounters the gang as the police arrive. Both Briggs s group and Camp are then arrested for possession of the cocaine.

Warned by Chris, Kate leaves Sebastian s house. When she goes back to retrieve some personal items, she has a confrontation with Sebastian, who accidentally pushes her against a bathtub. Thinking she is dead, he dumps her unconscious body in a foundation at one of his construction sites. Chris goes to Sebastian s construction site and beats him up for his betrayal, then manages to locate and save Kate by calling her cellphone. Sebastian is arrested and sent to prison, where he is greeted by a lynch mob.

Danny retrieves the fake bills, which were dumped into the Mississippi River by Chris before docking in New Orleans. At a U.S. Customs auction, Andy buys the escape van confiscated from the cargo ship, and finds the painting still in it. Church pays Chris $3 million for the fake bills and asks about the missing painting, which Chris learns can be fenced for over $20 million on the black market. With the money, Chris, Kate, their children, and Andy begin a new life in a waterfront house.

Cast

• Mark Wahlberg as Chris Farraday
• Kate Beckinsale as Kate Farraday
• Ben Foster as Sebastian Abney
• Caleb Landry Jones as Andy
• Giovanni Ribisi as Tim Briggs
• Diego Luna as Gonzalo
• J. K. Simmons as Captain Redmond Camp
• Lukas Haas as Danny Raymer
• Robert Wahlberg as John Bryce
• Jaqueline Fleming as Jeanie Goldare
• William Lucking as Bud Farraday
• David O Hara as Jim Church
• Kirk Bovill as Crewman
• Lucky Johnson as Tarik
• Viktor Hernandez as Edwin
• Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Olaf
• Jason Mitchell as Walter

Production

Filming took place in New Orleans, Louisiana and Panama City.

Release

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 51% based on 165 reviews, with an average score of 5.4/10. The site s critics consensus states: 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. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews . Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade A− on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 and felt that Contraband involves a lot of energy, but he was growing tired of violent retreads of these heist elements. Tom Long of The Detroit News criticized the film for having too much plot and too little character and concluded that it comes off the factory floor with its engine running and ready to drive. But the ride feels overly familiar. Claudia Puig of USA Today called the one last job trope ... a particularly tired one and remarked that while it has a few moments of tension, the film adheres to a predictable heist formula hardly worth trafficking in. Andrew O Hehir of Salon characterized the film as exactly the sort of movie that Hollywood specializes in, the kind which seems on paper as if it ought to be entertaining, but winds up a massive and chaotic drag and observed that it s much more like a cynical hash job, whose faux-realistic manner can t hide all the hackneyed crime-movie situations.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone thought the film goes down in a sea of Hollywood clichés and that Mark Wahlberg could sleepwalk through this role, and does. See this movie and you ll surely follow his lead. Kyle Smith of the New York Post derided the film, noting that watching a hero progress due in large part to lucky breaks and idiot moves by others does not make a movie and that it s puzzling why anyone considered this script worth shooting. Scott Tobias of NPR dismissed the film as a mediocre thriller, something to be remembered, vaguely. Rafer Guzman of Newsday expressed disappointment that a little action is all you ll get and opined that the film fails by overreaching: It aspires to the heightened drama of The Departed but lands instead in the bargain bin of forgettable action product.

Justin Chang of Variety praised the film as reasonably swift and effective and for taking a hard-driving line of action and a commitment to one-damned-thing-after-another storytelling , while suffering from preposterous detours. Michael O Sullivan of The Washington Post compared the film to an Ocean s Eleven movie, minus the glamour . Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly stated that the film, while often grungy and far-fetched, does keep you watching , which is sufficient for a film released in January.

Home media

Contraband was released to DVD and Blu-ray on April 24, 2012.

The Blu-ray was reissued in twice 2015 and 2019. In 2021, Mill Creek Entertainment released a Blu-ray double feature featuring Contraband and fellow Universal Fear in which Mark Wahlberg also starred in.

Condition

New

Publisher

Universal

Published Date

2012

Age Group

Adult

Rating MPA

R

Recording Studio

Universal

Format

DVD

Brand

Universal

Amazon ASIN

B005LAIGLE

UPC / EAN

025192104381

Year

2012

ReleaseDate

2012-01-13

RuntimeMins

109

RuntimeStr

1h 49min

Awards

Awards, 1 win

Directors

Baltasar Kormákur

Writers

Aaron Guzikowski, Arnaldur Indriðason, Óskar Jónasson

Stars

Mark Wahlberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Beckinsale

Produced by

Tim Bevan, Liza Chasin, Eric Fellner, Evan Hayes, Bill Johnson, Baltasar Kormákur, Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg

Music by

Clinton Shorter

Cinematography by

Barry Ackroyd

Film Editing by

Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir

Casting By

Sheila Jaffe, Tracy Kilpatrick

Production Design by

Tony Fanning

Art Direction by

Dennis Bradford

Set Decoration by

Cynthia La Jeunesse

Costume Design by

Jenny Eagan

Makeup Department

Leo Corey Castellano, Cheryl Daniels, Krystal Kershaw, Erica Kyker, Ann Masterson, Donita Miller, Carlos Savant, Johnny Villanueva, Erica Brunson, Jami Ross

Production Management

Deborah Harding, Bill Johnson, Peter J. Novak, Michelle Wright

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Timothy Blockburger, Cara Giallanza, Chris Gibson, Eric Henriquez, Darrin Prescott, Chip Touhey, Xanthus Valan, Michele 'Shelley' Ziegler

Art Department

Dean Allison, J. Todd Anderson, Jack Blanchard, Michael P. Cantrell, Andrew M. Casbon III, Scott Childers, Iggie Colomer, Austin Grehan, Claire Hassig, Jerry G. Henery, Eric Herzog, Drew Hittie, John Edwin Howard, Jason Glenn Jimes, Joshua David Johnston, Rob Joy, Steven Kerlagon, April LaBranche, Nicole LaBranche, Andree Lago, Alexander Lasseigne III, Brian Murray, Christina Myal, David Myers, Abby Taylor Navran, Jesse Michael Owen, Cory Parker, Jason Perlander, Pavel Pesta, Jack Reeves, Mitch Rogers, Eric Rood, Brian J. Simpson, Tim Tillman, Lisa Tong, David Tureau, Victor Villarreal, David Warburton, Gregory A. Weimerskirch, Andrew Wert, Brad Quintana

Sound Department

Wade Barnett, Adam Blantz, Andy Botham, Luke Brown, Richard Bullock Jr., Chris Burdon, Peter Burgis, Ernesto Cantu, Paul Carter, Matthew Collinge, Pud Cusack, Sebastian Dale, Matt Davies, Robert Fernandez, Samir Foco, Glen Gathard, Arthur Graley, Ingmar Herrera, James Hyde, Dan Izen, Eric Ledet, Travis MacKay, Joe Maher, Alexander Markowski, Michael Maroussas, Markus Moll, Rob Prynne, Gavin Rose, Danny Sheehan, Andy Stallabrass, Jason Swanscott, Sven Taits, Carlos Beto Urriola, Chris Welcker, Bobby Aycock, Robert Karlsson

Special Effects by

Ray Brown, Michael H. Clark, Beau Crouch, Patrick Cupp, Matthew A. Hahn, Jeff Miller

Visual Effects by

Jörundur Rafn Arnarson, Fiorenza Bagnariol, Valdimar Baldvinsson, Jarnail Bhachu, Matthias Bjarnason, Ella Boliver, Howard Cabalfin, Billy A. Campbell, Maxime Chaix, Kelly Chang, Michael Christophersson, Andreas Cronström, Janelle Croshaw, Dadi Einarsson, Sigurður Eyþórsson, Rui Gomes, Heiðrún Tinna Haraldsdóttir, Sara Hilmarsdóttir, Aron Hjartarson, Leslie Hough, Timothy P. Jones, Eva Kristjáns, Linda Hrönn Kristjánsdóttir, Helgi Laxdal, Henrik Linnet, Peter Marin, Ivan Moran, Salima Needham, John Palmer, Rob Pizzey, Aurora Shannon, Simon Hjalti Sverrisson, Gunnhildur Thorkelsdottir, Stefan Thorsson, Valur Zophoníasson

Stunts

David Ali, Wade Allen, Jay Amor, Hank Amos, Stanton Barrett, John Bernecker, Trace Cheramie, Max Daniels, Birna Paulina Einarsdottir, Chris J. Fanguy, Eddie J. Fernandez, Brannon Galmon, Jeff Galpin, Sean Graham, Regis Harrington, Daniel Hernandez, Raion Hill, Henry Kingi Jr., Nito Larioza, Elton LeBlanc, Mike Mayhall, Jeff Medeiros, Gabriel Nunez, Eddie Perez, Darrin Prescott, Eric R Salas, Elena Sanchez, Bruce Sanders Jr., Felipe Savahge, Tim J. Smith, Matt Thompson, Rudolf Weber, Joe Nin Williams, Mike Wilson, Keith Woulard, Ned Yousef, Sala Baker

Camera and Electrical Department

Gerald Autin, Gerard Bartley, Giovanni Bommarito, Nel Boshoff, Chip Carey, Joe Cassano, Michael Charbonnet, Michael Ciancio, Kenneth Coblentz, Justin Cooley, Oliver Driscoll, Jason Ellson, Sean Finnegan, Carter Lee Garrett, Philip Giroir, Mike Grace, Tonja Greenfield, Henry Guzman, Omar Haflidason, Kris Hardy, Brad Heiner, John C. Hoffler Jr., Jerry M. Jacob, Kyle Jenkins, Christopher D. Jones, Justin LeBlanc, Josh Levy, Luis Lopez DeVictoria, Joe Lotuaco, Scott Luttrell, Einar Magnus Magnusson, James Trapper McEvoy, Mason McGuire, Dan McKee, Igor Meglic, Chad Naremore, Josh Nobles, Max Patrucco, Rachel Perlis, Patti Perret, Patrick Redmond, Brice Reid, Alfredo Rosado, Donald Roth, Jimi Ryan, Mike Satterfield, Jacob Sauerbrey, James Allen Sheppard, Wells A. Smith, Kurt E. Soderling, Nathan Spencer, Tiffani L. Stephenson, Kevin Stevenson, L. Chris Strong, Michael Stumpf, Nathan Tape, Chris Trosclair, Jeffery J. Tufano, Kristopher Weaver, Jeremy Webre, Jordan Whaley, Wylie Whitesides, Santiago Yniguez, Steve Zeiger, Scott Zuchowski, Brown Cooper

Casting Department

Vanessa Baker, Danielle Colli, Justin Coulter, Melissa Naccari Floyd, Charlotte Gale, Johnny Gidcomb, Terry L. Lamfers

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Frank Avanzo, Allison Bauserman, Lauren Bott, Lorraine Crossman, S. Aimee Helms, Logan Howcott, Felicia Leilani Jarvis, Katy Johnson, Meagan McLaughlin, Misti Moreaux, Nina Padovano, Sebastian Rey, Senna Shanti, Sarah Yellin, Kasey Bazil Young

Editorial Department

Billy A. Campbell, Gilbert Carreras, Zach Chamberlin, Tritia Espinoza, Cheryl Goodbody, Emily Greenwood, David Jonsson, Patrick Malone, Lucy Mitra, Rex M. Teese, Justin Tillett, Laurent Treherne, Jon Ellis

Location Management

Jorge Cunningham, Elizabeth Elwell, Jeremy Fiske, David P Hebert, Lisa Latter, Andre Le, Albert Quaid, Lauren Rae Sullivan, Sam Tedesco, Mark Welch

Music Department

Pete Anthony, Geoff Foster, Aiko Fukushima, Mike Knobloch, Rachel Levy, Adam Miller, Matt Nawada, Quynne Alana Paxa, Sandra Schnieders, Robbie Steininger, Jeff Toyne, Gina Zimmitti, Vincent Cirilli

Script and Continuity Department

Sherie Giehtbrock, Amy Sanderson

Transportation Department

Skip Barbay, Richard Brown, Myron D. Bunch, Mitchell Greg, Connie Herring, Russell Hicks, Mike Holubar, Rene Horstmann, Earl R. Hurst Sr., Mary Jumpierre, Randy Kinyon, Joe Pelliccio, Josiuan Rojas, June Wischler

Additional Crew

Geoff Abadee, Christina Angeloudes, Joaquin Aragon, John Arbuckle, Gavin Atilano, Nic Benns, David Billiot, Samantha Bonilla, Kara Bowman, Beau Brasseaux, Tom Bromwich, Jennifer Brown, Dottie Buck, Michael Buster, Johanna Byer, David Calvert-Jones, Jason Chandler, Benton Collinsworth, Reed Daigle, Ashley De La Vina, Judy Dickerson, Chloe Dorigan, Michael Dorner, Zack Earl Edwards, Marty Elfalan, Caprice Ericson, Kate Fasulo, Marvin Ferguson Jr., Erica First, Bryan Foster, Maria Cecilia Arias G., Gregory Allen Gabroy, David Goodin, Sarah Gray, Dan Gutierrez, Gene Kevin Hames Jr., Andre Herrera, Letitia Hoaas, Zachary Holmes, Annie Holstein, Ann Horton, Rachel Jacob, Nikhil Jassawalla, Douglas M. Jones, Tammye Kady, Christina Killelea, Scott M. King, Justin Lacalamita, Liz Landers, Wendi Laski, Carl Lawson, Paul LeBlanc, Joshua Legg, Jessica Luebe, Robert Mazaraki, Peter McKernan, Shafer Mendoza, Matthew J. Miller, Chris Molly, Tracy Oliver, Katherine Pomfret, Rachel E. Prentiss, Leah Jennings Richard, Melissa Rosal, Tyler Samardick, Jack Sidey, Bret Slater, Gary Trentham, Amanda Uber, Christian Vogeler, Jonathan Michael Wade, Troy Waters, Eric Weinstein, Trey Wilson, Sid Yost, Ryan Catalanotto, Justin M. Hamilton, Christian Skibinski

Thanks

Rodney Bailey, Katie Gunnell, Mitch Landrieu, Carroll Morton, Newell Normand, Emil Petursson, Jim Schramm, Craig Taffaro

Genres

Action, Crime, Drama

Companies

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Working Title Films

Countries

USA, UK, France

Languages

English, Spanish

ContentRating

R

ImDbRating

6.4

ImDb Rating Votes

122833

Metacritic Rating

51

Short Description

Contraband is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormákur, starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Caleb Landry Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Diego Luna and J. K. Simmons. The film is a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam which Baltasar Kormákur starred in. It was released on January 13, 2012 in the United States by Universal Pictures.

Box Office Budget

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$24,349,815

Box Office Gross USA

$66,528,000

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$96,262,212

Keywords

Smuggling,prison,cocaine,action violence,violence