Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

'Contraband' features all the cliches of the genric crime thriller: the nice-guy retired smugler, forced to do one last job for the good of his family; some psychotic villains; a fast-paced plot laced with double-crossing; and various dramatic but not particularly coherent action scenes. It's as shallow as hell, not nearly as cool as it thinks it is, but still quite entertaining in a dumb sort of way. The finale on the building site, however, is frankly preposterous, and there's little in the way of emotional pay-off at the end.

Contraband is a very poor movie with an average storyline and a decent cast. It's simply a very typical action thriller, it's nothing more than that, it never try's to be anything more, the cast knew what is was and because of that they delivered very uninspired performances, there is nothing that makes this movie special or different whatsoever. I did think it had some good tense scenes that the movie needed more of, parts that got the audience nervous and anxious, those were certainly the best parts, I think the scene towards the beginning between Mark Wahlberg and Giovanni Ribisi was one of the best parts as we got to see the actors shine and it was quite intense. The films plot is definitely the weakest aspect of this, it starts off so simple that your brain isn't bothered to pay too much attention to it, and eventually becomes so convoluted that you can't keep up, it all comes together at the end but I was certainly scratching my head for a while. It's not terrible, but there is nothing special or unique about Contraband, which I think every movie should be in some way, and because of that I wouldn't recommend it. When his brother in law falls in debt with a murderous drug lord, a former smuggler returns to a life of crime. Best Performance: Mark Wahlberg Worst Performance: Kate Beckinsale

I do hope this is the worst film Wahlberg has been in, coz it would be hard to imagine one worse. It is a tiresome, generic, 'last time heist' protagonist reformed crim who has to take on one last job where every conceivable thing goes wrong. You can almost hear the scriptwriters daring each other to put in yet another ridiculous clichéd line. The only good thing is the laughs at how slapstick scene after slapstick scene is piled on top of the last one. Couldn't even make it to the end. Nothing makes sense, people take pointless risks, the nasty dealer is mental ...and so on....Not even sure why this film was made.Never made the big screen in the UK; but then, only the better Hollywood movies do, which tells you something. Even the rip off scene from The Italian Job(original and best) should be funnier, but by then I was slipping into a coma...

I disliked Aaron Gozikowiski's screenplay, because of the very poor character development. So no wonder it was so flat. It resulted to me not having an emotion or very deep opinion on the actors' roles. Their backstories could have been richer and mentioned a lot more in their dialogue. The Hollywood stars should have had improvised scenes which would of gave them the opportunity to enrich the psychological dimension of their roles. But it had to be a big and fat no…… no. Chris Ferriday was the reformed narcotic trafficker who had two sons and a wife. The main character had a legal self-employed job, fixing security alarms for customers. What I could not stand was that Chris was not shown bonding with his family or having a deep discussion about his up bringing and his old world of smuggling. The director Baltasar Kormákur could of allowed flash backs on his past. I wish the actors could of improvised scenes so that their roles could stand out in the movie. Kate Ferriday (Chris's wife) was hardly exposed in recording spending time with her children unless something dramatic happened. It did not explore her own opinion about parenting or how she raised her two sons. I did not know what type of relationship she had with her biological brother Andy who messed things up. Kate barely played a part in the film. Talking about Andy what influenced him into the world of smuggling? Was he pressured into that underworld society by criminals like Tim Briggs? Could Andy of been remorseless including not caring about those who would suffer from his trafficked drugs? More of these moral questions were left as question marks. Tim Brigs was just a complete sociopathic maniac who just got out of prison. He re offends and carries on his profitable narcotic dealing. He is a single parent who raises her daughter in a poor conditioned ghetto. What happened to his partner who gave birth to his daughter Zoe? Who looked after Zoe when Tim Briggs was locked upped in prison? What triggered the man to be such a monster? Well there were no answers when I watched the film. The storyline mainly focused on massive shoot outs and the underworld of trafficking. Baltasar Kormákur The director gave me an urban shot of New Orleans. He used camera zooming and a bird's eye view so that the landscape could be admired. Unfortunately, there were so many quick glimpse shots which became erratic after a while. In some scenes I could not clearly understand what was going on because of Baltasar Kormákur directing. But on the other hand, I appreciated the city-related cinematography especially at night time. That was when I could see colours stand out from a shady background. Barry Ackroyd did a fantastic job at that. What would put my frown upside down was the African Jazz and the electronic soundtrack. Clinton Shorter's electronic music made me feel like I was sucked into an urban and gripping atmosphere. To balance my judgement I will give 'Contraband' a 5 ½ /10