As much as people grimace when they think of Marky Mark from the 90’s, Mark Wahlberg has grown up to be a great actor in his own right. For me, he has elevated his craft to the point where I am happy to see any new movie has has him attached to it, even when the trailer promises an overused plot. Such is the case with Contraband.

My faith in Wahlberg paid off.

Wahlberg’s recent movie choices have been of high quality (The Fighter comes to mind.) With this in mind, I was hopeful that Contraband would be enjoyable, if predictable. And while it was predictable, there was one twist had surprised both me and the audience. I won’t ruin this for you, as I plan to keep these reviews as free of spoilers as I can.

In this movie, Wahlberg plays a retired smuggler who is drawn back into the life for one final job. I know, I know, this is what had me worried too, but I needn’t have been concerned at all. Wahlberg does a great job of building a real person. His “anti-hero” character of Chris Faraday was one that we could all stand behind and root for, and Wahlberg did a great job of keeping his characterization fresh.

Joining Wahlberg in this movie is John Foster (who plays Faraday’s fellow retired smuggler) and Giovanni Ribisi (the villian of the movie). Foster did a great job supporting Wahlberg’s Faraday, and has the important job of keeping Faraday’s family safe when Fraday takes this one last job.

Ribisi does a great job as the villain Tim Briggs. Briggs plays an up and coming underworld boss who Faraday has to pay off to save his family. As always, Ribisi does a great job of making you feel uncomfortable and maintaining a feeling of instability in his character.

I definately recommend that you see Contraband. For more information about this movie, visit IMDB at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1524137/.