Due to yet another poor release weekend, something I found odd due to the Easter bank holiday, we decided to see a picture that we had heard very little about and had only seen the trailer for. The trailer looks like it is your typical action flick. Well after viewing I can tell you it is a lot worse than your typical action flick. This makes Contraband look as intelligent as Inception.
The film stars some pretty big names. For starters we have Henry Cavill, who may not be huge at the moment but after playing Superman in next years Man Of Steel I'm sure producers will be queuing up to sign him. On this showing however maybe that won't be the case. I assume that this film was a building block for Mr Cavill to bolster his profile but it doesn't really do him any favours. He waltzes around looking confused and as if he is strangely straining. He does not do himself justice here. Other big stars are Bruce Willis, who plays pretty much Bruce Willis, again, and Sigourney Weaver who looks and acts like she believes she is better than this film. You're not wrong Sigourney you are.
The film has so many flaws. It starts off alright and we see some beautiful scenery and some tension whilst having dinner on the family yacht. However some of this tension never comes to anything and the build up of Will (Cavill)'s job has no relevance. Once the family are kidnapped, and we move into the second act, the film plummets and at speed. The actions scenes are ridiculous, Weaver is a veteran CIA agent yet misses a shot from less that ten yards with a semi automatic gun. Whoever trained her must be useless. Then you see Cavill run through a house in seconds being chased by Weaver who seems to take minutes to walk the same route, with an empty fridge being a barrier too far when they get to it. For CIA agents chasing Will for a World changing briefcase stolen by his Father they are hopeless.
The plots is also all over the place with several twists added in for the sake of it. One being a loose connection to a woman Will teams up with. The twist just springs from nowhere at all and makes little sense. The point of the briefcase is never mentioned, which wasn't a huge problem as they never made me care for it anyway but poor exposition told us they weren't going to make us aware of the briefcase. Also the title of the film has no relevance to the film what so ever. The title sounds good but won't make it good.
It is a complete mess, from the script which tells you everything through poor dialogue to the characters that you really don't care about. I have to say I hated this film. There was so much wrong with it that I'm struggling to find anything good to say about it. Perhaps the fact that it is mindless, although I'd advise Die Hard for that, or that it has a good car chase at the end, although I'd advise The Bourne films for that. You know all in all I advise you do not even waste your time and money on this movie.Pros: Title sounds cool. Climatic car chase.
Cons: Everything else.
3.5 / 10
Top 10 of 2012 so far:
1. The Hunger Games 8 / 10
2. 21 Jump Street 7.5 / 10
3. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 7 / 10
4. The Grey 7 / 10
5. Safe House 6 / 10
6. The Raven 6 / 10
7. Contraband 6 / 10
8. This Means War 5 / 10
9. Man On A Ledge 5 / 10
10. J. Edgar 4.5 / 10
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