MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Down 11 this week

Contraband (2012)

 -  Action | Crime | Drama  -  13 January 2012 (USA)
6.4
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.4/10 from 63,273 users   Metascore: 51/100
Reviews: 139 user | 249 critic | 38 from Metacritic.com

To protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord, a former smuggler heads to Panama to score millions of dollars in counterfeit bills.

Director:

Writers:

(screenplay), (film "Reykjavik-Rotterdam"), 1 more credit »
Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 101 titles created 03 Dec 2011
 
a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 574 titles created 18 Jul 2011
 
a list of 2653 titles created 11 months ago
 
a list of 88 titles created 24 Jan 2012
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Contraband (2012)

Contraband (2012) on IMDb 6.4/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Contraband.

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

As a police psychologist works to talk down an ex-con who is threatening to jump from a Manhattan hotel rooftop, the biggest diamond heist ever committed is in motion.

Director: Asger Leth
Stars: Sam Worthington, Mandy Gonzalez, Jamie Bell
The Raven I (2012)
Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.

Director: James McTeigue
Stars: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve
Cleanskin (2012)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A British secret service agent is faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a British-born suicide bomber and his terrorist cell.

Director: Hadi Hajaig
Stars: Sean Bean, Charlotte Rampling, Abhin Galeya
Blitz (2011)
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.

Director: Elliott Lester
Stars: Jason Statham, Paddy Considine, Aidan Gillen
Limitless I (2011)
Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A writer discovers a top-secret drug which bestows him with super human abilities.

Director: Neil Burger
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish
Headhunters (2011)
Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

An accomplished headhunter risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary.

Director: Morten Tyldum
Stars: Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Synnøve Macody Lund
Panic Room (2002)
Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A woman and her teenage daughter become imprisoned in the panic room of their own house by 3 criminals.

Director: David Fincher
Stars: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker
Red Lights (2012)
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

Psychologist Margaret Matheson and her assistant study paranormal activity, which leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic who has resurfaced years after his toughest critic mysteriously passed away.

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro
Side Effects I (2013)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A young woman's world unravels when a drug prescribed by her psychiatrist has unexpected side effects.

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Stars: Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law
Margin Call (2011)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

Follows the key people at an investment bank, over a 24-hour period, during the early stages of the financial crisis.

Director: J.C. Chandor
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto
Red Eye (2005)
Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in offing a politician.

Director: Wes Craven
Stars: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox
Point Blank (2010)
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche) is a nurse who saves the wrong guy -- a thief (Roschdy Zem) whose henchmen take Samuel's pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) hostage to force him to spring their ... See full summary »

Director: Fred Cavayé
Stars: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
Danny Raymer
...
...
Gonzalo
...
Captain Camp
...
Jim Church
...
Bud Farraday
...
Olaf
...
John Bryce
Jason Mitchell ...
Walter
Paul LeBlanc ...
CBP Official
...
Danny's Bride
Edit

Storyline

Chris Faraday once smuggled illegal items or contraband into the country on freighters. He left that life behind, got married has a family and went legit. But when his brother-in-law got involved with Briggs, a drug dealer and when he blew a deal, Briggs demands restitution which he can't deliver. So Chris offers to find a way to pay him but the he threatens Chris' family if he doesn't deliver. So he gets on a freighter destined for Panama and he sets out to bring back some counterfeit currency. Briggs "goes to see" Chris' family. When Chris learns of this he asks his friend Sebastian to take care of them which he does. He tells Chris that it would be better to bring drugs instead of the cash. Written by rcs0411@yahoo.com

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

What would you hide to protect your family?


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

| |  »

Country:

| |

Language:

Release Date:

13 January 2012 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Contrabando  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$24,349,815 (USA) (13 January 2012)

Gross:

$66,489,425 (USA) (9 March 2012)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Baltasar Kormákur, director of the film, was the lead actor of the original film, Reykjavik-Rotterdam, playing the same role as Mark Wahlberg. See more »

Goofs

Captain Camp would not have been at the helm while his ship was passing through the Panama Canal. Panama Canal pilots take over the ship during passage. See more »

Quotes

Chris Farraday: I've got to try and fix this. Trust me, I know what I'm doing.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Chelsea Lately: Episode #6.12 (2012) See more »

Soundtracks

"Only Time"
Written by Matthew Nawada, Jason Anthony Leach
Performed by Jay Fresko
Courtesy of InDigi Music and South Coast Records
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Contraband is Paint by Numbers
13 January 2012 | by (Hollywood) – See all my reviews

Contraband is a paint by numbers action/thriller. It would be easy to pick on everything that this movie wasn't, but can you blame chicken nuggets for being chicken nuggets? With a rookie screenwriter at the helm, the script suffers from a mash-up of cliché's. They start with "One last heist" and end with "If you want to save your family you'll do as you're told". There were many déjà-vu moments of been there and done that.

The star power was strong, but given so very little to work with in the way of character back story. All the characters were two dimensional representations of stereotypes. The locations (New Orleans & Panama) were interesting choices but never really quite fit. While the movie wasn't action packed, it moved at a good pace and kept my interest the whole time. The film work was solid as a whole. There was one particular action sequence that takes place around the halfway mark that was done very well.

If you have a craving that only chicken nuggets will satisfy, then I think you will come away fairly happy. Not a necessity to see on the big screen, but that helps it a little. Leave your thinking cap outside, that's the contraband that will keep you from enjoying this as it was intended.


66 of 89 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
just how pervasive is the language grobanite2004
What's with all the negative comments? Mikaela90
6.6 ? No way ! ilkerimin
Duct tape masks..... DrOcktagon
Such a strange movie... august-eighty
'Cell service sucks on the river' snappy_111
Discuss Contraband (2012) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?