Being bumped from an awards friendly September release date to the month where films go to die, ostensibly on account of post-Aurora reshoots, should have been warning enough that all was not well with Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad. Yet, despite a stellar cast, a blistering, old fashioned ‘true’ story of gangsters, tommy guns, glamorous molls and dapper brogues, no amount of reshoots could have salvaged this muddled romp through crime ridden post war LA.
Erstwhile funnyman Seth MacFarlane — who in recent years has been tediously flogging that perennial dead horse “Family Guy” into the ground — has redeemed himself somewhat with his directorial feature debut “Ted.” Perhaps conscious of where his success stems from, MacFarlane dips his toe into live-action film while maintaining the core facets of what has made him such a star: namely, a razor-sharp script and quirky animation.
Icelandic superstar Baltasar Kormakur takes up the directorial reins on Contraband, a Hollywood remake of 2008’s Reykjavik-Rotterdam in which Kormakur played the lead role. Transporting the action to New Orleans and Panama, Kormakur’s retelling centres on smuggler gone straight Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg), who must take on one last job after his brother-in-law upsets some rather unpleasant characters. On the face of it, we’re in perfunctory thriller territory, but Kormakur’s raw directorial style, a wry screenplay and a plethora of unseemly characters ensure that Contraband duly delivers.
crash/burn 