Contraband (2012)

Mark Wahlberg headlines “Contraband,” a gritty tale of a smuggler turned legit family man and business owner. The movie opens on a cargo ship as two guys dump a 10-pound bag of coke in the drink during a police raid. Big mistake. The drug bosses (headed by Giovanni Ribisi, looking gaunt and wicked) want $700,000, or else. So back Wahlberg goes to the smuggling biz as one of the dopes –- the other now dead -– is his brother-in-law, and blood is blood. Kate Beckinsale is the wife, Ben Foster the best pal. Director Baltasar Kormákur keeps tense twists and shockers coming, and his climax goes against the grain of every standard revenge flick. It’s smart. Bloody. Violent. And funny as hell as during his complicated, miserable trip to Panama City, Wahlberg’s back-in-the-saddle smuggler comes across a Jackson Pollack, a massive fortune which everyone else mistakes for a drop cloth. Wahlberg is the stalwart hero, but it's both Ribisi and Foster who give the film its hot, dark pulse, the former carrying on business as his daughter watches. B+

Pandorum (2009)

In space, no one can hear you sigh. “Pandorum” is one of those giddy sci-fi flicks where some monstrous species hunts the crew members of a vast ship, promising thrills, blood and madness. We start off smart with a claustrophobic nightmare as astronaut Bower (Ben Foster) awakens from hyper-sleep in a tube that resembles a coffin. He’s panicked, covered in dead skin tissue and his memory is a wiped-out mess. With the help of his equally dazed and confused commander (Dennis Quaid), Bower learns two things quickly: The ship is a last-ditch haven for the human race, and (!!!) they are not alone. Alas, the dye is cast the second Quaid recalls a story about previous space travelers wigging out crazy after hyper-sleep. Director Christian Alvart and his writers serve up 30-year-old shitty leftovers, from the self-sacrificing minority to the “shocker” betrayal that was obvious an hour before. I love the art design and the penultimate climax with Foster crawling to salvation, but in the end it’s all sighs, few screams. B-

The Messenger (2009)

"The Messenger" sets out to tell us about the difficult task faced by U.S. Army personnel assigned to the job of informing parents and spouses that their loved one has died. Sets out, but fails. Ben Foster (“3:10 to Yuma”) is Will Montgomery, a wounded veteran with three months remaining on his contract. He’s tasked, with as much training as I received writing press releases, into this notification duty under all-rules, no-hugs Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). When the two set out to inform families, this is a heartbreaking piece of cinema. Yet, miscalculated dramatics bring ruin. Will near stalks a new war widow because he … feels sorry for her? Is in love? Either way, it's bogus. Long stretches of scenes ring false. "Hurt Locker" had several scenes anti-logical to (what little I know of) military practice, but it excelled in its human truths. This doesn't. The acting is superb -- Foster owns the film, and Harrelson provides fine support -- yet there must be a better depiction out there that treats this vital task with the absolute seriousness in which it must be carried out. B-