As in many action films, pretty
much everything is pre-determined here. We
know the hero is going to overcome all odds, it’s just how those odds are
overcome that’s in question; we know the ending will be happy; it’s just how
close to potential unhappiness the script will take us and what kind of unhappiness,
and how cleverly the ending can be arranged so that the audience leaves with a
positive feeling (which serves a marketing need). We’re
used to accepting that somehow the bad guy always takes a bullet, while the good
guy always evades the bullets, even when they’re coming from an assault
weapon that shoots dozens of rounds per second, that the baddest of the bad
guys is always the last bad guy standing until of course he falls, but it’s difficult
to accept the more mundane miracles closer to the ones we face every day – like
how does the hero master the congestion of downtown traffic so well, how does
he get where he needs to be in the nick of time, despite all the cars, buses,
trucks, pedestrians in his way?
Contraband steals a crucial
plot element from one of my favorite movies, “Once Upon a Time in America,” a
film that does show the toll a life of crime takes -- or any life for that matter -- even on those who manage to come
out on top.
Contraband gives us blue
collar heroes gaming the system to the tune of millions of dollars turning
action into fantasy, and therein may lie its true audience appeal, especially these
days.
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