Going into every film, we all have a certain expectation of what a movie will give us. Mark Wahlberg movies are exceptionally entertaining. They’re not always the greatest movies, but they usually never disappoint. Wahlberg usually plays a righteous yet badass character (with the exception of We Own the Night, which is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and The Happening.). You can even throw in his inspirational sports movies, Invincible and The Fighter, to add to his very likable and cool characters he ordinarily plays.

Another aspect the Wahlberg character is his ability to get the last laugh by the end of the movie. Just look at The Italian Job, Invincible, Shooter, The Fighter and  Four Brothers. Wahlberg always wins. Even in an Oscar Award winning film, The Departed, with a stellar cast, that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen, Wahlberg is the person standing in Matt Damon’s house pointing a gun at his face in the final 30 seconds of the movie.

That is the expectation. That is what the audience wants to see. That is what I wanted from this film. The question was could Contraband deliver?The greatest strength of Contraband is its cast. Every member of the cast fits perfectly into his or her role. Like I said earlier, Wahlberg plays his usual role. Kate Beckinsale is Wahlberg’s wife. That’s a great husband and wife combo because people will see the movie based on those two actors. But the solid cast didn’t stop there. Giovanni Ribisi as the main villain is a great selection. J.K. Simmons, the guy who plays Jameson in Spiderman, plays another annoying character, who thinks he has power. The actors in this movie aren’t going to win an Academy Award, but they all fit into their roles well.

Spoiler Alert: I didn’t answer the question I posed in my opening, but judging by what you saw from the previews and what I said so far did you think that Marky Mark Wahlberg would actually lose in the end? He wins, but he doesn’t kill all the people that set out to ruin his life. All his enemies get arrested at the end of the film, which isn’t as badass as we had all hoped. However, he’s a husband and a father. He can’t just kill everyone like he does in Shooter. Police would arrest him and the only time his kids would see him is through a glass window talking into phone. End of Spoiler

The plot is a little far fetched, but Contraband doesn’t need a good plot. Its purpose is to entertain and it did just that. We’ve all seen this kind of movie. We’ve all seen these characters, but people like Wahlberg’s character. If you like Mark Wahlberg, you’ll like this movie.

I’ll give it 3 out of 5 cups.

As of Jan. 22, Contraband made a domestic total of approximately $46 million versus a production budget of $25 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

Contraband has a rating of 48% at Rotten Tomatoes while users at the Internet Movie Database gave it 6.8 out of 10 stars.

To see the movie trailer for Contraband, click here.