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Movie Critic

In: Film and Music

Submitted By sammy12
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MOVIE CRITIC PAPER
Action and Adventure
Barbara Jones
Hum/ 150 Film Studies
September 24, 2012
Deborah Taylor

When I decided to watch a movie for my critic paper I wanted a film that had a little bit of action, adventure and thriller. I came across the movie Contraband. The mise-en-scene of this film was based on Mark Wahlberg as Chris Farraday; he was a master drug smuggler who had tried to settled down in a normal life as a working dad and loving husband. But his wife in the movie Katie played by (Katie Beckinsale) had a teeage brother in the movie Andy played by (Caleb Jones). During the beginning part of the movie Andy was on a drug run trying to smuggle drugs in on a ship for a drug dealer name Tim played by (Giovanni Ribis) but during his drug run Andy was forced to drop a huge shipment of cocaine off the ship because customs was checking ship making sure it was drug free. And because of that Andy lands himself, Katie, Chris into a huge financial problem.
Chris (Mark Wahlberg) tried to negotiate with Tim Briggs to pay him back the money that was lost cause of the cocaine drugs being dumped off the ship. However Tim only gives Chris and Andy 2 weeks to give him back the money that was lost due to him dumping the drugs off the ship. Chris now has to make the decision to get back into the game of smuggling drugs and trying to bring in counterfeit money to save his brother in law from being killed. Chris rounds up a few friends to go with him to Panama to help him pull off a scheme that involved counterfeit bills and Andy is picking up the drugs. But of course things didn’t go as planned leaving Chris and his friends in more trouble and in rough spots.

I think that the editing of the movie was appropriate because the movie was based on a former drug smuggler that heads to Panama to score millions of dollars in fake money just to protect his brother in law Andy from Tim the guy he owes money too.
The sound was effective in many ways because I felt that the beat of the “The Crew” was very suspenseful and the beat from Panama made me feel anxious to see what was going to happen next. Van heist was like Rock n Roll and my heart was pounding the entire time. There were a few bar scenes that I felt the music selection was great because I felt it put me at the bar alongside them. Overall the music and sounds of this movie were great and perfect for the movie.
The Cinematography of this film I would say is generally a great movie the actor played by Mark Wahlberg was very convincing as a drug smuggler. Like most thriller film this one had a lot of action and story line. The mover is basically about blue collar criminals, smuggler and revenge. There was non stop action and crime taking place. I didn’t like the ending to much though it was like 99% of the movies, always a happy ending.

This film was placed in good context in my opinion because its stayed on with the topic, Chris abandoned his life of crime but when his brother in law found himself into drug trouble he felt that he had to help his brother in law out by returning to life of smuggling drugs to save his wife brother and get him out of the trouble and turmoil he got himself into.

The influence that the movie gave me was a little odd in my opinion the film doesn’t offer a whole lot of one element for it to be an action film. There wasn’t that much action it felt more like a thriller. There was a lot of twist and turns and a few surprises throughout the entire movie. The movie was a standard plot I think it moved or transitioned from A, B to C fairly well, the camera angles and lighting of the film was perfect the way the producer had it. The genre I would say this film is would be Action, thriller and adventure. The movie followed a lot to these genres. Maybe not so much action but more of a thriller and adventure.

The motion picture was very enjoyable it was a modern day thriller, action film with a few twist and turns it was a suitable distraction for my family and I to watch. If you like a lot of action then this movie isn’t for you, however if you like a relaxing yet anxious adventure movie then this movie would be great for your family.

In my opinion this class has changed my views of motion picture and film because at first, I wasn’t sure why I would need to take this class and after the first few weeks I realized that in life we are all critics about everything and we all have an opinion about everything. I have much appreciation for the modern and older films thanks to this class. It has taken me threw a journey of production, lights, camera angles, long shots, movie cuts, and many other adventures of what a motion picture movie really is. Me as an audience wouldn’t have really observed and never noticed before this class. I think I can get a real enjoyment from watching films nowadays. Also understanding the process of what it take to build a movie production and why it relates to the movie I am watching it the most interesting part that I got out of this class. This course definitely helped me learn more about films and different types of genre for movies and movie style I would recommend this class to everyone no matter what subject they are taking.

The star rating for Contraband would have to be an overall 3 out of 4 because in my opinion I wasn’t sure how normal people can hop onto a cargo ship and it didn’t take long to get from the states to Panama, they made the ride out to sea so fast. And I felt that there were a few movie cuts that didn’t add up. But none the less I would recommend this film to thriller or Action watchers. I think it was a great movie.

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