This month Mill Creek Entertainment has released several double-feature Blu-rays sets featuring two Universal films starring the same actor. This release includes two films starring Mark Wahlberg:
Contraband (2012)
Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) was a world class smuggler who has since gone legit—he didn’t want to end up in jail like his father, Bud (William Lucking). He has settled down with wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale) and their two children, and runs his own home security installation business. Everything is going great, that is until Kate’s younger brother, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), gets involved in the smuggling business and makes a mistake that causes a large drug shipment to be lost. He now owes $750k to a ruthless former associate of Chris’, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), who threatens Chris’ family unless he gets his money. So Chris is back in the game for one more haul, and with the help of his best friend Sebastian Abney (Ben Foster), he and Andy manage to board a cargo ship headed to Panama, where they plan to smuggle a massive load of counterfeit cash. However, things don’t go quite as smoothly as planned, especially with the suspicious Captain Camp (J.K. Simmons)—the man who helped put Chris’ father away—at the helm of the ship. Chris is going to need the assistance of some old acquaintances onboard the ship—Danny (Lukas Haas) and Walter (Jason Mitchell)—if he’s going to pull this off, but time is quickly running out to save his family. At the same time, Chris can’t help but enjoy the rush and excitement of his old life.
Contraband is a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam. While I never saw the original, I found this remake to be quite entertaining, with lots of exciting twists and turns to the story (though a couple were a bit predictable). I always enjoy Mark Wahlberg’s action roles, and I was not disappointed. While delivering an action-packed performance, his character is also the heart of the film, risking his future to protect and save not only his own family, but also his brother-in-law. In addition to the action and thriller aspects of the film, there is also some humor, and a really fun chemistry between the ensemble Chris puts together to help him on his mission. J.K. Simmons’ Captain Camp makes an amusing but formidable foil for Chris on the ship, while Giovanni Ribisi’s performance is a bit over-the-top, chewing up the scenery as the moustache-twirling villain who is constantly threatening Chris’ family. His performance could have been toned down a bit, but otherwise I quite enjoyed this film.
Contraband was originally released on Blu-ray by Universal in 2012, and that release contained a plethora of bonus material, including a U-Control Picture-in-Picture behind-the-scenes track, and audio commentary with the director and co-producer, 6 minutes of deleted scenes, 25 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a digital copy. Unfortunately none of that has been carried over to this more budget-friendly Mill Creek release. The look of film is quite dark at times, and sometimes it is difficult to see what’s going on. In lighter scenes, the picture is quite remarkable, with a nice level of detail and a pleasant amount of film grain. Comparing the video to the original Universal release, it looks pretty much the same, so any limitations of the nighttime scenes are not new to this release. The audio track provides a nice immersive ambiance—this is especially noticeable when Chris first arrives at the dock and there is a lot of commotion going on, and also when gunfire erupts later in the film and bullets can be heard flying in every direction. Dialogue remains clear throughout the film.
Fear (1996)
16-year-old Nicole Walker moved from Los Angeles to Seattle a year ago to live with her father Steve (William Petersen) and his new family—wife Laura (Amy Brenneman) and son Toby (Christopher Gray). She was 9 when her father originally moved away, and they are still struggling to figure out their relationship. Nicole also has a complex and strained relationship with her new step mother, who sometimes seems to care, but then tells her she looks like a slut due to the amount of makeup she wears. One night while Nicole and best friend Margo (Alyssa Milano) are out at a party, Nicole catches the eye of handsome and charming 18-year-old David McCall (Mark Wahlberg), and the two hit it off immediately. He seems like the perfect guy. Whenever David is around Nicole’s parents he he always acts like a well-mannered young man. Though Steve doesn’t like the way David seems to flirt with his wife, and suspects there is something up with him. Or maybe he’s just being the typical protective father. Nicole can only see the good in David, and their relationship progresses quickly. However, it isn’t long before Nicole gets a glimpse of David’s darker, jealous side. His love for her soon turns into obsession, and she discovers that he will let nothing and no one stand in they way of their being together. Her love for David quickly turns into fear as her whole family becomes the deadly target of his rage and jealously.
I had mixed feelings about Fear. While the cast is great, the writing is not. The film starts off with this interesting dynamic between the members of the Walker family. It’s not clear why Nicole moved in with her father, who seems to be having many issues of his own. He is struggling at work, which is also affecting his marriage, and now Nicole is there for some added pressure. In some moments Laura seems to be supporting Nicole in front of her father, but at the same time says some pretty nasty things to her. The family lives in this beautiful waterfront property in a gated community, along with extra home security that Steve designed. It’s unclear as to why Steve believes he needs all this security, though it does come in quite handy for the final act of the film. Margot and Nicole seem to be the best of friends, however, if Nicole had just moved there in the past year, they can’t have known each other that long. It’s easy to see why Nicole falls for David—initially he’s charming, affectionate and handsome. However, once he starts to turn into a bit of a creepy stalker, the film becomes more like one of those ridiculous Lifetime Original Movies, with its absurd plot twists, and over-the-top acting . It reaches the point where the writing is so bad that it becomes entertaining and you can’t look away—the “Nicole 4 Eva” scene nearly had me laughing. However, for the final act of the film, things get genuinely good again, finally earning the title of Fear, leading to a really tense and exciting conclusion.
Fear was originally released on Blu-ray by Universal in 2013, with just a trailer and no digital copy, so there’s no real loss for this release like first film. The picture looks fantastic, even in the darker sequences and the red-toned scenes in the night club. The disc always provides a clean picture with an excellent level of detail. The audio track is a bit aggressive during the party scenes, with the music becoming slightly over-powering. However the dialogue still remains clear. There is a nice sense of ambiance provided throughout the film, but where the track really shines is in the final act as chaos erupts and sounds can be heard from every direction, helping to amplify the situation and adding to the tension and fear.
Both films reside on a single Blu-ray disc, which has a basic menu with a subtitle on/off option and a play button for each of the two movies, and no supplemental material. There is also no slipcover or digital copy included with this release.
What’s Included:
Films:
- Contraband (2012) (1:49:40)
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English SDH
- Fear (1996) (1:36:51)
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English SDH
Extras:
-
This release contains no bonus material.
Final Thoughts:
Mill Creek’s double feature provides a solid night’s viewing with two entertaining Mark Wahlberg features—though Fear gets a bit campy in the middle. Both films feature excellent audio, though the video is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to Contraband. Unfortunately, none of the bonus material from the original release of Contraband has been carried over to this release, so die hard fans wish to seek out the older Blu-ray. However, for folks who don’t care about bonus material, this release provides a nice double feature at a bargain price.
