The thriller Contraband starring Mark Wahlberg premiered in the US yesterday and will premiere in Iceland on January 20. The film, which is the English-language remake of an Icelandic movie, is directed by Icelander Baltasar Kormákur.

Whalberg said in an interview with WENN that after the experience of Contraband, which features smuggling at the port in Los Angeles, he now intends to produce a reality series on the same topic entitled Port of L.A., visir.is reports.

Meanwhile, the first reviews of Contraband have been published, Fréttablaðið reports.

Owen Gleiberman at Entertainment Weekly wrote in its online version that he is fairly content, that the storyline is a bit confusing but it keeps the audience’s attention.

Robert Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was disappointed, harshly criticizing the screenplay and plot in his review, whereas the critics of both Hollywood Reporter and Variety gave the film a more favorable review.

Another Icelandic thriller will premiere abroad this month: Black’s Game (Svartur á leik) by director Óskar Þór Axelsson, which is based on a novel by Stefán Máni, will be screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival at the end of this month, as stated on hollywoodreporter.com.

Among the Black Game’s producers is Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn, whose film Drive proved a hit last year.

Black’s Game will premiere in Iceland in March, visir.is states.

Iceland