Voyeurs or journalists?

The ever-increasing sophistication of mobile-phone technology now gives average citizens the unprecedented ability to engage in on-the-spot journalism - as well as the most forthright voyeurism. From this unsettling truth springs Thomas Behe and Phil Elliott's piercing thriller, Contraband. When self-styled 'citizen journalist' Toby is caught filming an underground group who expressly look for violent acts to film, he is forced by agents of the online mobile-phone channel Contraband to find a female activist intent on sabotaging their morally dubious enterprise. Eschewing the dark, moody artwork that typically accompanies such stories, Elliott adopts an engaging clear-line style which slickly captures the fast-paced netherworld of phone-video and effortlessly navigates dense, talky sequences alongside bursts of action.
Danny Graydon