More Movies With: Mark Wahlberg

Maybe you hated "The Happening." Maybe you want to wipe it from your memory and remind yourself that Mark Wahlberg has made better movies during his career. Or maybe you really liked "The Happening," and it made you want to see more of Mark Wahlberg's work. Either way, More Movies With: can help.

This series looks at earlier, lesser known, but worthwhile movies by actors and directors making entertainment news. It's meant to be a guide to filling out your NetFlix list with stuff you might have missed the first time around.

We'll try to avoid the obvious stuff. For Mark Wahlberg that lets out movies like 2007's "Shooter." While it's a good movie, it's recent enough that you probably still remember it and can find it yourself. Similarly, "Boogie Nights," while it's older, is one of Mark Wahlberg's best known movies. The goal here is to point out things you might not think of at first, or that you might have forgotten.

Fortunately, we found three early Mark Wahlberg movies that are definitely worth your time, and a click on your Netflix list or a trip to the video store.

The Corruptor (1999 - Police Action/Drama)
Features Wahlberg with Chow Yun-Fat. Wahlberg plays an ambitious young New York City cop who wangles a spot on the Asian Gang Unit. No one there takes him seriously, but he's partnered with Chow Yun Fat as the more experienced cop who takes the new kid under his wing. There's a kind of informal arrangement between cops and the gangs. The gangs feed the cops tips and help them solve the worst crimes, and they leave the gangs alone. Wahlberg charges in like a, well, bull in a china shop and disrupts this delicate balance. But as a smooth-talking gangster (Ric Young playing it especially sleazy here) starts helping the new officer find bad guys and win the praise of his superiors, Wahlberg starts to get drawn into the same quagmire and finds there's no easy way out once you're in.

The Corruptor is one of those movies where everyone, including Wahlberg, has at least one secret. Often several that keep getting in each others' way. But, although its characters are very well realized and the developing respect between Chow and Wahlberg is fascinating, the film isn't just a character drama. It's got some excellent action sequences, including a particularly wrenching car chase through New York, and is full of fights and gun battles. While the buddy cop formula isn't the most original story in the world, The Corruptor puts a couple very cool spins on it.

Three Kings (1999 - Action)
1999 was a good year for Mark Wahlberg. In addition to The Corruptor, he also appeared in this satire cum action movie alongside George Clooney and Ice Cube. The film's set in the closing days of the Iraq war (the first one). Clooney and three soldiers under his command get wind of a secret bunker where Saddam has stashed a fortune in gold, and they set out to steal it. This takes them outside the American base camp (portrayed as a bizarre combination of TV News reality show and summer camp for soldiers) and forces them to confront real Iraqis face to face. It's an experience that changes them.

While everyone in this movie is worth watching, Wahlberg in particular shines in a sequence where he's captured. Locked up in a room full of cellphones, he manages to call his wife back home in an attempt to get a call for help to his commanding officers. Later he's got a gripping torture scene with an Iraqi interrogator who just can't figure out what the hell's going on with Michael Jackson.

Three Kings is a movie that works very well as a political movie - indicting the first Bush administration for inciting the Iraqis to rebel against Saddam, then pulling out and leaving them to be destroyed. But you can also ignore that level entirely if you like, and enjoy it as a fun action movie with great performances.

Traveller (1997 - Crime Drama)
This lesser known little movie features Mark Wahlberg with Bill Paxton in a drama set among the clannish and secretive subculture of "Irish Travellers." They're a gypsy-like group that keep to themselves and travel the country living mainly by short cons and petty theft. Wahlberg's character grew up outside the group, but his father was a Traveller and he wants back in. After some difficulty, he's taken on by Bill Paxton as a distant cousin who agrees to teach him the group's skills.

As the two get to know each other, Wahlberg's drawn deeper into the life. But Paxton falls in love with an outsider woman (Julianna Margulies) and starts to imagine a different life for himself. Perhaps not surprisingly, the combination proves a little dangerous as Paxton turns his skills on a rival clan, trying to raise money for an operation for Margulies's daughter. People get pissed off, people get killed, and nothing goes quite like anybody wanted it to.

Traveller is a fun little crime movie with some great acting. (Wahlberg was actually compared to James Dean in this role.) Perhaps the best thing about it though is its look at a fascinating outlaw subculture operating in today's world.