The Contract - Du kannst niemandem vertrauen

Sure it is not a great movie but it is much better than the reviews on here would have you believe. It was an enjoyable hour and a half of entertainment.

Ray Keene is a former policeman who is struggling to build his relationship with his young son. His plan to bond over a camping trip in the woods goes sour though when they come across a hit-man (Cordell) in the middle of escaping Government custody. Keene holds Cordell at gunpoint but without a mobile phone signal they begin to trek towards civilisation. However with Cordell's men hot on their heels, Ray becomes increasingly desperate as he tries to get to the protection of the authorities.

I saw this film on an overnight bus crossing Argentina. I mention this not as name dropping but to admit that the sound was very low as must passengers were sleeping and relying on headphones or the Spanish subtitles. Without headphones or a working Spanish, I prepared to strain my ears and also use the subtitles the best I could. I needn't have worried because I could have followed this if the sound was on mute and the DVD was playing all the scenes on random shuffle. The plot is simple perhaps but it did offer a sort of moral ambiguity that was interesting to me at first. With two strong actors in the leads I expected the verbal fireworks to be more interesting than the action. In a way I was correct but this is not to say that the script was good – just that the action was poor. The moral complexity of good and bad is skirted on but is ultimately dumped in a ending that is nothing more than insultingly lazy writing.

Fortunately anyone getting to the end will not be surprised by this as it is pretty much what the previous hour or so had been like. The narrative is totally unconvincing and offers little to make up for it. The tension that could have covered the plot holes is absent and the action is mostly just dumb. Writers Katz and Darrouzet deserve much of the credit for this because really nobody is given much to work with. Director Beresford does the basics with little conviction but I did feel sorry for the cast. Freeman and Cusack both deserved much better than this nonsense. Freeman I assume was attracted by the chance to play a baddie and it is a shame then the script doesn't really let him do this with any effort. Cusack does what is asked of him but nothing more. The support cast are average at best in keeping with their cardboard characters.

Overall then a roundly poor film that offers nothing of interest and wastes the talents of the two actors in the lead. If I hadn't been a captive audience I would have struggled to make it past the 30 minute mark.

The Contract presents itself as an engaging action thriller with lots of twists. Including the always enjoyable performances of John Cusack and Morgen Freeman one should be in for a great ride. But after several moments into this film it becomes clear why the script has been lying on a dusty shelf somewhere for so long, waiting for top actors to get involved.

Even with the star involvement, the movie just fails to surpass its weak plot and tired premise. Ex-cop Ray, (Cusack) estranged father, and his son are on a hike to better their relationship when they stumble upon a fatally injured policeman and his prisoner, the hit-man Carden (Freeman). In stead of just letting Carden walk as Carden suggests, Ray, for no apparent reason, decides to turn him over to the police at the risk of his own life and that of his son. After this the chase through the woods for Carden by both the police and Carden's accomplices begins. With people running through bushes, occasional gunfire and certain bad weather.

Although Freeman and Cusack give away ample performances, the dialog seems to be that of some average TV-series. The villains and the characters of the police fare even worse. The movie just doesn't pick up any speed as it steers clear from any interesting action or build up of suspense. And especially the lack of motive for Ray to keep going with his plan to turn Carden in gets annoying after a while and this doesn't work very well in terms of sympathy for his hero-character. It is obvious that Catz wanted to write a story in which the bad guy develops sympathy for his capturer and maybe the other way around as well. But the cheesy, almost campy way this is attempted and the high number of scenes that just don't make any sense, stand in the way of its success.

Like the former reviewer pointed out, the movie is crammed with clichés and is lacking any originality. There are no mentionable plot-twists to keep the film interesting and the hackneyed screenplay is often accidentally comical.

I wouldn't even recommend getting the DVD. Just wait till it's the movie of the week and then see something else in stead.

I am a huge fan of both Morgan Freeman and John Cussack, so when I saw this rental at Hollywood Video, I didn't hesitate, it seemed like a very good idea of the two of them being together in the film. However, I was disappointed when I brought it home and looked up the rating on IMDb to see an average rating. But knowing I had to get my money's worth, I watched it this evening, now I didn't think it was a bad movie, but it was pretty average for what I was expecting from these extremely talented actors. The plot had extreme potential, but some things were not explained well enough, like the characters just had no depth. The script just needed some more work.

After Ray's son gets into trouble, he wants to do a little bonding with him, so he takes him camping. But things get a little interesting when he and his son try to save two people from the river who have washed ashore, one of them is a police officer who is fatally wounded and the other man, Cander, is a hit man who is wanted by the F.B.I. and is also being followed by his fellow assassins. Ray and his son take Cander and try to take him to the police, but it's hard when the assassins are after all of them and won't stop until they get what they want.

A hit-man with a heart of gold, not that original, not that believable, not to mention how some of the plot seemed a bit mediocre and confusing at times. Now, Morgan and John did a good job with what they had, they made the film watchable. They really did have good chemistry so I do hope they do a film together soon, just before they do that, they read the script first. So The Contract is a film I would say is watchable, just like I said, it's a bit average for what you would expect, but just judge for yourself.

6/10

You won't see anything new in this movie. If you've seen some thrillers, than you will foresee a few things. Surprisingly enough that doesn't hurt the movie as much as I thought it would. That might be the case, because you've got Morgan Freeman and John Cusack in the movie. They play very good at/off each other. And although, there are a few bumps in the thrill ride, they obtain the high adrenaline level almost every single time.

I had mixed feelings about the ending, but then again some might think it's perfect. Others might not like it at all and it might spoil all the fun they might have had up until that point ...

Anyway, it's a nice little thriller with good acting in it! :o)