The Contract
by Bruce Beresford
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DVD details
Actor: Alice Krige, Jamie Anderson, John Cusack, Megan Dodds, Morgan FreemanDirector: Bruce Beresford
Brand: First Look Pictures
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: FIRST LOOK PICTURES
DVD Reviews of The Contract
DVD Review: Bruce Beresford directs Morgan Freeman and John Cusak in an uninspiring thriller
Summary: 3 Stars
I could not find any box office information for "The Contract," which is interesting because you would not think of either Morgan Freeman or John Cusak as doing direct to video movies. The same would be said for director Bruce Beresford, whose "Breaker Morant" has always been a personal favorite and who was not nominated for an Oscar for directing "Driving Miss Daisy." But the explanation for this anomaly is that this 2007 film comes from Millennium Films, which is the theatrical wing of Nu Image and the fact of the matter is that I only checked out "The Contract" because it had both Freeman and Cusak (although I will admit that having either one of them would normally be a good enough reason to check out a film). But despite their presence and something of little twist regarding the plot in the end game, this movie never really commands our attention as it keeps itself to doing things by the numbers and never offering the sort of memorable moment or thrilling sequence you would like to see in such a movie. At least Freeman and Cusak got to spend several weeks in Bulgaria making this film.
Freeman is Frank Cordell, who is not merely a professional assassin: he and his team kill their targets by making them look like accidents. This could be pretty cool, but the script by Stephen Katz and John Darrouzet keeps things fairly simple for the two examples we get to see of Cordell and his team doing their jobs. However, keeping things simple does not pay off this time as Cordell is captured and his team comes up with a plan to get him back. Meanwhile, out in the forest is Ray Keene, played by Kusak, a man who has lost his wife to cancer and has taken his son, Chris (Jamie Anderson), camping. They are not getting along and Ray is hoping some time together will help them bound, but apparently he has no other ideas on how to reconnect with the boy. The next thing Ray knows he and Chris meet up with not only Cordell, but also a dying FBI agent who gives Ray his gun and tells him to get his prisoner to the authorities. Obviously, this is going to be a most unusual camping trip.
Fortunately, Ray used to be a cop, although when he announces the fact it is news to us. Cordell tries to reason with Ray, explaining that his guys are coming and Ray does not stand a chance. Of course the good guys are coming too, but there are more plot complications to come because Cordell has another job to do and being captured greatly impairs his ability to do his job. The supporting cast is pretty good, but except for Freeman, none of them are given anything interesting to say, let alone do. Alice Krige plays one of the suits in Washington, D.C., with a vested interst in what is going on, and Megan Dodds, looking considerably more like a human being than she did as the wicked step sister in "Ever After," plays Sandra, a woman they meet in the woods who gets caught up in the misadventure. Bill Smitrovich plays the local cop, who alternates between being a shade too smart or a step too slow in dealing with the developing situation.
Yet despite the cast, "The Contract" is a wash as a film. If Freeman was not in it, I might have fallen asleep while watching it, because even if he was not being given anything really interesting to say he is of the class of actors that make the recitation of the phone book compelling. I can even make the argument that the title gives away what should have been the twists and turns in the final act that changed everything and made this film more interesting. Maybe having a first class musical score would have punched up things some more, but "The Contact" does not have that either. Ultimately, a film begins with the words on the script, and beyond the basic plot that somehow got this cast to sign up, there is simply nothing there to help the director and cast get this thriller to a level where it would be worth watching twice, let alone once.
Description of The Contract
Ray keene a father who wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his son is trying to bring cordell a world-class assassin to justice. All the while he must protect his son & evade the assassins team who are methodically hunting them down in the wilderness. Studio: First Look Home Entertain Release Date: 12/30/2008 Starring: Morgan Freeman John Cusack Run time: 96 minutes Rating: RBestsellers in DVD
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