The Contract (2006)

Directed by: Bruce Beresford | 97 minutes | drama, crime, thriller | Actors: John Cusack, Morgan Freeman, Jamie Anderson, Ned Bellamy, Margarita Blush, Doug Dearth, Megan Dodds, Didem Erol, Cory Hardrict, Jonathan Hyde, Corey Johnson, Alice Krige, Thomas Lockyer, Ryan McCluskey, Mircea Monroe, Paul Ripple, Ian Shaw, Bill Smitrovich, William Tapley, Lonny W. Waddle, Anthony Warren, Les Weldon

Morgan Freeman and John Cusack are two actors who have long since made their mark in Hollywood. Both actors guarantee exciting, fascinating and, in the case of Cusack, especially interesting films. In ‘The Contract’ Cusack is a father who goes camping with his son and Morgan Freeman plays a villain and Morgan Freeman as a villain is of course always interesting. Unfortunately, these two men don’t save ‘The Contract’, this has turned out to be a very mediocre film.

Ray (John Cusack) decides to go camping with his adolescent son Chris as part of “tightening family ties”. In fact, Chris has smoked a joint and, being only a few steps away from a heroin addiction in the eyes of the average righteous, God-fearing baseball dad, it’s time father and son spent some “quality time” and decided to go for a few days. camping in the wild nature of Washington state. Soon they come across a US Marshall who has a prisoner named Frank Cordell (Morgan Freeman) with him. However, the law enforcement officer is badly injured and just before he takes his last breath, requests Ray to arrange for Frank to be extradited to the authorities. Not just any villain, Frank is a professional hit man and his team is eagerly looking for him. Ray is an old police officer and a decent man and so decides to take this assignment even though Frank makes it clear to him that a team of trained hitmen is nearby to save him.

That is immediately the first flaw of the film, the choice Ray makes. He is in the mountains camping with his son and decides to risk not only his own life, but also Chris’s. He doesn’t know what Frank did wrong, he knows Frank’s team is close by and what chance does he stand as a teacher against trained ex-servicemen equipped with advanced weapons? A totally illogical choice, every parent would have chosen for the safety of their child, but not Ray, who prefers to play the hero. The story does not need to be explained too much: Ray, Frank and Chris are being chased by Frank’s men and Ray has to do everything possible to get himself and his son to safety and, in the meantime, also make sure that Frank’s team’s planned attack is thwarted. It is the ancient story of the lone warrior who, despite all odds turned against him, suddenly turns out to be a true hero and who fearlessly and inspired attacks the scum. It’s a story that has been shown many times and many times better. A film with a standard, predictable script is not a problem in itself, but in such a case the emphasis should be on other elements such as action, character development, special effects, acting and cinematography.

‘The Contract’ hardly succeeds in that aim. Morgan Freeman and John Cusack are two excellent actors and they do their job well, especially Morgan Freeman is very pleasant to watch. Despite the fact that he is an unscrupulous hit man, you can’t help but sympathize with him, he always remains a bit that sweet old man with the beautiful voice. Unfortunately ‘The Contract’ is on the slow side, most of the movie is a chase through the wilderness and it simply could have been more action-packed. The tension is not always perceptible and that is a shame. There is no room for character development, the characters are superficial and here and there ridiculously clichéd and the dialogues are of a low level and show no depth and then there is also a totally unnecessary romantic subplot. The only real highlight of ‘The Contract’ are the beautiful wildlife shots of the Washington State wilderness. The visuals of the forests, valleys and waterfalls are truly breathtaking, but even these cannot save this dime-a-dozen action/adventure vehicle.