The Contractor
review by Bobby Blakey
Action flicks are a dime a dozen with few bringing anything new to the table. These days it is all about a good story and/or well executed and creative action. The latest looking to bring the action thriller genre to the mix is The Contractor starring Chris Pine, Kiefer Sutherland, Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs and Eddie Marsan from director Tarik Saleh. Could this flick bring the action fans hope for or will it fail to complete its mission?
The Contractor follows Special Forces Sergeant James Harper, who is involuntarily discharged from the Army and cut-off from his pension. In debt, out of options and desperate to provide for his family, Harper contracts with a private underground military force. When the very first assignment goes awry, the elite soldier finds himself hunted and on the run, caught in a dangerous conspiracy and fighting to stay alive long enough to get home and uncover the true motives of those who betrayed him.
Pine and Foster are a great pairing showcasing their chemistry previously in Hell Or High Water and The Finest Hours so having them here together once again I was already in. The story here isn’t anything we haven’t seen before in some form previously, but it is engaging enough to keep you invested. Pine is great here offering up not just another action star, but a character with some depth and issues. This gives some bigger stakes for him in regards to not just surviving, but his family.
Foster isn’t given near as much, but also still given a lot of depth for himself and his family to make it more than a single note character. I have always thought Foster was highly underrated and showcases more proof of that this time around again. It was also great to see Sutherland in this kind of role
although brief. The film is pretty predictable in where it is heading in regards to its twists and turns, but still manages to work.
There is actually a lot more action here than I had expected with plenty of gun fights and even a few fight sequences thrown in. The gun toting action is good, but nothing that really stands out. The fights are well executed and pretty violent, but too few and far in between to really make it more than it is. I enjoyed the film, but it is a bit slow at times and the score is sometimes so loud it was hard to hear some of the lower delivered dialogue.
In the end it is a decent action flick that while it does come off at more a straight to home release film it still works. Had it gotten a bigger release it might have even set Pine up for a franchise from the way they ended it. Decide for yourself and check out The Contractor available now on digital and then on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on June 7th from Paramount Home Entertainment.