Set predominantly in the backwoods of Washington state, The Contract makes for an enjoying watch. Billed as crime thriller it’s certainly not short on acting talent from its main protagonists, academy award winner Morgan Freeman and John Cusack., and although the plot lacks the originality of a blockbuster, it has all the right ingredients for an entertaining evening.
The Contract is written by John Darrouzet (his first credit) and Stephen Katz (more noted as a writer in the world of TV, with credits on such series as LA Law, The A-Team, Magnum, P.I. and Hart to Hart to name a few) and is directed by Bruce Beresford, who’s most noted films are Her Alabi (with Tom Hanks and Paulina Porizkova) and the multiple Oscar-winning Driving Miss Daisy. Here Bruce re-unites with Morgan Freeman to have a crack at a crime/chase thriller.
Morgan Freeman plays Frank Cardin, ex-military, now gun for hire and leader of a very successful mercenary group that terminates ‘obstacles to progress’ with little or no conscience. On receiving a new contract, his group leaps into action to execute, what seems to be, a meticulously planned assassination. Unfortunately Frank finds out that you can’t plan for every eventuality the hard way and, through pure bad luck, is involved in a road traffic accident that finds him waking up in a hospital hand-cuffed to the bed. With his phony ID cracked and his real identity revealed, government agencies are queuing to get there hands on him.
Meanwhile, Ray Keene (John Cusack), the local high school gym teacher, is having problems with his rebellious son Chris. After loosing Chris’s mother to cancer, things have gotten a bit strained between the pair. In an attempt to get their relationship back on better terms, Ray suggests a camping trip for some father-son bonding.
Frank’s team are faced with a decision, cut and run or mount an escape attempt. Seeing as Frank is the only person that can access the account with the groups finances, the decision is clear. On a back country road they mount an ambush as Frank is transported by car to the airport so he can be returned to Washington DC. The ambush does not go entirely to plan however and the car with Frank and several federal agents ends up in a river. Frank and a dying agent make it out of the car and are washed downstream.
Ray and Chris are in the backwoods in an area that Chris, a keen camper, knows well due to an outward bound course he’d taken previously. Whilst crossing a bridge they spot two people, Frank and the marshal, floating downstream and rush to help out. Before dying the marshal explains the situation and tells Ray to get Frank to the authorities. From here on in it’s a race ‘n’ chase between Ray & Chris trying to get to civilization and Franks team in pursuit, and it just so happens they have an expert tracker in their midst as well.
In general there isn’t anything we haven’t seen before in this film. Group with something the bad guys want try to evade capture and raise the alarm, bad guys are all ex-military with a nice mix of skills from tracker to marksman to chopper pilot, all the skills required for a chase thriller. There's a hint of a government plot, but it's never really made clear (unless it's just me being slow!). What made it enjoyable for me was the acting of Freeman and Cusack. Both tend to play understated characters and don’t try to do too much with the dialogue, which in this case, added a bit of realism. Over time a begrudging respect was built between their respective characters and onscreen they worked well opposite each other. The relationship between father and son was nice as well, I think another film might’ve taken the ‘estranged father & son find each other again through a trial of adversity’ thing too far. Here they quip like father and son and it’s more a coming of age experience for Chris where he deals admirably with the situations thrown at him.
This isn’t a big budget production, and in some areas it shows. There aren’t any big special effects, but they aren’t really needed. The closest we get is a helicopter crash that wasn’t the most believable I’ve seen, but it wasn’t the worst either. Whilst I did find it an entertaining thriller, the tension never really got wound up. You never really felt that any of the characters you cared about were in any real danger throughout. Having said that, it was nice to watch a film where there wasn’t any Schwarzenegger like super-heroic action. Cusack was understated, did what he had to and no more, which again gave the film some credibility.
The picture wasn’t the best I’ve seen, but that comes back to not being a big budget production again. The film was mainly shot in Bulgaria which produced some spectacular scenery which was used to good effect. Sound again was average, the dialogue through the centre speaker was clear enough, but the rear speakers weren’t really asked to do too much. The music was OK, but as already mentioned, it didn’t really build up the tension as it can in other thrillers. Overall, nothing spectacularly original but I thought Freeman and Cusack made the film work.