|
|
 |
Contract (The)
R1 - America - First Look Studios Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Stevie McCleary (19th August 2007). |
|
The Film
 I had to switch off the great "Batman Begins" (2005) on TV (another film featuring Morgan Freeman) in order to watch "The Contract" (directed by that guy who did "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989)) and yeah...that was a shame. Not released in cinemas, (and presumably only featuring the cast it does because they felt like a European vacation) "The Contract" tells the story of Ray (John Cusack) who is dealing with his out-of-control son Chris (Jamie Anderson). It seems the son has gone of the rails since the death of his mother. So Ray suggests a hike through some woods. Meanwhile, Frank (Morgan Freeman) has assembled his crew of mercenaries (three of his long time crew and one who he doesn't know....smart move) to fulfill a hit on someone. Unfortunately, through a ridiculous series of events, Frank ends up in the hands of the law. They don't hold onto him for long and (after a car floats down a river) Frank is now also trapped in the woods. Once the two stories converge we have Ray attempting to protect his son and return Frank to the authorities, all the while being tracked by Frank's crew. But it appears that one of the crew may not by on Frank's side... (I wonder if it'll be the new guy...nah, surely that's too easy...) This is pretty much your typical thriller, full of impossible situations and characters. It's one of those films where no character really rings true at any point. And the story itself is pretty much paint-by-numbers. Definitely not the film to watch with someone who likes to guess the twists in films...there are no surprise swerves here. If you think you know the 'twists', you probably do. In classic James Bond-ian fashion, it doesn't matter how well trained you are, if you try and shoot at the main characters you will miss...really badly. And for a group of ex-military mercs who are supposed to be real bad-asses...why do they need five of them to take down their one target? Their whole mission could easily be done by one person. Especially even just their normal crew of four and not the suspicious new guy... Without giving away any part of the ending sequence, where the plot threads that you worked out an hour ago come together, there are many issues with the way their hit was structured. It was far more complicated than it ever needed to be and it's one of the things that hurt the film as a whole. The whole 'maneuvering people into position' thing only really works when it would be hard to kill the target in the first place...not really the case here. When it comes down to it though, the whole plot is telegraphed from the beginning and not even a random addition of a couple new characters halfway through to fill in the gaps can fix it. Actually, I'm pretty sure that the adding of brand new characters in the middle of the film just to fill out a plot problem is a big script-writing no-no anyway. Oh well, it gives you more people to shoot at. There are a few action sequences throughout that are passable but not more than that. One of which, involving a helicopter, reminded me of the effects from the Thunderbirds movie. There's not much else of interest, really. A few fights and some gunfire...all the standard stuff you'd expect and nothing more. People even just walk away after crashing their helicopter. That's classic impossible action right there. But hey, this is just a light thriller, I guess. The cast, while not blessed with a great script, do a fair job. The main issue here is that this is absolutely nothing you haven't seen before. It's not even that bad by the standards set by the genre. But you could pretty much substitute a review for any other thriller/chase film and come up with the same result. But if you happen to be a big Freeman or Cusack fan then this will still be a fun weeknight film to idly watch. It even bridges on being actually entertaining at times. But there's nothing really special here. To pull out a line I've used time and time again when in this situation; there are dozens and dozens of films like this that you should watch before ever needing to get to this one. Heck, if you want a good quirky hit-man film, go rent "Gross Pointe Blank" (1997), Cusack was fantastic in that. This is one contract that didn't need to be finished. I hope the cast's European vacation was nice.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, this anamorphic transfer is a fine effort for a straight-to-DVD release. The film was shot on 35mm so the image does look quite good, sharpness is maintained although a few shots with dim lighting appear a nit soft. Colors are nice and vibrant, with skin tones appearing natural. Black levels are deep and shadow detail remains consistent throughout. I spotted minor moiré patterns that popped up but nothing distracting; aside from this the transfer is clean.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included they are an English DTS 5.1 track (half bit-rate) and also an English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS soundtrack. Like many DTS tracks it's a solid all around well balanced sound mix that displays good range and depth. Dialogue is crisp, clean and distortion free. Ambient sound is well mixed, especially in the wilderness the forest sounds are subtle but place you in the setting effectively. The film has a few aggressive moments and the soundtrack kicks in and delivers in an equally aggressive manner, furthermore the score adds further depth to the overall track.
Extras
First up we have "Inside the Contract", a featurette which runs for 21 minutes 26 seconds, in this clip the key cast and crew talk about what the film is about and the thriller elements that supposedly make it exciting. They also comment on the characters and their motivations and the journey they follow in this film, cast members comment on the script and on working with each other, plus producers add their usual back-patting style letting us know how awesome everyone involved in this film is. This is a standard EPK piece, no substance and only worth watching once...if anything. A photo gallery follows and includes 51 images taken during the production, mainly of the cast but a few shots include the director as well. Also included is the film's rather rudimentary theatrical trailer which runs for 1 minute 56 seconds. Rounding out the extras are a series of bonus trailers for: - "10 Items or Less" which runs for 2 minutes 37 seconds. - "Journey to the End of Night" which runs for 1 minute 58 seconds. - "The Proposition" which runs for 2 minutes 25 seconds. - "Relative Strangers" which runs for 2 minutes 11 seconds. - "The Dead Girl" which runs for 2 minutes 26 seconds. - The Breed" which runs for 1 minute 57 seconds. - "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds.
Overall
|
|||||
|