Movie review: The Contractor's lack of high-pumping action may induce a couple of snoozes

There are two sides to leading man Chris Pine. There’s the big-budget blockbuster ala Wonder Woman and Star Trek, and then there are the smaller action movies that seemingly want to kickstart a franchise, but they never register any follow-ups. The Contractor follows the likes of Jack Ryan - Shadow Recruit and Unstoppable, where there looks to be potential for more, and Pine is positioned for that.

This time, Pine is back as the knight in shining armour, as elite soldier James Harper who has conveniently been involuntarily discharged from the Army. Convenient because despite being a long-serving veteran, Harper doesn’t have a pension and healthcare, so we know what that means – debt and bills to pay. Lots of it.

As the movie title suggests, he becomes a contractor, of course, to take on a mission or two, and earn some big bucks. And it's relatively simple because killing is in his blood anyway, so what difference does it make if he's doing it for the government or some sketchy organisation? Except that when his first assignment goes awry, he 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.

The Contractor is as formulaic as it can get, and if you've seen Chris Hemsworth in Netflix's Extraction, you know what to expect. There are the brothers in arms who wouldn't think twice to trade you in for a quick buck, discussions around Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how that leads to broken families and suicides as well as the obligatory overseas secret missions that don’t explain the who, what and why followed by the uncovering of said mission’s intention which then leads to our main hero with an arrow on his back.

As if that's not enough, Harper has plenty of daddy issues to unpack, having come from a military family background. He grew up with a rather abusive and emotionally stunted father whose form of affections include giving a child a tattoo or putting him through some pretty messed up shit that no kid should experience. Of course, our leading man doesn't want to be that and simply wants to be the perfect dad for his child 

The Contractor brings real-life issues that a number of people do experience onto the big screen, doesn't trivialise the issue at hand, and portrays it in a natural, seemingly realistic way. You don’t see army wives dramatically crying to their knees at funerals, instead, you see them oppose going in the first place because they can't take another one. They don't verbalise their constant fear that their ex-soldier husbands may one day kick the bucket, but you can see it all in their eyes and body language. The Contractor does a good job in raising awareness but does very little in bringing something new or enlightening. Thankfully, that’s not the main point of the movie – and truth be told, most of us are only in the cinema to catch the high-intensity action promised in the trailer anyways.

So how does Pine fare as an ex-veteran slash contract killer? Not bad. As a soldier, his moves are smart, calculated, and emphasise on one thing and one thing only: surviving. His motorcycle chase scenes in the streets of Berlin and underground tunnel fights are the most impressive action and combat scenes in the movie, especially given how the film weighs heavy in gun use. It's refreshing to see Pine do something other than flying a plane or a spaceship and trade his usual charming nice guy persona for something a lot more gritty and complex. Unfortunately, those sparkling baby blues still bring a tinge of softness to his attempts at being ruthless. The curse of being so drop-dead handsome and charming I guess.

Pine carries the movie well, although he's no A-Team member or Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, who has been in plenty of similar ex-military genre films (Skyscraper, Walking Tall). There's no denying that Pine is a talented actor who can bring emotions to the surface and be a believable ex-soldier (not so much a killer), but his blatant outshining of co-stars Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs, Eddie Marsan, Florian Munteanu and Kiefer Sutherland is really… awkward.

There’s not much chemistry between Pine's James and those around him, with the exception of Foster who he starred with in Hell or High Water together. We don’t even know who to feel bad for at this point. The likes of Munteanu (Shang-Chi, Creed II) either seemingly fade into the background, or could it be that it’s Pine who seems overqualified to be in this movie.

Directed by Swede Tarik Saleh, who cut his teeth on TV's Westworld and Ray Donavan, this one hour and 43 minutes movie is well-paced but offers nothing more in terms of style and what you see is what you get. Whilst it helps in making the movie look and feels grounded, we can't help but wish he had spiced things up a little. There were some choppy bits where scenes ended abruptly and didn't flow into each other naturally, but we’re chucking that to the desire to tell the story quickly and not waste too much time.

The Contractor in itself is a movie that one can't hate. It meets all the requirements of a standard ex-military turned contractor movie – debts, PTSD, a mission gone wrong, motorcycle car scenes, international drama but perhaps that’s the movie's biggest downfall. Sticking to the formula works but for how long can viewers keep seeing the same thing over and over again? The Contractor is grounded yes, but the lack of high-pumping action may induce a couple of snoozes in some viewers too.

With the only exception of Pine, the cast and characters were simply forgettable and unlikeable. The movie hints that this may not be the end of James, and that more may be in store should the movie do well. Seeing how this movie is now showing alongside plenty of other action films like Batman, Unchartedand Liam Neeson’s Backlight, we’re not counting on it though.

GEEK REVIEW SCORE

Summary

It's easy to kill, but it’s much harder to survive. The Contractor has everything you need to make a good ex-veteran turned contract killer action-thriller flick, but it's going to take more than Chris Pine to make this movie into a franchise down the line.

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This article was first published in Geek Culture.