The Contractor

A friend of mine told me that I had to sit down to watch the 2022 action thriller "The Contractor" as it was a really good movie. So I took his word and opted to sit down and watch what writer J. P. Davis and director Tarik Saleh had to offer with "The Contractor".

And I will say that "The Contractor" was definitely watchable, but it wasn't an outstanding action thriller. Whereas it certainly was entertaining, I just found the storyline to be somewhat bland and generic. And writer J. P. Davis just didn't bring much of anything new to the genre. A shame really, because there certainly was pontential for a lot more here.

The storyline, while somewhat generic, was interesting enough and made for good entertainment. So yeah, I will say that "The Contractor" is worth taking the time to sit down and watch. Just keep in mind that you are not in for a revolutionary action thriller here. The pacing of the storyline was good, and there was a good combination of character development and action throughout the course of the movie.

Was "The Contractor" predictable? You betcha. But it was not really a hindrance for the plot, because the movie ended up being rather enjoyable nonetheless.

The movie had a good cast ensemble, and it was nice to see Chris Pine in a movie such as this one. Ben Foster was also rather nicely cast for the movie, and it was definitely a treat to see Keifer Sutherland in the movie, and he had a rather good role in "The Contractor".

All in all, then "The Contractor" makes good entertainment for a single viewing. And I do say single viewing, because there simply wasn't enough contents to the storyline to support more than a single viewing here. So yeah, I am not going to be returning to watch "The Contractor" a second time.

My rating of director Tarik Saleh's 2022 action thriller "The Contractor" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Obviously a Jason Bourne copycat, but that doesnt mean it is a terrible movie.

The good: I kinda appreciated the slow start, by which I got to know the CHARACTERS. At the start this movie is basically a character drama. But only after 35 minutes or so, the full blown action is unleashed. So give it some time, you'll be rewarded for your patience, OR simply skip the first 35 minutes.

The bad: many will get bored by the slowburning start, but give this story some time to start up.

More bad: there are some credibility issues with the story. For example they raid a laboratory and within minutes the German police is present with full gear. NOT likely to happen for real. But perhaps I am nitpicking...

To conclude, this is NOT as good as any of the Jason Bourne movies, but in lack of any new Jason Bourne movies this will (barely) do,

The story: an American soldier, desperate for money and a family to take care of, hesitatingly agrees to work for a shady private contractor company, becoming a hired gun. Soon he finds out he is being set up and the company that hired him is about to kill him. Will he come out alive?

We've watched movies about black ops gone awry. What's different in this movie is how the subject is treated. It's commendable. It's well-executed and well-edited. Thus, it's immersive.

The viewer is glued to his seat as he watches how James extricates himself from a life-threatening situation.

While the focus is on the action, the film doesn't ignore human interest. The drama is heartfelt like the scene with James and the scientist in his lab. Or how Mike dotes on his crippled son. Or the all-too-brief scene with James and Virgil at the safehouse. Or the encounter between James and Mike in the parking lot.

The movie also shines a soft light on the situation of ex-military men when they are discharged from the service.

Chris Pine is great here. Praise has to be given to director Tarik Saleh and writer JP Davies.

Aside from being nothing we haven't seen already tons of times and much better, even the great leads couldn't save this hollow, dull, slow, convoluted and plot-hole riddled writing and directing. Was this even edited? Who cares about the flashbacks or the daddy issues? None of that was needed, as there was already lots of other filler for the little substance there was, in the dragged out and slowly paced 103 min runtime. The entire story was cliched and predictable. I feel bad for Pine, Foster and Sutherland having this mess on their resumes. It's a 6/10 from me.

.. what happens when you put one of Hollywood's last legitimate megastars, a genuine A-lister who can carry a film all by himself if he has to, in a second-rate production with a dismal second-rate script where nothing at all happens for the first 30 minutes ... and when things finally DO happen, you almost wish they didn't. Honestly. If I want a story where shadowy figures behind the scenes sanction bad things to good people, I CAN JUST WATCH THE NEWS. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))