The Contract (2006/I)

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writers (WGA):

Stephen Katz (written by) &
John Darrouzet (written by)

Release Date:

23 November 2006 (Israel)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

Every Killer Meets His Equal.

Plot:

Ray Keene, a father who wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his son, is trying to bring Carden, a world-class assassin to justice...

Plot Keywords:

Chase | Female Nudity | Camping | Teenager | Assassination

Cast

Morgan Freeman	...	Carden
John Cusack	...	Ray
Jamie Anderson	...	Chris
Alice Krige	...	Miles
Megan Dodds	...	Sandra
Corey Johnson	...	Davis
Jonathan Hyde	...	Turner
Bill Smitrovich	...	Wainwright
Anthony Warren	...	Royko
Ned Bellamy	...	Evans
Thomas Lockyer	...	Johnson
Gary Whelan	...	Stanfield
Ian Shaw	...	Michaels
Atanas Srebrev	...	Rodrigues
Maynard Eziashi	...	Robbins

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #41683) | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Sofia, Bulgaria

Company:

Contract Productions

Trivia:

The nude figure climbing out of the river is not Megan Dodds. A body double was used.

Goofs:

Factual errors: A radio announcement that is established in the scene to be broadcast in Washington state identifies the station call letters as "WKGB". Notwithstanding the fact that there is a real station with those call letters in New York State (a few thousand miles away) there are no call letters starting with W in Washington state, or anywhere in the western United States.

Quotes:

Frank: I'll be coming for you. Depend on it.

Movie Connections:

References Gunga Din (1939)

Soundtrack:

You Thought

This film is the reason that the word "mediocre" exists.

I'll admit, I had fairly high hopes for this film. I like Morgan Freeman. I think everyone does. The idea of Morgan Freeman playing a villain sounded great. The premise seemed a little simple- but many great ideas are simple. Then I saw the movie. Within the first twenty minutes, I realized what it was- another poorly written, poorly directed, poorly acted and illogical action/adventure movie. I like the genre, don't get me wrong, but the whole "good-hearted average joe is outnumbered by trained assassins and manages to kill them all in somewhat novel but ultimately unrealistic ways while he bonds with his estranged son" plot has been done. So many times. Here it is rehashed, acted and written like it was always intended to go direct to video. If you've seen Cliffhanger, you've seen a better version of this movie. And for the record, I really didn't think Cliffhanger was all that great.