The Contractor: Film Review
I will watch Chris Pine in anything, even something with a dreary title like The Contractor! The film isn’t quite as dull as the title would suggest but it’s also bang average.
Pine stars as Special Forces Sergeant James Harper, who is involuntarily discharged from the Army and cut off from his benefits. In debt and desperate to provide for his wife Brianne (Gillian Jacobs) and their son, Harper reaches out to his old buddy Mike (Ben Foster) about using his special set of skills for private contracting.
He signs up to a private underground military force organised by Rusty (Kiefer Sutherland) and is sent on a mission to Berlin where he must eliminate a threat to national security. When the mission goes awry, Harper finds himself hunted and on the run, and the only way he can return home to his family is to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.
The Contractor tells a tale of betrayal that we have seen plenty of times before and offers up very little that feels fresh and new. The story takes a while to get going but once the narrative hits Berlin, you quickly feel like something isn’t quite right and the mission is not going to be as straightforward as Rusty and Mike made it sound. Once the assignment goes wrong, it becomes more of a straight-up action-thriller as Harper has to consistently take on those who want to kill him. These action sequences are decent and it feels refreshing to have a lead action star fighting with such a significant injury (he damaged his knee in combat).
The script doesn’t quite do enough to take the story to the next level. I would have liked more background about Harper, his life and his service. There is a backstory about his relationship with his father but it wasn’t explored with much depth and there needed to be more to it to make it feel effective. I also struggled to figure out what had happened after the botched mission – it was quite hard to follow. Also, writer J.P. Davis clearly had something to say about private contractors blindly following orders and believing what they’re told about their target. He made a couple of passing comments but I would have been happy with some more.
Thankfully, Pine holds it all together and makes it watchable. I cared about his character mostly because I didn’t want to see Chris Pine die! He does well portraying his character’s chronic pain, nails the action sequences and gets super emotional at the end. The character could have easily been a mindless, emotionless shooter but Pine humanises him. It was great to see him reunited with his Hell or High Water co-star Foster too.
The Contractor does exactly what you’d expect a “betrayed during a mission” film to do. However, Pine is a solid lead, the action is pretty good and the ending is gripping so it’s not a total waste of time.
On Prime Video from Friday 6th May