A Bad Deal (The Contract (DVD))

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	The Contract (DVD)
Date:	13/11/08 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: John Cusack and Morgan Freeman are the stars.

Disadvantages: Bad acting, bad dialogue, bad directing.

Despite starring two of the biggest names in Hollywood this 2006 movie went under the radar after its release and after watching it I realised why - it's rubbish!

'The Contract' stars John Cusack as Ray Keene, a strict gym coach whose wife has died of cancer. In an attempt to emotionally connect with his rebellious teenage son, Chris, Ray takes the moody kid out to the big ole woods of Washington State to indulge in a bit of manly hiking and camping.

Meanwhile, the regal Morgan Freeman as captured criminal Frank Cordell is helped to be busted out of a cop car on his way to be charged with all sorts of nasty offences. His posse of trained assassin goons mess up slightly though, and the cop car Cordell is riding in is swept into a river and vanishes into the wilderness sweeping handcuffed Cordell into the middle of the trees and mountains where, yes, you guessed it - Ray and his son happen to be hiking. Cordell ends up as Ray's prisoner - Mr Morals intends to hand him into the authorities - but they then get pursued by Cordell's henchmen.

The story begins to get ludicrous when FBI agents and local cops get involved in the search. There is a ludicrous, unbelievable situation where despite the fact that the President is due to visit the nearest local town in the area and there are five terrorist killers on the run, not one cop can make the decision to actively track them!

It is a crying shame that an actor of Morgan Freeman's quality was cast in this movie - he is way better than this. He does his best with the script but the words are bare bones. He still has that special sparkle and there are some better moments for his character at the beginning of the film. As for Cusack, he looks like he is sleepwalking through the whole thing.

The plotline and the script are ridiculous. At one point Ray suddenly says he used to be a cop who is now an athletic type, despite Cusack being obviously too overweight to pass this off and his character previously showing panic when first holding a gun to Cordell. Later, a lovey dovey couple, who are first discovered skinny dipping together, are caught up in the drama and the husband shot and killed. After this the female survivor seems to become the love interest of our hero and actually says about her husband's death: "Funny thing is, we were going to split up anyway." Yes, how funny!

The whole plot is stupid and the trek through the woods becomes very boring after about five minutes. There is not enough tension, no emotional, no drama. There is supposed to be some sort of bonding happening between Ray, Chris and Cordell but the script just isn't strong enough to portray this.

The ending is totally unsatisfactory and, well, just pointless - it is actually barely like an ending as nothing is concluded, nothing is resolved.

The DVD extras include a documentary 'Inside the Contract' about the making of the film. It mostly features interviews with the director and the producer who like to stroke their own egos. There is some interesting footage of how the stunts were filmed though, which satisfied my inner geek.

I have to say I have actually seen much worse movies than this one but usually movies of this calibre have a cast that fit the bill - z-listers who you don't expect much from. The use of Freeman and Cusack in a movie this bad is mystifying.

I can't imagine many people will like this movie too much unless they are a big fan of either Cusack or Freeman. If you are looking for a smart script and intelligent film then the ultra bad and unintentionally funny dialogue may have you crying with laughter. If you are looking for a pulse-racing action thriller this may have you bored to tears.

The DVD is certificate 15.
Language and Subtitles: English
16:9 Widescreen aspect.
Region 2 PAL format.

Summary: A movie that wastes the talent of it's two leads.