Director
Bruce Beresford
Cast
John Cusack Ray Keene
Morgan Freeman Frank Cordell
Jamie Anderson Chris Keene
Alice Krige Miles
Megan Dodds Sandra
Ned Bellamy Deputy Montgomery
DVD Release Date: July 24, 2007
Rating: R
Running Time: 96 Minutes
The Movie
Chris Keene is a troubled teen who has been going through some really tough times since his mother died due to breast cancer. His dad Ray is a former cop turned gym teacher and baseball coach just trying to relate to his son and make their relationship better and keep his son on the right path. Chris takes it a step too far when he is suspended for smoking weed and Ray thinks it is time to get things back to normal. In an effort to reconnect to his son, Ray suggests a camping trip since he knows it’s something Chris likes to do.
Meanwhile, master criminal Frank Cordell was a genius at keeping under the radar when fulfilling his contracts with his team and taking out his targets. When a careless driver on a cell phone clips his car and causes a horrible accident, Frank not only wakes up in a hospital bed but with handcuffs on. Frank finally met his match and a couple days later is being transported by the FEDS to the place which will be his new home for a very long time.
Frank’s men know that their boss is the only way they can get their payday is by his hand since he is the one person who can access the money. Upon their rescue mission though, the car careens down hill and into the river where Frank overpowers the federal agent and escapes. Well almost escapes. Ray and Chris happened to be walking by when they saw the two men struggling in the water and went to help. The agent’s last request before he died was for Ray to take custody of his prisoner and get him to the police.
The father and son now are on a much different journey as they try to find a place they can call the police and get rid of Frank. As they soon find out though from Frank’s warnings and a few observed killings, his men are out to find him and will do whatever they need to do to get their boss back. They could just let him go since it was never really any of their business, but being a former cop and wanting to show his son the right way, Ray decides to make sure Frank is turned over to the authorities. But that could prove to be a lot more dangerous then it’s worth.
Wow, was this film just all over the place as they tried to fit as much as humanly possible into about ninety minutes. There is no introduction to the characters at all and that especially means Ray and Chris. All we know is that Ray’s wife died and Chris is rebelling because of it so now they go camping to bond. We get a little bit of info about Frank, but not enough to know more then he is simply a contract killer. Then the whole film is like Cliffhanger but without the snow. The father and son team are trying to stay ahead of the killers by running through the forest. I mean there’s even a damn helicopter crash scene for God sakes. Don’t worry; I didn’t spoil anything for you that you won’t see in the menu page when the DVD starts anyway.
Let’s move onto the absurdity of throwing in a romantic angle that lasts maybe all of five minutes and it just makes the whole film that much more insane. The roles that Freeman and Cusack took are way too bush league for them to be taking on at this point in their careers. Without any of Cusack’s witty one-liners or Freeman’s intense talks of wisdom, it makes them seem like amateur actors trying to make it big. This is by far not their worst performances ever, but it was not necessary for them to be in the film by any means.
The Video
The film is shown in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and looks very nice. The film mostly takes place outside in the forest and the colors of the trees and surround landscapes look very good. The few dark scenes though look a little too dark at times considering they tried having moonlight shine in, but it never quite gave the right effect.
The Audio
The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and has its ups and downs. When people aren’t trying to have a heart-to-heart talk and are speaking on normal levels, everything is fine. But when a serious discussion comes up, they can barely be heard. Be ready for a lot of turning the volume up and down which gets quite annoying.
Special Features
Inside The Contract Documentary – About a twenty minute “making of” featurette with the director giving his two cents and a lot about filming outdoors and stuff. People go on and on about working with Morgan Freeman and there isn’t much to this at all.
Photo Gallery – A good number of still shots from the film with the occasional behind the scenes shot every now and then. Nothing too interesting.
Theatrical Trailer
Trailers – 10 Items Or Less, Journey To The End Of The Night, The Proposition, Relative Strangers, The Dead Girl, The Breed, and A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints
The Inside Pulse
There was just no point to making this film in the first place. I don’t know what Cusack and Freeman were thinking when they took the roles. Hell, it isn’t like they don’t have better things to do. Yet here they are in a two-bit flick that is not a thriller, is not suspenseful, and is not enjoyable either. Might as well glom on a few worthless special features to make the crapfest complete. I take back what I said about this being a Lifetime movie. Because there have been some Lifetime movies before that actually interested me.
