A discharged U.S. Special Forces sergeant, James Harper, risks everything for his family when he joins a private contracting organization.
Chris Pine and Ben Foster gave career-defining performances when they starred as brothers in the 2016 Taylor Sheridan-penned, David Mackenzie-directed, “Hell or High Water.” Teaming up again in director Tarik Saleh’s action-thriller “The Contractor,” both actors are still at the top of their game; unfortunately, the disjointed storyline and forgettable characters take what could have been a taut, exciting thriller and turn it into an unoriginal, plodding narrative. While some of the action scenes are well-choreographed, and Pine and Foster give standout performances, the film is uninspired and forgettable once the closing credits stop rolling.
Pine plays James Harper; a decorated serviceman fired from United States Army Special Forces when they discover illegal drugs in his system that he uses to treat a crippling knee injury. Having spent most of his adult life in the military, James doesn’t know what to do or how to take care of his family, his wife Brianne (Gillian Jacobs), and young son Jack (Sander Thomas). When he meets up with Mike (Ben Foster), his old ex-military buddy, he finally tells him what happened, and Mike tells him that he is currently working for a private military company under the command of Rusty Jennings (Kiefer Sutherland) and that they could use someone with his skillset. It doesn’t take long for James to agree, and shortly after that, he is on his first solo assignment in Berlin, a reconnaissance mission recording the movements and interactions of a suspected Middle Eastern terrorist, Salim Mohsin (Fares Fares), who he has been told is developing a weapon of mass destruction.
When he returns to the U.S. and hands over his findings, he is quickly dispatched back to Berlin with Mike. They are told they must collect all of the information Salim has stored on his computers regarding the creation of the supposed weapon and then destroy his lab. Once at the remote location, however, Mike informs James that the plan has changed and that they must kill Salim as well. James voices his concern at the last-minute deviation, but he proceeds with the plan because he is a suspected terrorist. Their getaway is foiled when the police unexpectedly turn up, and Mike gets shot in the leg. James manages to get Mike to safety in an underground tunnel, where he provides a blood transfusion for him, saving his life. Needing to rest from the operation, he tells Mike to get the information back home and that he will follow him the next day.
When James returns to Berlin, he calls the extraction team to come and pick him up. They inform him that Mike never made it back alive, and once they arrive, they open fire on him, causing him to flee. Realizing he has been set up, James learns that Salim wasn’t, in fact, a terrorist but a scientist who was working on a cure for the H1N1 Influenza virus and that Big Pharma stood to lose billions if it ever came to light. Now James must formulate a plan to escape Germany and make his way back to the U.S. to try and discern why Mike was killed and his own life threatened, but once back in the States, he soon realizes that not everything is what it appears to be.
“The Contractor” starts promisingly, focusing on the unfair treatment that many of the United States servicemen and women receive during active service, especially veterans who are now retired, but then the story turns into a clichéd action romp that tries hard to follow in the footsteps of Jason Bourne. It creates so many plots and subplots that just when you think you have everything figured out, another plotline appears and crashes into a dead end. New characters appear and are given little screentime and are then are killed off or completely disappear, with no mention of them ever again. There are so many “bad guys” throughout that it becomes difficult trying to keep tabs on all of them; one minute they’re on your side, then they’re your enemy, then they’re back on your side again. I think “The Contractor” could have worked better as a drama that focused on a man who has spent most of his life in the military and finds it almost impossible to return to civilian life once relieved of his duty. The movie has some impressive action set-pieces and a stellar cast; it’s just a pity writer J.P. Davis couldn’t decide what genre he wanted his film to fall under.
Available on 4K Ultra H.D., Blu-ray & DVD June 7th
