In The Contractor, Chris Pine is James Harper, a former Special Forces who was involuntarily discharged due to a physical issue (and perhaps some mental ones as well). Yet, he feels he has much to give his country and the expertise it also needs.
He and his wife (Gillian Jacobs) have bills pilled up and being involuntarily discharged means he has no access to his pension. Without many options and piling debuts, he decides to take a “private” gig with an old pal of his, Ben Foster’s Mike in militarized private security. It pays extremely well, is supposedly not the slightest bit dangerous, and is described as basically “babysitting billionaires.”
Of course, this first mission is anything but that. The crap hits the fan, members of the team perish, and it becomes a fight for survival where it is every man for himself. It is here that he must rely on his training, his fearlessness that is having an interesting collaboration with his injured self. After all, it is his knee surgery that got him removed from the military in the first place.
The Contractor is a bit formulaic. There are double-crosses and a hero who digs deeper physically deeper than he thought possible. But what saves the picture is the two lead actors, particularly Pine.
<iframe width="753" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BJnK-xRS1WM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>He has time and time again proven that he can carry a movie. An example of that arrived back in 2016 with his work on The Finest Hours. One would be safe to call him the break-out star of that new JJ Abrams franchise, Star Trek. In The Contractor, the actor can convey to the audience so much with simply his face. As he navigates this landmine—literally and figuratively—laden landscape, Pine cannot say much for fear of being discovered. It is uncanny the emotive spectrum he emits with simply his face.
Pine has gotten to the point where his name alone will get us to witness his film. Not saying that about this film, but he makes an average film above average.
Foster is his usual impressive self. No one plays a friend that makes the viewer want to raise an eyebrow over him than Foster. He manages to achieve that here again and might I say, extremely well. Jacobs manages the thankless role well and makes the most of what was given to her in J.P. Davis’ screenplay. By the close of the film, it feels like a wasted opportunity when you have an actress of her caliber in your ensemble.
Swedish director Tarik Saleh, who has directed an episode of Westworld, and Ray Donovan and his action mettle is exactly what his film needs. Those scenes pop off the screen and one can truly feel that whoever was used on the set as a military consultant more than earned their salary. The thing about Saleh, who ultimately is responsible for the finished product, is the editing. There is some clumsy cutting here, where Pine is in one place in one shot, and then another in the next one. Suspension of disbelief is a workable response from the audience, but there may be just one too many moments in The Contractor.
Grade: B-