The Contractor (2022) User Reviews

Entertaining, though generic action thriller...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 14 April 2022]

A friend of mine told me that I had to sit down to watch the 2022 action thriller "The Contractor" as it was a really good movie. So I took his word and opted to sit down and watch what writer J. P. Davis and director Tarik Saleh had to offer with "The Contractor".

And I will say that "The Contractor" was definitely watchable, but it wasn't an outstanding action thriller. Whereas it certainly was entertaining, I just found the storyline to be somewhat bland and generic. And writer J. P. Davis just didn't bring much of anything new to the genre. A shame really, because there certainly was pontential for a lot more here.

The storyline, while somewhat generic, was interesting enough and made for good entertainment. So yeah, I will say that "The Contractor" is worth taking the time to sit down and watch. Just keep in mind that you are not in for a revolutionary action thriller here. The pacing of the storyline was good, and there was a good combination of character development and action throughout the course of the movie.

Was "The Contractor" predictable? You betcha. But it was not really a hindrance for the plot, because the movie ended up being rather enjoyable nonetheless.

The movie had a good cast ensemble, and it was nice to see Chris Pine in a movie such as this one. Ben Foster was also rather nicely cast for the movie, and it was definitely a treat to see Keifer Sutherland in the movie, and he had a rather good role in "The Contractor".

All in all, then "The Contractor" makes good entertainment for a single viewing. And I do say single viewing, because there simply wasn't enough contents to the storyline to support more than a single viewing here. So yeah, I am not going to be returning to watch "The Contractor" a second time.

My rating of director Tarik Saleh's 2022 action thriller "The Contractor" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Answers the question...

[A_Different_Drummer · 6/10 · 1 April 2022]

.. what happens when you put one of Hollywood's last legitimate megastars, a genuine A-lister who can carry a film all by himself if he has to, in a second-rate production with a dismal second-rate script where nothing at all happens for the first 30 minutes ... and when things finally DO happen, you almost wish they didn't. Honestly. If I want a story where shadowy figures behind the scenes sanction bad things to good people, I CAN JUST WATCH THE NEWS. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Slowburning Jason Bourne Clone. The action starts at about 35 minutes after a slowburning introduction, so give it some time...

[imseeg · 6/10 · 15 April 2022]

Obviously a Jason Bourne copycat, but that doesnt mean it is a terrible movie.

The good: I kinda appreciated the slow start, by which I got to know the CHARACTERS. At the start this movie is basically a character drama. But only after 35 minutes or so, the full blown action is unleashed. So give it some time, you'll be rewarded for your patience, OR simply skip the first 35 minutes.

The bad: many will get bored by the slowburning start, but give this story some time to start up.

More bad: there are some credibility issues with the story. For example they raid a laboratory and within minutes the German police is present with full gear. NOT likely to happen for real. But perhaps I am nitpicking...

To conclude, this is NOT as good as any of the Jason Bourne movies, but in lack of any new Jason Bourne movies this will (barely) do,

The story: an American soldier, desperate for money and a family to take care of, hesitatingly agrees to work for a shady private contractor company, becoming a hired gun. Soon he finds out he is being set up and the company that hired him is about to kill him. Will he come out alive?

Exactly what you would expect

[siderite · 7/10 · 8 April 2022]

I was reading an article on how Chris Pine has the potential to become the next Robert Redford. He is a good actor and I think his fine face gave him an advantage, but then trapped him into these mindless action roles. Robert Redford may be too much, but with age, I think he may be heading towards the start of his real career.

Unfortunately, just having him hog almost the entire screen time doesn't save this formulaic film from being completely average. Pine's character is good, he is trusting, his trust is broken (for unfathomable reasons), he breaks things back. You've seen it before. The other people in the cast that you might recognize are there only to bait you into buying the film and they are irrelevant to the story. What is terrible is that the systemic issue that the film reveals at the beginning remains unaddressed. Everybody who dies in the film is a victim and the ending provides absolutely no closure as related to the actual problem.

Bottom line: guys gets angry and kills everybody. It makes one feel better about their own powerlessness and frustration, but tells no story and solve no problem. Having Ben Foster, Kiefer Sutherland, Eddie Marson, even Florian Munteanu in the cast for just a few minutes or even seconds is a crime. Filmed in Romania.

The result of A-list actors with B-rate filmmakers.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 4 April 2022]

Aside from being nothing we haven't seen already tons of times and much better, even the great leads couldn't save this hollow, dull, slow, convoluted and plot-hole riddled writing and directing. Was this even edited? Who cares about the flashbacks or the daddy issues? None of that was needed, as there was already lots of other filler for the little substance there was, in the dragged out and slowly paced 103 min runtime. The entire story was cliched and predictable. I feel bad for Pine, Foster and Sutherland having this mess on their resumes. It's a 6/10 from me.

Decent but too regular

[FeastMode · 5/10 · 6 April 2022]

This is a decent movie with a decent story and decent action. Chris Pine gives a great performance. Unfortunately this movie is also fairly slow, fully predictable and very regular. It doesn't stand out in any way, but at the same time I didn't mind watching it. (1 viewing, 4/5/2022)

I enjoyed this!

[andreouc-99753 · 7/10 · 1 April 2022]

I had mixed feelings due to the mixed reviews, I decided to watch it and am satisfied I did. The movie was able to keep me interested through the whole movie.

Generic, dull action thriller

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 4/10 · 12 May 2022]

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Special Forces sergeant James Harper (Chris Pine ) is involuntarily discharged from the military, suddenly ineligible for the benefits he thought he'd get. With a wife and son to support, and desperate for work, he turns to his friend, Mike (Ben Foster) who recommends some private contractor work for Rusty (Kiefer Sutherland), another disgruntled former soldier who believes the service owes him. On a routine assignment in Berlin, Harper discovers all is not as it seems, and must race against time to get to the bottom of it.

While in pre production, The Contractor was going under the working title of Violence of Action, before a last minute script rewrite was applied. So it's an interesting tidbit that it went from copying the title of a straight to DVD Steven Seagal film, to a straight to DVD Wesley Snipes one. And the end result is ultimately one as formulaic and unremarkable as one of the best from those two auteurs of the action genre, just a little glossier and finely tuned, but no less than the sum of its parts.

In spite of the banality of the story, it still seems to be aiming to be something higher, with frequent flashbacks of Harper's father when he was a kid, conditioning him to think and act like a soldier, as well as the general theme of soldiers struggling to adjust to civilian life. It's all pretty flat and humourless, shot in the dull, grey lighting that is typical of many modern films. Performances wise, Pine has a reliable presence in a tough guy role, while Sutherland applies a raging Jack Bauer like intensity as the guy in charge, but neither can lift the dull material any higher than it is.

Director Tarek Saleh helms a cookie cutter action film that is passable at best, with pretensions above its station, but without anything genuinely striking to back them up. **

Doesn't go anywhere.

[Horror_Flick_Fanatic · 6/10 · 2 April 2022]

Chris Pine performs admirably for his part... Unfortunately, the story doesn't have much to say. Nothing about it is memorable. It seems like a script more suited to Stallone, Arnold, or Bruce Willis in their youth. Pine, you are too young for this mediocrity. Leave these kinds of scripts for the older guys. By the way, I hated the Steve Trevor of Wonder Woman 1984. That was worse than this.

In conclusion, I am left with the question what was the point of this film? I think younger people might like it for the gun fights.

Predictable from minute 10

[Xavier_Stone · 3/10 · 12 March 2022]

Paint by numbers ex-military story, everything you can guess just from the movie poster. After the first 10 minutes it's straight forward, with all the required military jargon to add some authenticity to this.

The plot is basic, the plot twist is obvious from the beginning of the mission and the ending is expected.

I can't give away any spoilers as they are too easy to guess what happens.

Overall, very limited action scenes. Chris Pine is barely ok, he has a limp then he doesn't, then he does again. Ben Foster is his usual character as well as Keifer. Everything is as it should be.

Zero surprises and because it's so a-b-c I give it 3 stars, not enough action for the action genre, def not a thriller, mystery or drama. Maybe a Background Movie Genre to watch while you're distracted with your phone or doing house chores.

Outstanding and realistic

[trimblair · 8/10 · 5 April 2022]

As a combat veteran, I love these movies but tend to be amused how they get the military stuff, especially operators dead wrong. This one gets it right. The Fed chews us up and spits us out. 20% of active duty are on food stamps. Desperation creates situations like this movie, tough guy for hire. Great plot. Believable action. Loved this movie! God bless our troops!

Same old .... But good storyline

[usedcars80 · 7/10 · 5 July 2022]

Stumbled upon this one and I didn't hit pause or get up For a bathroom break. Some twists and double crosses and you're left wondering who can you trust? Realistic field dressing and survival skills for highly trained Seals and Rangers.

Hollywood's view on something they have (again) no clue about

[ralphhelm-69745 · 5/10 · 13 March 2022]

To start with: I am ex something and I have been working as a contractor myself for the last 18 years. Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya ... been there, worked there, as well for private firms as for NGOs and also some GOs.

Now to this film: It's a good flick, yet overly dramatized and in a certain way quite inaccurate. It's a caricatural portrayal - and I didn't expect anything else coming from Hollywood - of the private security and military industry as some "shady, dubious, greedy and highly illegal" entity that collaborates with The Government and does stuff they can't officially do. Yes, stuff like that does unfortunately exist, but this doesn't even scratch the 0,1% mark of all the work internationally and if Mark Zuckerberg's social network would fact-check this it would not even get a "mostly false", but proper "fake news" stamp. You can't depict a complete industry by single incidents.

But hey, it's Hollywood, it's what they like to pass as a message, because looking at the direction they have taken over the last twenty years, it has become clear they don't seem to be any more interested in producing entertainment and making profit, but rather to function as political and (pseudo)-moral activists no matter the cost. Hence also the obligatory inclusion of the word "mercenary", because THAT'S what it comes all down to for Hollywood .... and they couldn't be any more wrong than that.

Chris Pine does a solid performance and the chemistry with Ben Foster is clearly there. The plot is over simplified by people not familiar with the industry and who must have written their story based on hearsay, NYT articles and a good portion of (bad) imagination. The movie doesn't know exactly what it wants to be: An action flick? Well, not quite, with too much drama and talking. A drama? Well, not quite either, with too much action. So it sits somewhere in between and is neither a pleaser for fans of one or the other. Still, the production value is there, the cast is there ... unfortunately the film isn't quite. It's absolutely fine for a one-time watch, just don't believe every lie they try to sell as The Truth. But coming from a biased director, who had done in the past a biased documentary about Guantanamo Bay called "Gitmo", the result was unsurprising.

Surprisingly Immersive

[albertval-69560 · 7/10 · 20 December 2022]

We've watched movies about black ops gone awry. What's different in this movie is how the subject is treated. It's commendable. It's well-executed and well-edited. Thus, it's immersive.

The viewer is glued to his seat as he watches how James extricates himself from a life-threatening situation.

While the focus is on the action, the film doesn't ignore human interest. The drama is heartfelt like the scene with James and the scientist in his lab. Or how Mike dotes on his crippled son. Or the all-too-brief scene with James and Virgil at the safehouse. Or the encounter between James and Mike in the parking lot.

The movie also shines a soft light on the situation of ex-military men when they are discharged from the service.

Chris Pine is great here. Praise has to be given to director Tarik Saleh and writer JP Davies.

How action movies should be like

[menaraafat · 7/10 · 12 March 2022]

Great acting, realistic combat scenes like the old days that respects the laws of physics, but if not for some plot holes I would have given it a solid 8.

The Contractor is one more generic action flick with a story borrowed directly from the formulaic Hollywood closet, without any surprises or even high entertainment levels.

[msbreviews · 4/10 · 24 March 2022]

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free thoughts, please follow my blog to read my full review :)

"The Contractor is one more generic action flick with a story borrowed directly from the formulaic Hollywood closet, without any surprises or even high entertainment levels.

Chris Pine is the mandatory "famous face" chosen to (try to) elevate a plot seen countless times before, and with Ben Foster's friendly shoulder, they actually manage to carry Tarek Saleh's film for a good chunk of the runtime.

However, even with a couple of captivating action sequences and occasional eyebrow-raising moments, this movie can't free itself from the imagination-inhibiting shackles.

Inevitably, it will end up falling into the hole of oblivion as soon as the viewers leave the theater."

Rating: C-

Intense, insane situations after a slow start! :-)

[stevebondi · 7/10 · 2 April 2022]

The story was interesting, the hand-to-hand fighting was good, and the action was pretty good :-) Chris Pine played the character intensely, while all the other actors were just secondary.

Pine and Foster can't save this....

[wick27 · 3/10 · 6 April 2022]

Chris Pine and Ben Foster produced great on screen chemistry in Hell or High Water but what they were handed here in The Contractor was a sophomoric screenplay that is not up to par. Tarik Saleh directed this bad miss like it was his first movie.

It's a shame that the Pine and Foster duo starred in this DUD. Sutherland brought nothing to the table - his character was a waste of screentime and he clearly mailed it in....zero effort, zero emotion - just like a robot.

Continuous Suspense

[abdullaha-21668 · 7/10 · 11 March 2022]

Just watched it yesterday, nice action low budget movie, good developing story, the acting was good, I did not look at my watch at all

Watchable, even though there were some gaps in the story,

I give it a 7.

Full of cliches, confusing and unoriginal

[yaroslavsventsitskiy · 3/10 · 13 March 2022]

This is not a good movie. It was boring from start to finish because of the horrible pacing, the characters are bland and uninteresting, the conflict is extremely predictable. The action is rather dull and most of the movie is just walking or dramatic tension that no one cares about. The script is bad with hilarious lines and "deep" philosophical thoughts that we've heard 200 times already. The soundtrack is often out of place and makes the whole situation even more absurd. It's not the worst movie though and the acting was pretty good.

Rated a bit low here

[jnjason-90562 · 8/10 · 20 July 2023]

Rated as 5.8 here. It's not a blockbuster 10 for sure, but I thought it was better than a 5 or a 6, Sutherland just really walked through a couple of times and that was it. Chris Pine carried this movie. Had he not done that this movie wouldn't have made it.

The main character's discharge was not realistic as it doesn't happen that fast. If he was discharged honorably he still receives his pension and benefits since he didn't face a court martial . And a shoot out on the streets of Berlin?!?! That just wouldn't happen as the German police would be all over it.

No, Chris Pine carried this movie in spite of some unrealistic parts in the script.

Cliché ridden film you ha e seen 100 times, and this one is lower tier

[random-70778 · 25 March 2022]

Fun fact: There are hundreds if not thousands of private, military background, "contractors" facilitating delivery of massive amounts of privately contracted weapons and other material into Poland for the fight against Russian aggression in Ukraine right now.

It is always a bad sign when a studio refuses to let professional critics see a film before it is released. (The two "critics reviews" here are the same site from Portugal that just note of trailer dropping and not reviews.) This film is just awful in every way. It is utterly inaccurate in how SOF works, and even more inaccurate when it comes to contractors. As usual Hollywood says what it wants to say, clearly with no advisors, nor anyone who knows the subject. Anyone saying this film is "Authentic" are obviously deeply ignorant themselves. Is Hollywood saying that many of the people who often protected Hillary, John Kerry or Tony Blinken when they were in conflict zones "mercenaries??" They were very often private contractors contracted by Dept of State. If you've watched Zero Dark Thirty, two of the guys killed (Wise and Parisi) and two of those injured in the Camp Chapman attack were contractors. Wise and Parisi are the ones who objected to the bomber passing though inner security without being searched.

My review is spoiler free, but that is an oxymoron in this case because you have seen this film's tire plot 100 times, and if you don't guess exactly where it is going in five minutes, well I would worry.

I think we all know by now that Chris Pine is one notch above Shatner in acting chops. So average at best. He is certainly weak as a lead. Ben Foster is a top shelf actor. He really accurately captured the warrior bearing and ethos in prior films, and does well here given how bad the rest of the film is.

3/10: skip it.

Your Standard Action Flick With A Few Differences

[dmurilloroman · 7/10 · 1 April 2022]

I got drawn to seeing this movie because I recently got out of the military and can relate to being contacted by hungry contracting agencies. I am also a huge fan of the Chris Pine and Ben Foster duo because of their amazing work in Hell or High Water.

The film starts off slow in order to introduce you to Chris Pine who is playing an aging SF Medical Sergeant who suffers from de habilitating knee pain. As seen in the trailer, Pine gets kicked out of the Army with no benefits so he is forced to accept a contracting position from his close friend (played by Ben Foster) with a shady organization.

This is where the real action starts and it was really enjoyable honestly. All of the tactics used by the team when they were tactically clearing buildings and when they were involved in firefights were very accurate. I do not want to spoil anything but the first firefight scene in the film honestly hooked me and surprised me with how intense it was. Morality also comes up a lot into the film because innocent lives get damaged in the process of all these operations.

I really enjoyed this movie but I can't put it on the same level as Hell or High Water because there is not just enough of those special things in this film. It had great action but it lacked that creative character development and original plot. I would definitely recommend this film over Morbius (which is also out this week) and also to any action movie fans.

Ranger to the Bone

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 5 April 2022]

Army Ranger Sgt. James Harper (Chris Pine) is discharged from military without benefits for taking pain medicine while recovering from a knee injury. Desperate to feed his family he works for a private firm. They go to Berlin on a mission and not only discovers he is expendable, but they were counting on it.

Sgt. Harper is not as slick or clever as Jason Bourne. Nor can be torture someone like Liam Neeson. The film moves along, but the Hollywood twist is predictable. Dialogue was not memorable.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Bette then expected

[mwen001-2 · 7/10 · 1 February 2023]

Actually much better then expected. Great actors and a decent story. Good execution and solid directing! Definitely something you can watch and enjoy. Story is well told and Chris Pine is doing a great job keeping it together.

Actually much better then expected. Great actors and a decent story. Good execution and solid directing! Definitely something you can watch and enjoy. Story is well told and Chris Pine is doing a great job keeping it together.

Actually much better then expected. Great actors and a decent story. Good execution and solid directing! Definitely something you can watch and enjoy. Story is well told and Chris Pine is doing a great job keeping it together.