''The Contract'' is a 2006 German-American

action thriller Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

film directed by

Bruce Beresford Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. Beresford's notable films he has directed include '' B ...

and written by television writer Stephen Katz and John Darrouzet. ''The Contract'' stars Morgan Freeman as professional assassin Frank Carden and

John Cusack John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his ol ...

as a teacher who gets entangled into his latest assignment during a camp trip with his son. Released

direct to video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and most of Europe, ''The Contract'' received little critical notice despite its high-profile cast.

Plot

Frank Carden ( Morgan Freeman) is a professional assassin who has been hired to kill a reclusive billionaire named Lydell Hammond, Sr., a vocal opponent of stem cell research. Carden's plan goes awry when he gets injured in a car accident and ends up in the hospital. When hospital staff see his gun, they call the police. They are able to peel away his false identity and federal marshals are called in to pick him up. Widower Ray Keene (

), a high school gym teacher, ex-cop and well-intentioned but not very able dad to Chris (Jamie Anderson), belatedly realizes the need to bond with his son when the latter gets caught smoking marijuana and takes him hiking in the wilderness. Carden is being driven through that same wilderness by the marshals but his men stage a rescue attempt. The car is crashed and most of the marshals end up dead. The surviving marshal asks Keene to take the prisoner to the authorities and then dies of his injuries. Ray and Chris have to get Carden out of the wilderness and hand him over to the authorities. Carden's men, highly skilled ex-military thugs, track them down to rescue Carden and kill the Keenes. The pursuit brings a couple, Sandra and Lochlan (

Megan Dodds Megan Lynne Dodds is an American actress. She played Kate in the 2006 series ''Not Going Out'', alongside Lee Mack and Tim Vine, and has appeared in the series '' Spooks'', '' House'', ''Detroit 1-8-7'', and '' CSI: NY'', and the films '' Ever A ...

and Ryan McCluskey) into the crossfire, with Lochlan being killed by Carden's men. In a tense standoff in a cabin in the woods, Carden's friends turn up and Keene agrees to let Carden go. Just at that moment, one of Carden's thugs bursts in and punches Chris, causing Keene to panic and kill him, while Sandra shoots the other as he enters firing. Carden escapes, taking Chris as a hostage, while Sandra and Keene are rescued by the local police. Miles (

Alice Krige Alice Maud Krige (; born 28 June 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her first feature film role was in '' Chariots of Fire'' (1981) as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon. She played the dual role of Eva Galli/Alma Mobley i ...

), Carden's mission handler, tells Davis ( Corey Johnson), Carden's recent recruit, to kill Carden and Chris and to make it look like Carden did it. She also tells him to kill Keene in case Carden told him anything about his job. Feeling defeated and resting at home, a televised news report echoes an earlier conversation about Carden's job description with the key phrase "exterminating obstacles to progress" which makes Keene aware of Carden's intended target. Keene heads to the funeral of Hammond, Jr., to intercept Carden inadvertently saving Carden from Davis. Carden gets the upper hand on Davis, killing him with his own sniper rifle. However, the battle forces Carden to miss his own window of opportunity to assassinate Hammond, Sr. Carden relents in giving Keene a set of keys to a hotel room where Carden locked up Chris, letting father and son reunite while he disappears. In Washington, D.C., Carden intercepts Miles, aware of her role in hiring Davis to kill him. Carden threatens to "come after her" if any harm were to come to the Keene family. Two weeks after the incident, Keene enters into a relationship with Sandra and holds a family barbecue, expressing disbelief in hearing a radio news report about Hammond, Sr., dying in a "boating accident", realizing that Carden finished his contract killing.

Cast

* Morgan Freeman as Frank Carden *

as Ray Keene * Jamie Anderson as Chris Keene *

Bill Smitrovich William Stanley Zmitrowicz Jr. (born May 16, 1947), known professionally as Bill Smitrovich ( ), is an American actor. Personal life Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna ( née Wojna) and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a ...

as Chief Ed Wainwright *

Ned Bellamy Ned Bellamy (born May 7, 1957) is an American actor. Early life and education Bellamy was educated at UCLA. His brother, Mark Bellamy, was the United States Ambassador to Kenya from 2003 until 2006. Career After graduating from UCLA, Bellamy ...

as Deputy Evans *

as Sandra *

Jonathan Hyde Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King (born 21 May 1948), known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-English actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the 1994 comedy film '' Richie Rich'', Sa ...

as Turner * Corey Johnson as Davis *

as Miles * Ian Shaw as Michaels * Jonas Talkington as Paramedic * Ryan Spike Dauner as Helicopter Pilot #1 * Mike Diamente as Agent Reyes * Atanas Srebrev as Agent Rodriguez * Maynard Eziashi as Agent Chuck Robbins

Production

Director Bruce Beresford talks extensively about the production of the movie in his memoir ''Josh Hartnett Definitely Wants To do This... True Stories From A Life In The Screen Trade''. The film was shot almost exclusively in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and the

DSK Bank DSK Bank ( bg, Банка ДСК, ''Banka DSK''; formerly Държавна спестовна каса, ''Darzhavna spestovna kasa'' — State Savings Bank) is a major Bulgarian bank. It has been owned by the Hungarian OTP Bank since 2003, bein ...

central headquarters served as one of the main sets. The scenes on the large rock were filmed at the

Zlatnite Mostove Zlatnite Mostove ( bg, Златните мостове, ‘Golden Bridges’) is the largest stone river on Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria. The feature is situated in the valley of Vladayska River, extending 2.2 km, and up to 150 m wide, wit ...

on the

Vitosha Vitosha ( bg, Витоша ), the ancient ''Scomius'' or ''Scombrus'', is a mountain massif, on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vitosha is one of the symbols of Sofia and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. Conven ...

Mountain by

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, the capital city of

Reception

The film received negative reviews. It has a 0% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

from 6 critics who reviewed it.

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

awarded the film two stars.page 283

References

External links

* * *
The Contract Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contract, The 2006 films Nu Image films 2006 crime thriller films Films directed by Bruce Beresford Films shot in Bulgaria Films scored by Normand Corbeil MoviePass Films films 2000s English-language films