For a movie made in this century it sure seemed older. The "special" effects like the rain, the landscape and nighttime scenery were worse than most movies filmed in the 70s. I mean, for the night scenes they used a filter to make it seem dark, and ended up giving Morgan Freeman purple hair.As for the plot. Well. I can kind of understand how maybe, possibly, the father would be afraid to let this guy go, but there is no way the father would have shot a man in the back if he tried to walk away, so Morgan Freeman's character could have walked off easily when they were by the river. Then, when they were descending the rock face (WTH) he could have climbed back up. How did Freeman even think doing a movie like this was a good idea?

Frank Carden a dangerous trained killer is about to plan his next target when an car accident brings him to the hospital and when the nurses find a gun in his possession they call the authorities and they find out who he really is so they need to move him in order to be judged and to answer for his facts. But he is not alone, this partners fakes a problem with a truck and manage to get rod of the officers that are escorting him but a mistake makes the car to be thrown in the river and now must look for him in the woods. In the meanwhile the teacher Ray along with his son Chris are on a hike and observe the two man that are drifting along the river. They find out what is happening so now it's up to them to take Frank in front of the justice but it will not be easy because Frank's friends are following them and will do anything to recover their associate because without him they could not finish the deal and get their money.The Contract is a weak movie with less action scenes and more then a half occurs in a forest and all we see is the three man walking around. If it wasn't with the idea that a simple man can master so well a machine gun even knock down a helicopter maybe it came up more real but with this exaggeration the movie becomes dumb and a waste of two good actors.

In the beginning of this movie it seemed to be an entertaining piece of work, exciting with strong characters involved, but after they had establish themselves in the wilderness, the quality of the story went into a foggy condition. The plot revealed itself as very simple, and the big point wasn't unmasked before the close end.The actors wasn't at their best in the movie, but I thought young Jamie Anderson as John Cusack's troubled son could give me a surprise here, but when I came to the story, it was battle between the hunters and the hunted, the political issue almost disappeared.Young Anderson's performance said it all when it came down to the experienced actors like Morgan Freeman, Cusack and Alice Krige, but I put most of the blame on the writers - I thought they lost their sight along the way, too obvious and too convenient.But "The contract" is not really a bad movie, but I'd expected more from a good idea, director Beresford had all the skills to make a very good thriller, maybe his time is out? The writers had no experience, Katz died after finishing the movie, and Darrouzet had only his screen writing, this was his first movie there was some highlights to watch, but circumstanced like financial problems, gave Beresford no choice - without delivering a good enough script, he had to finish the production anyway.

Hate to say this, but I think, The Contract is one of actor Morgan Freeman's weaker movies, if not weakest, in the last few decades of his career.Of course as always, Freeman is deadly effective in his role(as a hired mercenary) and thanks to him, and mostly only him, this movie is bearable. None of the other actors, including John Cusack, was memorable. The role of a serious ex-cop didn't really gel with Cusack at all.I'm not sure why all the other roles in the movie fell flat. Is that because the script unintentionally circled mostly around Freeman? So looks like the script really is to blame here.The movie's sole plus point(beside Freeman) are the many good suspense moments, and well....that's it! Verdict: Watchable. And we know whom to thank....