the contractor movie review 2022

The Contractor

There’s a lot of discussion lately about the type of films that are released now and what it says about the future of movies. Is it true that all people will go to see in theaters are superhero movies and other familiar IP? If that’s the case, my suspicion is that films like “The Contractor” will become commonplace on streaming services. There’s ample evidence that programming old-fashioned series and movies—what could be called “dad product”—works to find an under-served, usually older fan base who can afford all the streamers. The success of shows like “Yellowstone” and “Bosch” means people will probably be drawn to an action movie that not only recalls the time that star Chris Pine played Jack Ryan but reunites the stars of “ Hell or High Water .” Sadly, the promise of “The Contractor” fizzles after an intriguing set-up as the script feels beneath most of the people involved. The talented cast do just enough to make this one more forgettable than horrendous, which means “The Contractor 2” seems likely. And so many more movies like it. I hope some of them try harder.

The always-solid Pine plays Special Forces Sergeant James Harper, an elite agent with a bum knee who gets discharged from the U.S. Army and watches the bills pile up with his wife Brianne ( Gillian Jacobs ). That’s when his former squadmate and good friend Mike ( Ben Foster ) reaches out with a proposal. Mike has been doing off-the-books operations for a veteran named Rusty Jennings ( Kiefer Sutherland ). The money is good, the jobs are quick, and it will give James purpose again while providing for his family. As Mike says, “We’re all just mercenaries in the end,” giving the opening act of “The Contractor” some weighty dramatic material that the rest of the film doesn’t fulfill. It’s easy to think about the last time Pine & Foster starred in a drama that hinged on the lie of the American Dream. If “Hell or High Water” was the Western version of that concept, this is the Tom Clancy-inspired one.

The problem is that writer J.P. Davis and director Tarik Saleh seem afraid to do anything interesting or unexpected once they have their pieces in place. It’s not surprising at all that the mission that James and Mike are contracted for blows up in their face. And only people who have never seen a movie before will be surprised to learn that Rusty isn’t telling them everything they need to know. Ultimately, “The Contractor” becomes depressingly routine. The action isn’t interestingly staged, and the plot has less twists in its 100 minutes than your average single episode of a spy drama. It all feels like set-up, getting people ready for a series of a film franchise, but so narratively thin on its own that you could recount the plot in like 15 words or less.

This all means that the cast has to do a lot of heavy lifting to get this bare-bones film to two stars, which they do. They’re the real mercenaries here as Pine finds a sadness that balances the heroic approach lesser actors would have taken and proves he still has great chemistry with Foster. Nina Hoss is sadly wasted in a small part but Eddie Marsan gets a great scene that breaks the tedium of the second half with its near-capture/escape structure as James tries to find his way home.

Other than a remarkable lack of ambition, there’s nothing explicitly wrong or dreadful about “The Contractor.” It checks boxes for what feels like an older audience who misses the days when action movies were made about American heroes instead of super ones. Honestly, those movie watchers deserve better too.

In theaters, on VOD, and on Paramount+ today.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Chris Pine as James Harper
• Ben Foster as
• Gillian Jacobs as
• Eddie Marsan as
• Kiefer Sutherland as
• Florian Munteanu as Kaufman
• Tait Fletcher as Dalton
• Fares Fares as
• Nina Hoss as
• J. D. Pardo as Eric
• Amira Casar as
• Alexej Manvelov as Asset
• Tyner Rushing as Christine Denton
• Toby Dixon as Young James
• Brian Lafontaine as Captain
• Alex Belcher

Cinematographer

• Tarik Saleh
• Theis Schmidt

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‘The Contractor’ Review: The Pine Identity

Chris Pine and Ben Foster team up to play mercenaries in a solid thriller about losing your faith and finding yourself in a violent reckoning.

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By Manohla Dargis

Chris Pine often seems too pretty, too nice, decent and, well, intelligent for his movies. He’s comfortable sharing the screen with both men and women, and can persuasively shift registers, all while letting you see him thinking, not just emoting. His range elevates action movies like “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” a 2014 take on the Tom Clancy property. Even so, I forgot that I’d reviewed “Jack Ryan” until I looked it up recently. Like too many of Pine’s movies, it just didn’t stick.

Multiple knowns and unknowns shape the careers of actors — the choices that they make and the good and baffling ones that are made for and despite them. For whatever reason, Pine has never taken off the way he should have. One obvious explanation is that unlike, say, Andrew Garfield or the Marvelites named Chris (Evans, Hemsworth, Pratt), Pine hasn’t slipped on a superhero suit. He did voice one of the title characters in the animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” but that was a collective rather than self-aggrandizing endeavor.

And while Pine has done time in the superhero world (including as Wonder Woman’s squeeze), his biggest franchise turn as a headliner has been in the uneven “Star Trek” series, in which he plays Captain Kirk. (A fourth is apparently in the works.) Pine has made Kirk his own with a deft balance of personality and character homage that holds the center even when the movies collapse around him. He has also appeared in a raft of fine and middling smaller movies. What’s missing from his résumé is more work that’s sharp and distinctive enough to rise above the gray middle, the way that his 2016 western “ Hell or High Water ” did.

Which brings me to Pine’s latest, “The Contractor,” a thriller that yearningly evokes the Bourne series while never approaching its level. (Pine even mentions that franchise in this movie’s production notes.) He plays James, an Army Special Forces officer recovering from a serious injury that he suffered out in the field, and that has nearly ruined one of his knees. It’s a character-defining detail (he’s vulnerable, physically and otherwise) that also works as a convenient plot device. But James’s struggles also extend to the home front: Like many American families, his is badly in debt and the bills keep coming.

“The Contractor” has some serious things on its mind, notably James’s crisis of faith about service, nation and his military father’s legacy. The first hour or so sets up his situation steadily with introductions and explanations, along with a dramatic jolt that sets the narrative on its course: As he hobbles toward recovery, with bills spread out on the kitchen table, James is booted out of the Army without a pension for taking unsanctioned meds. He’s still a good guy, the story assures you, though it whiffs on assigning who’s to blame for his dire straits: him, his superior, the military or the bitter dregs of what’s still called the American dream?

All these earnest sensitivities fade for a time once the story shifts gears, turning the movie into a tight, brutal thriller. Seeing no other option financially, with a small family to support — Gillian Jacobs does what she can with the rote wife role — James signs on with a private military firm. The energy picks up with the entrance of Ben Foster (Pine’s co-star in “Hell or High Water”), a former Army buddy who works for the outfit and now owns a big house and truck. The casting of Kiefer Sutherland as the company’s owner is a nice touch, mostly because you know that there’s a whole lot of serious trouble coming James’s way.

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‘The Contractor’ Review: Chris Pine Gets Hoodwinked Into Playing for the Bad Guys

In Tarik Saleh’s crisp action thriller, Chris Pine plays a discharged U.S. Army officer whose financial straits lead him down the wrong path.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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The “Bourne” movies revivified the espionage genre with their nimble, scrappy, down-and-dirty action. But they weren’t as widely imitated as one might have expected, which leaves “The Contractor” feeling like a relatively fresh chip off a not-so-old block. Chris Pine stars as a forcibly decommissioned U.S. Army careerist whom financial straits push him into a sketchy private militaristic security job. Needless to say, that goes south in a hurry.

Swede Tarik Saleh ’s first American feature is more impersonally commercial than prior projects (including 2017 Sundance jury prize winner “The Nile Hilton Incident”), and more efficient than memorable as a medium-scaled adventure exercise. Still, being a solid cut above average is good enough, given so much formulaic mediocrity among thrillers cluttering the streaming market. Already released in several territories during March, the film is scheduled for launch to U.S. theaters, digital and on demand platforms April 1.

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Things start out unpromisingly in a rote mode of I-love-my-flag-and-family sentiments underlining that Special Forces Sgt. James Harper (Pine) is a straight-up Good Guy. He’s just out of rehab for a serious injury incurred during the last of four combat rotations in five years, all of which has kept him overmuch from the wife (Gillian Jacobs) and son (Sander Thomas) he adores. But called into Fort Bragg by the brass, he’s brusquely informed that due to a “filthy” drug test result — he’d been medicating for his painful knee — he is being discharged, effective immediately. It’s an “honorable,” yet his pension, healthcare and other benefits are abruptly gone along with the paycheck.

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Creditors were already closing in, so this is not just a bitter injustice, but a financial catastrophe. James has little choice but to hit up a close buddy, his former officer Mike ( Ben Foster ), for leads on the kind of private contractor work he’d sworn he’d never do. As it happens, Mike is currently in the lucrative employ of one Rusty Jennings (Keifer Sutherland), whose coffee import/export business is a cover for for-hire covert operations manned by service personnel who’ve been “chewed up and spat out” just like our hero. Rusty makes a point of differentiating himself in profane terms from the likes of real-life Blackwater founder Erik Prince — suggesting he, by contrast, solely does the Right Thing. “We deal strictly with matters of national security,” he assures. The price is certainly right: A $50,000 check gets cut for James even before he starts.

Soon he’s on a plane to Berlin, where he spends several days spying on Salim Mohsin (Fares Fares), a Harvard-educated virologist purportedly involved in bioterrorism research funded by Al Qaeda affiliates. Then he, Mike and local contact Katia (Nina Hoss) execute a nocturnal raid of the lab facility — providing this action movie its first real action, well past the half-hour mark. Their mission somewhat messily accomplished, however, they’re faced with a police phalanx. After a shootout, James is left alone, weakened and increasingly aware of the extent to which he has been double-crossed.

It is this midsection that is the film’s strongest suit, as our hero is hunted by both government forces (this mission having become an international incident) and his own erstwhile allies. More a classic leading-man type than a credibly hardened military lifer, Pine nonetheless has the physicality to convince us James can roll with various very hard punches here, whether underwater, in subterranean tunnels, or at a crowded intersection turned second bullet-riddled melee. His survival strategies are nicely drawn in J.P. Davis’ screenplay, and staged with tense but non-hyperbolic resourcefulness by Saleh in well-chosen locations. Things slow down a bit when James finds brief refuge in the unlikely form of Eddie Marsan, while the remaining story beats (which include a return Stateside) grow more predictable, but satisfying enough nonetheless.

Those hoping Pine and the always-welcome Foster’s reunion would be the class of “Hell or High Water” should lower those expectations considerably. Most of the overqualified supporting actors (also including JD Pardo) are too briefly seen to be made much use of, with Hoss particularly wasted. Still, “The Contractor” succeeds as a locked-and-loaded intrigue sufficiently grounded in plausible mercenary-style chicanery worldwide — and that industry’s exploitation of ex-military personnel — while avoiding any heavy political messaging. Of course, Erik Prince may disagree.

Ostensibly set mostly in Germany, the well-turned production manages to pass muster with a disguised, primarily-Romanian shoot. DP Pierre Aim’s widescreen images and editor Theis Schmidt’s pacing are adept, while Alex Belcher’s original score is at its most effective when stripped down to an urgent electronic pulse.

Reviewed online, March 26, 2022. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 103 MIN.

• Production: A Paramount Pictures release of an STXFilms, 30West presentation of a Thunder Road Films production, in association with Ingenious Media. Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee. Executive producers: Robert Simonds, Adam Fogelson, John Friedberg, Samuel J. Brown, Chris Pine, Michael Flynn, Tom Lassally, Josh Bratman, Peter Touche, Samantha Allwinton, Jonathan Fuhrman, Esther Hornstein, Eric Warren Singer, Micah Green, Daniel Steinman, Dan Friedkin. Co-producers: David Minkowski, Carmen Pepelea, Jake Carter, Kate Anderson.
• Crew: Director: Tarik Saleh. Screenplay: J.P. Davis. Camera: Pierre Aim. Editor: Theis Schmidt. Music: Alex Belcher.
• With: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs, Eddie Marsan, JD Pardo, Keifer Sutherland, Florian Munteanu, Nina Hoss, Amira Casar, Fares Fares, Sander Thomas, Aristou Meehan.

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Review: Chris Pine and ‘The Contractor’ tautly explore the dark world of private security

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Chris Pine slips into his best spy-wear for Tarik Saleh’s “The Contractor,” a character study (cloaked as a thriller) of a U.S. Army Ranger who tries his hand in the murky world of private security. Written by J.P. Davis, “The Contractor” paints a deeply cynical picture of life after service for American military heroes, having destroyed their bodies on the battlefield and being left to fend for themselves and their families in an increasingly brutal world.

Davis’ orderly script proceeds like clockwork, setting up our main character, James (Pine), struggling to support his family after he’s involuntarily discharged from the Army for using banned substances to treat his lingering injuries. He’s promised his wife ( Gillian Jacobs ) he’ll stay out of private security contracting gigs, but the temptation of big money promised by an old war buddy, Mike (Ben Foster), and Rusty ( Kiefer Sutherland ), the proprietor of a security company known as “The Ranch,” proves too tempting to pass up. It’s a seductive sell, with cash up front and Rusty’s folksy charm; he tends tomato plants while talking of safe, honorable money.

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The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC and local health officials .

For the record:

9:32 a.m. March 31, 2022 An earlier version of this review incorrectly stated that the character James was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army.

When James lands in Berlin, “The Contractor” transforms from an American family drama into a Euro spy thriller. He’s tasked with trailing a scientist working on viral pathogens and told he has ties to terrorist organizations with designs on releasing a bioweapon. James doesn’t blink when he, Mike, and their crew break into the lab to steal research. It’s a well-oiled mission, executed in low voices and quiet movements, but as the mission changes, and the scientist begs for his life and family, James’ eyes start darting around behind his balaclava, doubt creeping in. Soon enough, he has to go rogue — on the run in Germany, “Jason Bourne”-style — though it’s not his government chasing him, but a shadowy private American company.

There is a bleak poetry to Davis’ script, as the men reckon with the things they’ve done as lifelong warriors. There’s no pontificating, just a few choice words and details that add nuance to a story, or flip it on its back. But the spare resonance is so restrained as to be underwritten. Unlike most films, “The Contractor” could have used more exposition, or at least more clearly defined motivations beyond “family,” which becomes a catch-all for why these men do what they do. Does James have a greater sense of justice and empathy? How evil are the people pulling the strings? For a situation this messy, the story is almost a little too clean.

What elevates “The Contractor” is the incredible cast. Pine is excellent, whether he’s in motion — swiftly executing the technical skills he knows so well — or in repose, often in physical or mental anguish. But Pine is never better than when he’s opposite magnetic character actor Foster. The two played brothers in Taylor Sheridan and David Mackenzie’s heist film “Hell or High Water,” and as soon as Foster rolls in, “The Contractor” instantly becomes a better, and more complex, film. Every moment Foster is on screen as the unpredictable Mike is electrifying, and the chemistry Pine and Foster create in their wounded, yet loyal brotherhood is undeniable.

But “The Contractor” is decidedly Pine’s film. His performance is as efficient as the script, which Saleh mirrors with a crisp, smooth aesthetic. There’s nothing particularly showy about the style, but it serves the story of this professional warrior working his way through an unfamiliar place. When it gets grittier, the handheld camera comes in, as Pine mucks about in the mud and literally goes underground to find the truth. What he extracts isn’t triumph, but rather a dark fable about what faces veterans after serving their country.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

‘The Contractor’

Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes Rated: R for violence and language Playing: Starts April 1 in general release; also available on digital and VOD

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The Contractor (2022)

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Chris pine in ‘the contractor’: film review.

A former Green Beret signs on for lucrative black-ops work that quickly turns disastrous in an action thriller that also stars Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs and Eddie Marsan.

By Sheri Linden

Sheri Linden

Senior Copy Editor/Film Critic

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In the opening sequence of The Contractor , a pastor leads his congregation in a prayer for “our protectors,” meaning the Army Special Forces headquartered in nearby Fort Bragg. Soldiers, ex-soldiers and their families fill the pews. Among them is medical sergeant James Harper, a man of few words and a thousand-yard stare, portrayed with a contained and subtle physicality by Chris Pine .

When James’ thoughts drift away from the sermon — perhaps to the growing stack of unpaid household bills or his torn-up knee or the deployment he just completed, his fourth in five years — it’s his young son’s “amen” that brings him back. That instant of connection is fleeting but potent, a signal that this story is as much about fathers and sons as it is about the cost of being a good soldier.

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Release date: Friday, April 1

Cast: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs, Eddie Marsan, Kiefer Sutherland

Director: Tarik Saleh

Screenwriter: J.P Davis

There are serious ideas, damning ones too, in the screenplay by J.P Davis, as it explores the flip side of jingoism without lapsing into simplistic politics. The intended impact of some of those ideas — involving militarism, class, profiteering and Big Pharma — grows muddled, though, as the film shifts into a second half driven by action set pieces. Director Tarik Saleh, whose previous feature was the excellent Cairo-set neo-noir The Nile Hilton Incident , stages the shoot-’em-ups and explosions effectively, but it’s the film’s quiet exchanges that carry the most visceral punch.

In a welcome change of pace from the glossy superheroics and sci-fi of high-profile movie franchises, Pine delivers a performance that’s fueled by its tightly coiled restraint. In a glance, a grimace or the way he leans James’ motorcycle into the curves of a rural road, the actor reveals volumes about his character’s preternatural focus as well as his gnawing doubts. He has fine scene partners too, key among them Gillian Jacobs , as James’ understandably anxious wife, Brianne, and Eddie Marsan, who plays an ex-military tarnished angel of sorts who provides safe-house shelter when James finds himself a hunted man in Berlin.

And, notably, The Contractor reteams Pine with Ben Foster , six years after they brought a fraught fraternal bond to memorable life in Hell or High Water . That was a movie that fired on all cylinders. Though they’re working here with lesser material — less lyrical, more pointed — the unforced chemistry between the two actors (who also appeared together in The Finest Hours ) is affecting.

They play brothers of a kind, Green Berets who went through combat together, Foster’s Mike the slightly older superior officer. He enters the story offering a bracing dose of gallows humor at the funeral of a fellow veteran, the latest in a string of suicides among his and James’ friends and colleagues. One of the film’s core concerns is the way “our protectors” can be reduced from revered to disposable. In James’ case, that transition happens in a flash: The otherwise exemplary medic receives an honorable discharge from the Army after his bloodwork reveals a smorgasbord of self-administered drugs for his knee. He takes the news that he’s been cut off from his pension and health care, not to mention his career, in stoic silence. Eventually, and over Brianne’s objections, he asks Mike to hook him up with one of the private contractors offering “real money” for his specialized skills.

James’ new boss, Rusty Jennings (Kiefer Sutherland), is a heavily tattooed gentleman cowboy who tends to heirloom tomatoes on his ranch and tosses around phrases like “direct presidential authority under Title 50” and “deep black OGA offshoot” while dispensing former soldiers on covert missions. He shares his reasons, and Davis’ screenplay overdoes the explaining, in a monologue about exploitation and the value of forming “our own tribe.” There’s a similar overload of thesis sound bites when Mike assures James that “it’s OK to cash in. … We’re all just mercenaries in the end.” Mike’s spacious new house and his worries about his special-needs son (Nicolas Noblitt) have already made his priorities clear.

James’ first assignment for Rusty takes him to Berlin, with Mike leading a team that includes a no-nonsense former Mossad agent, Katia (Nina Hoss, of Barbara ). Their target is a Syrian virologist (Fares Fares, who toplined The Nile Hilton Incident ), supposedly a bioterrorist with links to al-Qaida. He’s also a married father of sons, rousing complicated feelings in James as he surveils the family. During a tense lab scene that calls to mind a pivotal episode of The Americans , the scientist asks James a key question that stokes further uncertainty: “Do you even know who you’re working for?”

The answer to that question gets a bit lost amid all the high-octane action that propels the movie’s later stretches, much of it taking place in the sewers of Berlin. That’s perhaps a fitting metaphor for the murky political waters in which James finds himself, even as some of the derring-do strains credulity.

Saleh, working with the same production designer, cinematographer and editor from his previous feature, makes evocative use of locations in Germany, Romania and the States, and Alex Belcher’s score is in sync with the narrative’s gritty, in-the-moment pulse. And yet a sense of the vague and the overcooked creeps into the story as it proceeds. It’s the supremely well-etched character-focused groundwork that Saleh and his cast have laid that sustains the drama.

The helmer crafts a convincing emotional throughline between James’ childhood with his gruff military dad — whose idea of a birthday present for a preteen boy is an American flag tattoo — and his present-day parenthood. Disavowing his father’s legacy, he’s determined to offer something more nurturing to Jack (Sander Thomas), the son he’s had to spend many months away from and is still getting to know.

At a moment when headlines are fanning the flames of war, The Contractor zeroes in on the soldiers who are trained to kill and often taken for granted. But it never stoops to empty flag-waving rhetoric. Instead, it asks what the protectors are protecting us from. And even as it stumbles, its ambivalence is its strength; double-crosses and geopolitics are indistinguishable, and whether the actions are front-page or clandestine, the setting Europe, Iraq or Afghanistan, the business of war persists.

Full credits

Distributor: Paramount Pictures Production companies: STX Films, 30West, Thunder Road, Ingenious Media Cast: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs, Eddie Marsan, JD Pardo, Kiefer Sutherland, Florian Munteanu, Nina Hoss, Amira Casar, Fares Fares, Sander Thomas, Nicolas Noblitt Director: Tarik Saleh Screenwriter: J.P Davis Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee Executive producers: Micah Green, Daniel Steinman, Dan Friedkin, Jonathan Fuhrman, Esther Hornstein, Eric Warren Singer, Tom Lassally, Josh Bratman, Peter Touche, Samantha Allwinton, Chris Pine, Michael Flynn, Robert Simonds, Adam Fogelson, Josh Friedberg, Samuel J. Brown Director of photography: Pierre Aïm Production designer: Roger Rosenberg Costume designer: Louize Nissen Editor: Theis Schmidt Music: Alex Belcher Casting: Victoria Thomas, Nina Gold

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The Contractor Review

06 May 2022

The Contractor

The Contractor was originally called Violence Of Action , which at least gave some hint of explosions or excitement. The title they ultimately settled on sounds like a film where Chris Pine plays a handyman who spends most of the running time offering quotes to sort out your extension. It comes as some relief, then, that this film, a sharp, cool-blooded thriller, is not quite as generic as that new name threatens.

The first half-hour doesn’t immediately allay those fears, though, in an opening act that often feels stultified by the clichés of the territory. Sergeant James Harper (Chris Pine) is a dedicated military man in a very traditional sense: God-fearing, family-focused, plays by the rules, salutes the flag. He is also drowning in debt, and when a new commanding officer suddenly forces him out of his job, he needs work and money fast. Motivations and stakes are swiftly established: he’s broke, and he has a family to feed.

So on the advice of his best friend (played by Ben Foster , joining Pine in a pleasing Hell Or High Water reunion), he takes on some private security contract work, not knowing its risks or details, only its massive payday. The first act lightly offers some melancholy musings on the fate of veterans, post-service; flashbacks to Harper’s jingoistic military father clumsily send the point home.

Pine is solid in a guarded, muscular performance.

Then, suddenly, it kicks into gear, a ramp up in tension and pace heralded by the arrival of the contractor-in-chief, played by Kiefer Sutherland as a kind of alt-universe Jack Bauer. Details of the mission are shady, but Harper is promised it is “strictly matters of national security”, and “scalpel work”. He and his team are tasked with infiltrating a Berlin lab with supposed terrorist links: get in, get out, bish-bash-bosh.

When the extrajudicial mission goes south, as it invariably must, Swedish director Tarik Saleh injects the action with Greengrass -ian pace and panache, and in fact there is more than a whiff of Bourne about this film: in its über-capable hero, ashen-faced tone, handheld camerawork and stinging, brutal fight scenes. The script, from J.P. Davis, doesn’t pander either. Much carefully researched talk of assets and codexes fills the exposition, and there’s the clear influence of ’70s-era paranoia thrillers in its cynical take on establishment lies.

Pine is solid in a guarded, muscular performance, but it’s a role that is more a physical challenge than a mental one: the emotional scenes are either at zero or 100, no middle ground. But he is fully convincing as a lethal, ultra-competent expert in unconventional warfare, and his character’s trajectory serves as a fairly effective metaphor for the military at large: men turned into killing machines without realising the consequences to themselves or those around them. For a title as empty as The Contractor , you might be surprised by how much there is in the tank.

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The Contractor Reviews

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.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 25, 2023

...the picture’s slow-but-steady descent into irrelevance is triggered by a generic and rather bland midsection...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 24, 2022

The further it goes down the genre route the more it loses its relevance. And as an action movie, Saleh never fully gets the film off the ground. So it isn’t as pertinent as it tries to be or as kinetic as it wants to be.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 16, 2022

With mostly stale action and a bungled third act missing usual political intrigue, The Contractor feels like a knockoff of better, mid-2000s fare.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2022

Good cast in this thrilling and well-made shoot-em-up action drama starring Chris Pine where dialogue reveals the characters reservoirs of pain and existential fears.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 28, 2022

A standard operating procedure is employed by The Contractor.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 18, 2022

The easy mesh of the actors sells us the relationship: Foster the tinder-dry joker to Pine’s quiet man.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 10, 2022

The Contractor posits that our capitalistic system absolutely prioritizes the almighty dollar above our humanity, and keeps us rooting for our hero to prove his innate value against a stacked deck.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2022

Solid espionage thriller, which moves confidently and convincingly through the same shadowy recesses of covert spy-guy activity.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 2, 2022

What would have been a direct to DVD, is more so made direct to stream. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | May 16, 2022

All the work the actors put into elevating the script, though, ends up doing nothing. "The Contractor" is as bland as its title, with not even one exciting action sequence to its credit.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | May 9, 2022

There’s a tense, tightly constructed thriller here — and Chris Pine makes a decent play as a neo-Bourne.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 9, 2022

[A] diverting if predictable espionage flick...

Pine is good at humanising this trope. Guilt and regret course through his character and he never just shakes off his physical ailments, which helps give the action sequences a frisson of danger.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 4, 2022

The Contractor is as generic and dull as its title, with an over-used action-movie plot of a bitter military veteran who goes rogue. Throw in some 'daddy issues,' sloppy editing, and a drab Chris Pine -- and that sums up this soulless film.

Full Review | Apr 27, 2022

By following predictable patterns, The Contractor does its job acceptably by providing brief but forgettable distraction.

Full Review | Apr 22, 2022

While the plot doesn't stand up to scrutiny, some decent action sequences at least keep things interesting.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 21, 2022

Once the story begins to come together, it doesn't really hold together... But you forgive it just because Chris Pine is just so friendly to spend time with.

Full Review | Apr 19, 2022

This movie doesn't know if it's trying to be that direct action movie or if it's trying to deconstruct the plight of the American soldier.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 15, 2022

Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Kiefer Sutherland - great star power for what is only an average film.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Apr 15, 2022

Screen Rant

The contractor.

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Season 2 (2018), season 3 (2022), season 4 (2026), screenrant reviews, the contractor review: chris pine shines in uneven black ops action thriller.

Pine does a great deal of heavy lifting to carry the burden of giving a resonant and emotive performance that fills in the gaps in the script.

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The Contractor (2022)

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Chris Pine stars as discharged U.S. Special Forces sergeant James Harper, and risks everything for his family when he joins a private contracting organization.

The Contractor

James Harper who, after being involuntarily discharged from the Green Berets, joins a paramilitary organization in order to support his family in the only way he knows how. Harper travels to Berlin with his elite team on a black ops mission to investigate a mysterious threat. Barely into his first assignment, he finds himself alone and hunted across Europe, where he must fight to stay alive long enough to get home and uncover the true motives of those who betrayed him.

The Contractor Review: Chris Pine & Ben Foster Deliver the Action Goods

A desperate veteran (Chris Pine) joins a private security company for a black ops mission in The Contractor.

Exclusive: Ben Foster Explains How Trauma Helped Him Prepare for The Contractor

Ben Foster, who co-stars with Chris Pine in The Contractor, tells us how trauma came into play for his role in the film.

Exclusive: Chris Pine Says New Film The Contractor Subverts Audience Expectations

Chris Pine spoke with MovieWeb about how things are not always as they seem, as seen in his new movie The Contractor.

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Movie Review – The Contractor (2022)

June 7, 2022 by Robert Kojder

The Contractor , 2022.

Directed by Tarik Saleh. Starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs, Eddie Marsan, Kiefer Sutherland, Florian Munteanu, Tait Fletcher, Fares Fares, Nina Hoss, J.D. Pardo, Amira Casar, Alexej Manvelov, Tyner Rushing, Sander Thomas, Nico Woulard, and Toby Dixon.

A discharged U.S. Special Forces sergeant, James Harper, risks everything for his family when he joins a private contracting organization.

“Isn’t your knee supposed to be damaged to the point of not being able to walk” popped into mind countless times while watching The Contractor . It is a story about private contractors unsure if it wants to be a serious exploration of American veteran struggles or a run-of-the-mill action flick. What is for sure is that it’s generically forgettable. At a certain point, director Tarik Saleh (using a script from J.P. Davis) drops any intentions of peering into the lives of the soldiers, whether it be their PTSD, depression, financial woes, physical injury, grieving comrades and attending who knows how many funerals, or marital strife, all in favor of becoming a familiar tale of doublecrossing and questioning one’s line of work.

It’s an unfortunate turn of events because there is something admirable regarding how The Contractor initially presents itself. Special Forces Sergeant James Harper (a flat Chris Pine) is discharged following an impromptu drug test that uncovers traces of HGH in his body, intended to offset a bum knee and keep the soldier cleared for active duty. As such, any lifetime benefits are promptly taken off the table, leaving the stability of his family life in jeopardy. James also reassures his wife (a thankless role for Gillian Jacobs) that you will not take on any unnecessary, dangerous work.

Once a soldier always a soldier, I suppose, as James’ former comrade in arms (Ben Foster, reuniting the dynamic Hell or High Water screen duo, which in the end, might be the only exciting element here) with a family and special needs son to provide for (yes, this is the kind of movie that sinks low to get viewers on the side of these characters about to engage in shady affairs) brings up private contracting opportunities within a group he claims to be morally good. Kiefer Sutherland plays the leader of this mercenary group, so right away, you know that will turn out to be a load of BS. Nevertheless, James doesn’t take much convincing, and the brothers in arms find themselves tracking down a Syrian biochemist located in Germany that they must steal data from.

It’s also not long before the mission is FUBAR, leaving James’ knee worse off and incapable of standing on his feet. He must find his way back to safety and uncover some apparent secrets. Again, the consistently baffling aspect here is that the filmmakers can’t make up their damn minds on whether the character should be broken and vulnerable or an espionage action hero. Despite the lack of logic, at least some hand-to-hand fight scenes and gunplay are tense and brutal. At times, The Contractor feels like someone trying to adapt a Tom Clancy video game, which is the only way to explain a character going from out of commission with a torn ACL to back on his feet kicking ass 10 minutes later (yes, someone does disinfect the knee, but it’s still outright absurd).

Of course, such strange credibility would be acceptable if The Contractor went anywhere compelling with its story of fractured brotherhood and American veterans cornered into challenging situations (when they should be focused on therapy above all else), but it takes one comical turn after another until it’s rushed climactic shootout. The narrative does start on critical subjects that need to be discussed among military veterans, but that doesn’t excuse it from descending into cliché stupidity.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★  / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Friday, April 1, 2022

'the contractor' (2022) movie review.

James Harper ( Pine ) is a career military man, an elite Special Forces operator. He’s also rapidly aging out, his body deteriorating under the rigors of his service. Due to a bad decision in rehabbing an injury, he’s involuntarily discharged with no pension or healthcare, left adrift and, more importantly, broke and desperate. An old buddy Mike ( Ben Foster ) hooks him up with a shady private military contractor (Kiefer Sutherland). Lured by the promise of a life-changing payday, he leaves his wife (Gillian Jacobs) and young son for a mission. When the job, of course, goes bad, he’s left in the wind, trying to make his way home and unravel the sinister mystery behind their assigned task.

[Related Reading: 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' Movie Review]

The Contractor   takes its sweet time setting all of this up, driving home James’ emptiness at losing the only life he’s ever known and his inability to care for his family. Pine does a good job imbuing the character with pathos and a relatable every-man sensibility. However, the surrounding set up is nothing but stock, toothless cliches. Foster, never one to phone it in, does what he can with an underwritten part. The film completely squanders Jacobs as the standard harried, long-suffering wife. Sutherland exudes a snake-like menace and low-key sleaze, but he’s also only in three scenes.

Various underdeveloped and unexplored themes and ideas clutter the movie. It tries to touch on the high rates of veteran suicide, which, of course, is absolutely horrific; how the military fails those who serve; and how there are predatory actors more than happy to take advantage of former soldiers who’ve been cast aside. An odd religious undercurrent runs throughout. As does a running thread with young James and his over-bearing, similarly troubled military father. On the surface, these are intriguing topics that should be talked about, especially things like looking after members of the military, but as deployed here, they never become anything more than window dressing. The stuff with James’ dad does, however, lead to a hilarious flashback where young James gets just the worst American flag tattoo. It’s supposed to be heavy and indicative of the pressure put on the child, but it’s mostly funny as hell.

[Related Reading: 'The Finest Hours' Movie Review]

The Contractor   works best when it finally sends James and company on their job. It doesn’t do anything at all outside of the typical modern-day political intrigue tropes or push the boundaries of this type of tactical-edged thriller, but it’s glossy and watchable and this thankfully takes up the bulk of the movie’s back half. There are really two parts to this. First, it tracks James, Mike, and crew on what they’ve been told is a data-gathering job in Berlin. Saleh leans heavily on tech and military strategy as the team observes, plans, and executes their objective. Things get hinky and go south, which leads to part two, James on his own, navigating this treachery, trying to survive, find the truth, and get home.

The whole film plays a bit like an origin story. Not to hammer home the airport-thriller comparison, but that’s exactly how  The Contractor  feels. If someone said there’s a series of James Harper novels that appear on bookshelves every year, sell a ton of copies, and are almost instantly forgotten, it wouldn’t be surprising. It does what those stories do well, but it also hits all the familiar beats and potholes of that political thriller genre. Pine does a nice job, but beyond his inherent likeability, the character, like the movie writ large, isn’t interesting enough to stand out or leave a lasting impression.  [Grade: C]

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‘The Contractor’ (2022) Movie Review – Standard thriller that rarely excites

Standard thriller that rarely excites.

In this new action thriller, currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Chris Pine stars as James Harper, a Special Forces Agent who is involuntarily discharged from duty without any benefits.

Now unemployed and with a family to support, he decides to take on work as a high-risk private contractor. Unfortunately for him, Harper’s first mission goes awry when he learns that he has been betrayed. Now on his own, Harper does what he can to dig himself out of trouble and seek revenge on the people who put his life in danger.

The plotline for the movie is certainly interesting, albeit a little familiar but if you’re looking for a tense and involving action movie, you are going to be disappointed. It might sound like another Bourne-type movie with Chris Pine taking on the kind of role that Matt Damon could probably play in his sleep by now, but it’s a pale imitation that does nothing to stand out in a very crowded genre.

This isn’t the fault of Chris Pine, however. He is fine as the disgraced army veteran who is let go by his superiors after drug traces are found in his body. He has the physicality to convince as a man who takes on dangerous assignments for a shady mercenary group (led by Kiefer Sutherland) but very few scenes of him in action get the pulse racing. Oh sure, he gets to ride a motorbike, swim underwater, and get into fisticuffs with the various foes that go up against him, but the direction isn’t inventive enough to make these scenes particularly interesting.

Pine isn’t the only ex-army guy going undercover. He is joined by Mike (Ben Foster), his former comrade in arms, but despite their friendship and working relationship, it doesn’t take too long to realize they won’t be joined at the hip for long. Still, before they are forced apart, the two set out to track down a Syrian biochemist with supposed terrorist links. They do what has to be done with ruthless precision but trouble arises when Pine realizes he has been double-crossed after completing the mission.

Could it be his friend Mike who betrayed him? Or is it Rusty Jennings, the mercenary leader who seems to be the antithesis of Jack Bauer, the character Sutherland previously played in the hit series 24 ? Or perhaps the truth lies elsewhere? I’m not saying – you can read our Ending Explained article for that! – but needless to say, you won’t be overly surprised when you find out.

Taken as an action flick, the movie is competent rather than thrilling. But the director and screenwriters try to give the movie an extra dimension by tackling the treatment of American veterans. Pine’s character is thrown out of the army, despite his years of service, and I can only assume that real-life veterans have been discarded in the same way, without the benefits that would aid them financially. Unfortunately, any plot points related to this are quickly dismantled in favour of shootouts and tired revenge tropes, which is a shame, as this could have been a more thought-provoking action thriller.

This review sounds rather negative but the movie isn’t awful. Its story doesn’t make much of an impact and besides a few bruising fight scenes, the action doesn’t either. But there are far worse movies out there, so it’s not your worst option on a Saturday night if you’re looking for something with a few basic thrills. If you’re looking for something with more brains than brawn, however, this won’t do much to satisfy you.

Foster and Pine play well together, despite the limitations of the script they have been handed. They are both talented actors but they were better served in Hell Or High Water , the western-crime drama that proved to be a success for both of them back in 2016.

Still, at least they are given the opportunity to add a few new dimensions to the formulaic characters that they play in The Contractor, unlike Sutherland, their badass contractor-in-chief, who growls his way through an underwritten role that gives him nothing juicy to play with. Gillian Jacobs, who plays Pine’s wife in the film, has nothing much to work with either so it’s a surprise that she bothered to turn up at all for a role that is far beneath her talents.

So, what we have here is another missed opportunity that could have used a sharper script and more inventive direction. It’s a serviceable thriller that might entertain if your expectations are low but it doesn’t do much to rise above The Bourne Identity , Shooter , and Chris Pine’s previous foray into spy-thriller action territory, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit .

Still, it’s much better than the 2007 Wesley Snipes movie of the same name, so while 2022’s The Contractor won’t give you any triple A-thrills, at least it’s better than that direct-to-video misfire.

Read More: The Contractor Ending Explained

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• Verdict - 6/10 6/10

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