Directed by Tarik Saleh
Written by J.P. Davis
Starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Gillian Jacobs and Kiefer Sutherland
Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
In theaters and available on demand and digital April 1st

by Matt McCafferty, Staff Writer

The Contractor served as a reminder for me that Chris Pine played the role of Jack Ryan back in 2014. Honestly, I had to look that up to be totally certain. Even though I enjoyed The Contractor for the most part, it will likely be one of those movies I discard from my movie memory as the years go on, just as I did with 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. That’s not meant to be a knock. This is a decent enough movie in the moment. Just not quite enough qualities to make me want to return to it anytime soon. Thanks to a pretty solid cast and some surprisingly intense action scenes, The Contractor managed to be a pretty entertaining military action thriller — even if it does use the same playbook as many others that came before it within this subgenre.

The cast is by far the strongest aspect of the film. Chris Pine and Ben Foster don’t get to flex their acting chops here as much as they did in 2016’s Hell or High Water, but they still do plenty enough to make this worth watching. With a pretty middle-of-the-road script in place, it’s a good thing these two were here to help distract us from some of the generic storylines that play out. Pine is especially good in the lead role as James Harper, a recently discharged U.S. Special Forces sergeant. He’s forced out due to a major knee injury. Struggling to support his family financially, he turns to his old friend Mike (Ben Foster). Mike has a connection with a private contracting organization. A connection to a job that pays big bucks for what’s meant to be a simple in and out mission in Berlin. Desperate for money, Harper accepts the job. Of course, nothing about the job turns out to be simple. 

Pine and company find themselves on the run after things go wrong extracting data from a science lab. From there, he must fight for his life to get back home to his family. On top of that, he is determined to unlock the truth behind his mission-gone-wrong. This is the “on the run” part of the story that looks a lot like a Jason Bourne movie. Not to mention, the score here is eerily similar as well. These similarities didn’t necessarily bother me, but they were very noticeable. As a fan of the Bourne franchise, maybe this is one of the reasons why I probably won’t revisit this movie again. There are better options out there when it comes to rewatches along the lines of something like this.   

Getting into some of the things I liked here. Pine has a few moments where he gets to kick ass. There is a scene in the sewer that took me by surprise. A violent outburst that you don’t really see coming up to that point. And really, most of the action sequences are really well done. There is an intensity to them that I liked a lot. On the flipside, the quieter family drama storyline works pretty well too, mostly again thanks to the strength of Pine’s acting. Gillian Jacobs is fine as well, but she doesn’t get nearly as much screen time to develop her character. 

There are some deeper themes that director Tarik Saleh tried to weave into the story. PTSD and the support (or lack thereof) that veterans receive when they come home are a couple of heavy topics that are touched on. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t really explore those topics fully. It spends most of its efforts on being an action/revenge flick. A little more focus on some of these meaningful subjects might have added some much needed depth to make The Contractor a little more worthwhile.