The Contract (2006)

Ray Keene (John Cusack), a father who wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his son (Jamie Anderson), is trying to bring Carden (Morgan Freeman), a world-class assassin to justice. All the... See full summary »

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writers:

Stephen Katz, John Darrouzet

Stars:

John Cusack, Morgan Freeman, Jamie Anderson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Morgan Freeman	...	Carden
John Cusack	...	Ray
Jamie Anderson	...	Chris
Alice Krige	...	Miles
Megan Dodds	...	Sandra
Corey Johnson	...	Davis
Jonathan Hyde	...	Turner
Bill Smitrovich	...	Wainwright
Anthony Warren	...	Royko
Ned Bellamy	...	Evans
Thomas Lockyer	...	Johnson
Gary Whelan	...	Stanfield
Ian Shaw	...	Michaels
Atanas Srebrev	...	Rodrigues
Maynard Eziashi	...	Robbins

Storyline

Ray Keene (John Cusack), a father who wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his son (Jamie Anderson), is trying to bring Carden (Morgan Freeman), a world-class assassin to justice. All the while, he must protect his son and evade the assassin's team who are methodically hunting them down in the wilderness.

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Plot Keywords:

river | basketball | baseball | bo 105 bolkow helicopter | box of doughnuts | 

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Taglines:

Every Killer Meets His Equal.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [France]

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 April 2007 (Germany)

Also Known As:

El contrato

Filming Locations:

Sofia, Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Revelations Entertainment, Emmett/Furla Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bruce Beresford writes extensively about this film in his recent memoir, "Josh Hartnett Definitely Wants To Do This". The production was apparently deeply troubled and Beresford was well aware that the script didn't make sense. The producers closed the shoot down after fifty days and Beresford was forced to use his own money to complete the film.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 23 mins) When the shootings occur in the woods at the funeral, a silenced rifle is used. However, the shootings occur close enough to the funeral that you can clearly hear the service, so the funeral attendees should be able to clearly hear even a silenced gunshot (silencers don't work like the movies depict, the shot is still identifiable as a shot, just not as loud: it's not a soft pop, especially not with a rifle).

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Quotes

Frank: Don't confuse me with a nice guy.

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Connections

References Gunga Din (1939)

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Soundtracks

You Thought
Written by Frank Sorci and Jessica Tomich
Performed by Red Letter
Published by Sorci Music Publishing (BMI) / Three Degrees Music (BMI)
Courtesy of North Star Media

User Reviews

You have got to be kidding me

Absolutely uneventful. The acting was downright awful and I honestly have to blame a lot of that on the screen writing. The story was laughable and the people who created this movie managed to take a couple of halfway decent actors (well, maybe Morgan Freeman anyway) and make quite a joke out of the kill-for-hire 'business'. I almost managed to make it to the end, but winded up having to skip a couple of chapters because I felt as if I was on a nature hike right along with the whole cast. Seriously boring, uneventful and *definitely* unimaginative. I'd skip this one unless you're just a die hard Freeman/Cusack fan.