The Contract (2006)

	Directed by: Bruce Beresford	COUNTRY Germany/USA GENRE Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE The Contract RUNNING TIME 97 minutes
	Produced by: Randall Emmett George Furla Avi Lerner Danny Lerner Andreas Schmid Les Weldon
	Written by: Stephen Katz John Darrouzet

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Frank Cordell	Morgan Freeman	½
Ray Keene	John Cusack
Chris Keene	Jamie Anderson
Miles	Alice Krige	½

Review

Bruce Beresford is certainly not an untalented director, and do not let this misfire fool you into thinking so. And yet, despite some useful suspense and a fair albeit completely unimaginative script, The Contract is a film hampered by bad craftsmanship. The old saying 'haste makes waste' seems to be appropriate here, because the picture rushes along mindlessly, skipping important justifications and forgetting about issues like character motivation in the process. Shot on beautiful Bulgarian terrain (which may or may not resemble Washington state to an acceptable degree), the film looks good but plays like a classic B-movie. The only redeeming quality is Morgan Freeman, whose natural grace and skill make the film watchable.