Overview: While on a hiking trip to reconnect with his son after the death of his wife, Ray Keene (John Cusack) stumbles into a nightmare scenario of paid assassins and ex-military guns-for-hire. Frank Cardin (Morgan Freeman) is attempting to fulfill a contract to assassinate a high profile businessman when things go arwy and he ends up in the custody of the U.S. Marshalls. After an ill-fated attempt by his compatriots to free him Frank finds himself in the custody of ex-lawman Ray and his son (Jamie Anderson). As the trio tries to make their way back to civilization they are relentlessly pursued by Frank's friends who are intent on freeing their leader in order to collect on the contract. But one pursuer may be more foe than friend.

DVD Verdict: I'm a big fan of Morgan Freeman anyway, and his typically first-class performance was in evidence in The Contract. This movie hits on all four cylinders: Great acting, great script, good directing and beautiful scenery. There were some sub-plots that deserved more direction and development and I saw a couple minor plot holes but that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

Another plus is that it wasn't as horrifically graphic as many of this genre typically are. Yeah, people get shot and things explode, but it's not too awful (compared to typical hollywood horror).

Bad-guy Morgan Freeman explains to an inquiring teen what he does for a living. He explains that he's a professional assassin and "removes obstacles" to help advance governmentally-ordered progress. When asked further about his moral code, Morgan Freeman responded, "There are things I wouldn't do. I have my limits. I just haven't found them yet."

I don't have the time to watch a lot of movies so I'm pretty discerning about how I kill two hours of time, but The Contract was a worthy flick. I may even watch it a second time! This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.35:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Inside The Contract Documentary
Photo Gallery
Previews