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Earlier this year I was sadly disappointed with the latest John Cusack labor of love, War, Inc. What I expected to be another homerun in the tradition of Cusack’s earlier assassin comedy Grosse Pointe Blank turned out to be a confusing mishmash of genres that lacked the cohesion for even a decent black comedy. I always tend to gravitate towards movies where Cusack is involved in the production, much like Steve Martin’s more personal projects. By the same token, I think both stars find themselves taking on many “jobs for hire” as a means to finance their own productions. These films more often than not turn out to be nothing more than brainless diversions that are only slightly elevated by the actors’ respective involvement.

But I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by an overlooked entry in John Cusack’s canon that seemed to just slip under my radar: The Contract. It’s a smart and credible thriller co-starring Morgan Freeman and directed by Bruce Beresford. Given the film’s pedigree, I probably shouldn’t be all that surprised; and with Beresford and Freeman reuniting after the acclaimed Driving Miss Daisy, the project certainly had more going for it than your average shoot-‘em-up, bad guy on the run premise. It also helps when you have hard-working actors like Cusack and Freeman to sell the idea and make it believable. In lesser hands, The Contract could have easily devolved into nothing more than an extended episode of Dog: The Bounty Hunter. But with these actors and this director, it was elevated to something of a morality play with the appropriate shades of grey filled in by top- notch performances.

The film opens with a man named Frank Cardin (Morgan Freeman), a former military man trained to kill who’s now a freelance hired assassin. Cardin gets his latest assignment and quickly assembles his team to go about his job of “eliminating obstacles to progress,” as he succinctly puts it. Although the trained team successfully completes the first part of their objective, Frank gets sidetracked when he’s involved in a serious car accident that puts him in the hospital. The local police in the remote suburbs of Washington State do some checking on Cardin when he arrives at the hospital packing a gun and they find his ID belongs to someone who’s been long since deceased. But his fingerprints reveal him to be Cardin – a man wanted by the FBI – and U.S. Marshalls are dispatched to bring Cardin back to Washington, DC immediately.

Meanwhile, widowed teacher and baseball coach Ray Keene (John Cusack) is trying to stop his son, Chris (Jamie Anderson), from acting out in the wake of his mother’s recent death. Having lost her to cancer two years earlier, both Ray and Chris are still coping with their grief and Chris has gotten into some trouble with the local cops for smoking pot. Hoping to find a way to reconnect with Chris and bond with him, Ray suggests they go on an impromptu camping trip just to get away for a while. Chris reluctantly agrees and the two head out early the next morning. At the same time, the U.S. Marshalls arrive to escort the notorious Frank Cardin back to D.C., but Cardin’s team isn’t about to let their leader and a big payday slip through their fingers. They plan to rescue Frank at all costs and complete the mission they’ve been hired to do. Of course, everyone converges in one remote mountainous area. While en route to the airport, Cardin and his police escorts fall into a trap set by Cardin’s men that sends Cardin and one of the U.S. Marshalls into the river below, trapped inside their vehicle. While hiking on a bridge over the river, Ray and Chris see the men treading water and pull them to safety.

Having previously been shot in a struggle with Cardin over a gun, the U.S. Marshall dies on the bank of the river, but not before warning Ray and his son who Cardin is and asking that they place him under a citizen’s arrest. Ray has reservations about getting involved, until Frank challenges him that he’s “way out of his league,” which only makes him want to hand Cardin over to the authorities. Of course there are a couple of major complications. First, Ray and Chris can’t get a signal on their cell phone (a handy if overused dramatic device these days), and, second, Cardin’s men are hot on their trail and intent on killing anyone who gets in the way of freeing Frank. Despite these odds, Ray feels compelled to do the right thing and he takes Cardin as his prisoner as they head back to the ranger’s station to call the police. It’s from this point on that the movie plays out like an updated retelling of the original First Blood, only instead of the lone Rambo out in the woods being hunted, it’s Cardin and his captors, all pitted against Cardin’s team of trained killers and another assembly of local police and FBI agents in pursuit.

While some of the plot elements are a bit predictable, the overall execution is commendable and both Cusack and Freeman turn in fine performances. Freeman, in particular, is able to seamlessly slip into moments when he’s completely empathetic then turns on a dime to remind you that he kills for money without regard to his intended target. In one such sequence, he saves Chris from falling off a treacherous mountainside and then brutally attempts to attack and overtake Ray just minutes later after they seek refuge inside a hollowed-out cave. When Ray questions him about it, Cardin brushes his rescue attempt off as being nothing more than a reflexive instinct. While both men seem to flirt with the dark side, neither are wholly good or bad. Ray’s own guilt over his wife’s death seems to color his decisions and he seems to enjoy having control over Cardin, while Cardin may not always be as cold and calculating as he appears. Actors of this caliber can certainly bring out these subtle nuances and layers to their characters and their presence here makes The Contract worthwhile.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s original 2.35:1 aspect ratio is presented in a very good high definition transfer compressed with the AVC video CODEC. Thanks to the skilled work of master cinematographer Dante Spinotti (Heat, L.A. Confidential), the overall look of the film is impeccable and this transfer brings out all of the source print’s original detail and color. The image quality is very strong without any signs of blemishes or specks on the film elements. Although not on the level of some reference-quality transfers, the images do have a great deal of depth and detail. It’s interesting to note that Spinotti photographed a lot of the movie’s nighttime sequences “day for night” but used a lot of high key lighting that retains much of the image clarity even after applying the post-production filter effects. As such, many of these scenes – such as the one where Cardin, Ray, and Chris are climbing down a steep mountainside in the rain – look almost luminous and sparkle with raindrops and the wet surfaces along the rocks. Color balance is consistent throughout and black levels remain deep and dark. Flesh tones all look natural and nicely-rendered. I didn’t notice any compression artifacts. Overall, an impressive video presentation.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is just as impressive as its video counterpart. Apart from the fact that it starts out somewhat anemic and required a couple of volume adjustments to bring the dialogue up to a proper level, it really kicks in when Frank Cardin’s SUV gets sideswiped by a distracted driver on a cell phone, sending both cars flipping end over end in an aggressive and violent symphony of sound. From there, the bulk of the movie offers an active and full surround experience, with nicely-placed directional effects through the front channels, rich and ambient echoes through the rear channels (especially during an evening rainstorm in the woods), and a rumbling and deep bottom end during the aforementioned car crash and when Cardin’s men unleash a hail of rapid bullet fire while in pursuit near the climax. Dialogue remains clear through the center channel, and Normand Corbeil’s original score is given ample room to breathe through all six channels. Overall, a very good audio presentation.

The disc also includes a straight stereo option that’s serviceable, but very limited when compared to the 5.1 mix. The BD also includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

I wish the BD offered a little more in terms of substantial bonus material other than the lone featurette titled Inside The Contract (21:27), which is a pretty standard EPK offering. It does provide some interesting tidbits from the key players – director Bruce Beresford and co-stars Morgan Freeman and John Cusack – but it’s pretty lean on how the project came to fruition and doesn’t even mention anything about where it was shot or the co-writers credited with the screenplay (even though Cusack claims the script was a major selling point for him). While I also understand and appreciate the mutual admiration society among actors, I’m a bit tired of hearing how someone “always wanted to work with (fill in the blank)” as their reason for taking on a project.

The BD includes the trailers for The Contract; Transsiberian; War, Inc.; Sukiyaki Western Django; and Meet Bill, all presented in full 1080p. Sadly, that’s it for bonus material.

The 96-minute film is divided into twelve chapters.

Final Thoughts

What I initially avoided and dismissed as another “job for hire” for two of my favorite actors, The Contract actually turned out to be more than just another mindless diversion. Both co-stars Morgan Freeman and John Cusack bring their usual talents and skills to the table, perfectly navigated by director Bruce Beresford, resulting in a well- executed if somewhat predictable thriller. Despite the lack of any substantial bonus material, the stellar video and audio presentations on this BD certainly warrant a high recommendation.