THE CONTRACT

[John Dailey]

~ Morgan Freeman plays his usual, convincing, "Mr. Charm" persona to the hilt...as part of being a professional hands-on assassin-for-hire, Frank Cordell. This is clear in the 1st 10 minutes.

~ He's clearly a 'bad guy.' He's a leader of a 4-commando-team and is directed by (?) to eliminate...a certain 'impediment to progress.'

~ "The best laid plans of mice and men..." --- A car accident snafu develops before 'the contract' is done; Morgan is captured, hospitalized, and discovered as a former MIA vet. His team interrupts his transport from the hospital to a military base to save him (he's got their paychecks!); but, the transport having been crashed down a ravine into a river requires the team to have to find him in the Washington state woods (think RAMBO:FIRST BLOOD from here on). Handcuffed, Cordell meets up with John Cusack (widower, former cop, now little-league coach) trying to bond with his own 15-yr old son via camping.

~ Cusack knows he's got a real prob here.

2Bcon

LLAP

J:D

[John Dailey]

~ 'Die Hard' O-ists will dislike this movie, 'cause it shows Cordell with a semblance of respect (sympathy? compassion?) for those NOT his 'targets', especially near the end; yet, none for his targets.

~ I understand the point of not considering such as 'worthwhile' fiction, usually: A 'good' bad guy? A 'bad' good guy? D'ya root/sympathize/identify with/for him or against him? Should it depend on the moment/situation? What kind of story IS this, anyway? Hey, even Al Capone sent flowers to his mother (nm Hitler was 'in love'), so...

~ All that aside, I found that the interesting thing was the script-interplay 'twixt Cusak and Freeman about Cordell's chosen profession. Cordell makes no excuses about his 'why;' yet, clearly he's not quite one's idea of a typical 'sociopath.'

~ Just for Cusack and Freeman, it's worth watching...its reviews nwst.

LLAP

J:D