The Contractor - double game
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Contractor - double game |
| Original title | The Contractor |
| Country of production | Bulgaria , UK , USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Josef Rusnak |
| script |
Robert Foster , Joshua Michael Stern |
| production | Rudy Cohen |
| music | Nicholas Pike |
| camera | Wedigo von Schultzendorff |
| cut |
Tracy Granger , James Herbert |
| occupation | |
| |
The Contractor - Double Play (Original title: The contractor ) is a US-American - Bulgarian - British action - thriller from 2007 with Wesley Snipes and Lena Headey in the lead roles.
action
James Dial is a former elite CIA sniper who has been discharged from service. He lives in seclusion on his ranch in Montana . His former boss, Jeremy Collins, offers him the chance to restore his reputation. A few years earlier, Dial was seconds away from arresting terrorist leader Ali Mahmud Jahar. A brief distraction, however, enabled Jahar to flee. The mission was subsequently rated as a failure. Now Collins wants Dial to eliminate Jahar, who has been arrested and is currently in the custody of the English police in London . Assisted by assistant Terry Mitchell and armed with a safe haven and fake passports, Dial sets off to fulfill his assignment.
Dial takes up position in the bell tower of a church, opposite the building where Jahar is to be brought. When Jahar arrives and is taken out of the trolley, his head is covered with a cloth so that Dial has no opportunity for an aimed shot. In order not to fail again, Dial patiently waits for a second opportunity. Jahar has now reached the inside of the building. Dial swaps his riflescope for one with a polarizing filter and is thus able to see people behind the windows. Finally, he kills Jahar with an aimed shot in the head . However, Mitchell is late with the getaway vehicle because he is stopped by two police officers. After numerous attempts to stop the car, the police open fire and kill Mitchell. The car is now out of control. An impact occurs and Dial is wounded. Badly injured, Dial makes his way to Mitchell's house. There he meets twelve-year-old neighbor Emily Day, who has lived with her grandmother since the death of her parents. Emily helps Dial stop the bleeding and supplies him with food.
Even if Jahar succeeded in killing Jahar, the mission is considered a failure for Collins because Dial was filmed by surveillance cameras when he escaped from the crime scene. In the US, Collins is again under surveillance as he is leading a CIA reaction force. If Dial involvement in Jahar's death emerges, Collins will be held responsible for it. When Dial tries to leave the UK, he is discovered at the airport by both Collins's men and local police. While trying to escape, Chief Inspector Andrew Windsor confronts him, who is then shot by Collins. To keep his name out of the incident, Collins Dial tries to impersonate the murder. Now Dial is being hunted down by Collins and all the British police. During a raid on Emily's house, he barely escapes arrest; also when trying to get another passport.
Dial must therefore do everything possible to prove his innocence, even with the knowledge that Inspector Annette Ballard is out to avenge the death of her father. He telephones Ballard and assures her that he did not shoot her father. He then meets with her in a shopping center that is currently under construction and gives her computer files that list the CIA contract killings. Ballard still wants to arrest Dial. Suddenly, however, Collins and his emergency force arrive. In the following exchange of fire, Dial saved Ballard's life and gained her trust. He also manages to eliminate Collins and his men. Then he goes to a train station and says goodbye to Emily, who was waiting for him there. Ballard also arrives at the station, but lets Dial go when he gets on a train. Back in Montana, Dial leads a normal life on his ranch again. He has sent Emily and her grandmother two plane tickets so that Emily can be there when he releases his horse.
background
Filming took place in Sofia and Cardiff . The film was first released on DVD in the United States on July 10, 2007. In Germany it was also released directly on DVD on November 8, 2007.
Reviews
"The solid, only moderately original Eastern European thriller is clearly reminiscent of shooter with Mark Wahlberg, " said Cinema . The conclusion was: "The cheap version of Shooter is aiming wrong".
David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews found the film to be better than Wesley Snipes' previously released direct-to-DVD productions. But director Josef Rusnak simply failed to stage the action sequences effectively. Instead, the viewer is bombarded with “unnecessary camera tricks, quick cuts and even frozen individual images”. Therefore, the film is sometimes more convincing as a drama than an action film. Some "really captivating" performances would only "confirm" this impression. Despite the attempt to "give this low-budget film more depth", the scriptwriters could not have offered anything in terms of "poignant plot".
"Even if the unusually strong performance of most of the actors sporadically upgrades the events", says Nusair, - Snipes at least tries to do so, while Charles Dance, Lena Headey and "above all" Eliza Bennett "deliver performances that are significantly better than that Material deserves ”- The Contractor “ never quite manages ”to assert itself as something more than“ a slightly above average contribution within a very popular genre ”.
Web links
- The Contractor - Double Game in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. cinema.de
- ↑ “The filmmaker […] bombards the viewer with needless camera tricks, quick cuts, and even freeze frames (!); [...] with the inclusion of several genuinely compelling performances only cementing this feeling. […] Despite their best efforts to infuse The Contractor with more depth than its low-budget Brethren, screenwriters Robert Foster and Joshua Michael Stern generally come up empty in terms of offering up an engaging storyline […]. And while the unusually strong work from most of the actors sporadically elevates the proceedings ([...] while co-stars Charles Dance, Lena Headey, and especially Bennett offer up performances that are clearly much better than the material deserves), The Contractor is never quite able to establish itself as anything more than a slightly above-average entry within a seriously stale genre. ” David Nusair: The Contractor . In: Reel Film Reviews , July 11, 2007.