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Chris Pine excels as a veteran who enters
world of private security in ‘The Contractor’
By Katie Walsh
Tribune News Service
C
hris Pine slips into his best
spy-wear for Tarik Saleh’s
“The Contractor,” a character
study (cloaked as a thriller) of a
U.S. Army Ranger who tries his
hand in the murky world of private
security. Written by J.P. Davis,
“The Contractor” paints a deeply
cynical picture of life after service
for American military heroes,
having destroyed their bodies on
the battlefi eld and left to fend for
themselves and their families in
an increasingly brutal world.
Davis’ orderly script proceeds
almost like clockwork through
its acts, setting up our main
character, James (Pine) and his
situation at home, struggling
to support his family after he’s
involuntarily discharged from
the Army for using banned
substances to treat his linger-
ing injuries. He’s promised his
wife (Gillian Jacobs) he’ll stay out
of private security contracting
gigs, but the temptation of big
money promised by an old war
buddy, Mike (Ben Foster), and
Rusty (Kiefer Sutherland), the
proprietor of a security company
known as “The Ranch,” proves
too tempting to pass up. It’s a
seductive sell, with cash up front
and Rusty’s folksy charm; he
tends tomato plants while talking
of safe, honorable money, noth-
ing like “Erik Prince” (of Blackwa-
ter notoriety).
When James lands in Berlin,
“The Contractor” transforms
from an American family drama
into a Euro spy thriller. He’s
tasked with trailing a scientist
working on viral pathologies, and
told he has ties to terrorist or-
ganizations with designs on re-
leasing a bioweapon, so James
doesn’t blink when he, Mike and
their crew break into the lab to
steal research. It’s a well-oiled
mission, executed in low voices
and quiet movements, but as
the mission changes, and the
scientist begs for his life and
family, James’ eyes start dart-
ing around behind his balaclava,
doubt creeping in. Soon enough,
he has to go rogue, on the run in
Germany, “Jason Bourne”-style,
though it’s not his government
chasing him, but a shadowy
private American company.
There is a bleak poetry to
Davis’ script, as the men of this
world reckon with the things
they’ve done as lifelong warriors.
There’s no pontifi cating, far from
it, just a few choice words and
details that add nuance to a sto-
ry, or fl ip it on its back. But the
spare resonance is so restrained
as to be even a bit underwrit-
ten. Unlike most fi lms, “The
Vlad Cioplea/Paramount Pictures
From left, Chris Pine as James Harper, Eva Ursescu as Kelly, Ben Foster as
Mike, Nicolas Noblitt as Mike Jr., and Tyner Rushing as Christine in the action/
thriller “The Contractor.”
Contractor” could have used a
hair more exposition, or at least
more clearly defi ned motivations
beyond “family,” which becomes
a catch-all for why these men
do what they do. Does James
have a greater sense of justice
and empathy? How evil are the
people pulling the strings? For a
situation this messy, the story is
almost a little too clean.
What elevates “The Contrac-
tor” is the incredible cast. Pine
is excellent, whether he’s in
motion — swiftly executing the
technical skills he knows so well
— or in repose, often in physical
or mental anguish. But Pine is
never better than when he’s op-
posite magnetic character actor
Foster. The two played broth-
ers in Taylor Sheridan’s heist
fi lm “Hell or High Water,” and
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as soon as Foster rolls in, “The
Contractor” instantly becomes
a better, and more complex
fi lm. Every moment Foster is
on screen as the unpredictable
Mike is electrifying, and the
chemistry Pine and Foster cre-
ate in their wounded, yet loyal
brotherhood is undeniable.
But “The Contractor” is decid-
edly Pine’s fi lm. His performance
is as effi cient as the script, which
Saleh in turn mirrors with a crisp,
smooth aesthetic. There’s noth-
ing particularly showy about the
style, but it serves the story of
this professional warrior work-
ing his way through an unfamiliar
place, on the run. When it starts
to get a bit grittier, the handheld
camera comes in, as Pine has
to muck about in the mud and
literally go underground to fi nd
the truth. What he extracts isn’t
triumph, but rather, a caution-
ary tale, a dark fable about what
faces veterans after serving
their country.
above: Oil, right: Pastel
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