The Contractor (2022)

What makes The Contractor stand out is how it treats its bullets-and-betrayal premise like a human problem first and an action problem second, grounding every chase and close call in the quiet panic of a man watching his life get stripped away. Chris Pine gives one of his most tightly coiled performances, all bruised decency and survival instinct, while Ben Foster and Kiefer Sutherland add grit and weary charisma that make the veteran-to-veteran loyalties feel dangerously real. Tarik Saleh directs with clean, muscular craftsmanship—action that’s sharp and legible, tension that keeps tightening, and a cool, lived-in European atmosphere that makes the whole thing feel less like a cartoon and more like a bad night that won’t end. It is violent and occasionally brutal, and if you want escapist heroics you may find it too somber, but if you’re on the fence for a smart, hard-edged thriller that actually has pulse, this one earns your time.

The Contractor wants to be a grounded, morally thorny thriller about how veterans get chewed up by systems that claim to support them, with Chris Pine playing a soldier forced into ugly choices. The problem is it rarely rises above familiar “betrayed operative on the run” beats, so the tension feels pre-programmed and the bigger ideas about privatized warfare never land with much bite. Action is competent but not especially inventive, and the middle stretch can feel like it’s jogging in place before an underwhelming finish. If you’re in it for Pine and a solid, serviceable chase-and-survive story, it’ll do; if you want sharp twists, standout set pieces, or a hard-hitting statement, this probably isn’t your time well spent.