Wonderfully offbeat film!

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

James Dial, a former CIA agent now living on a ranch in Montana, comes out of retirement to undertake who is given one last mission. He is to travel to London to eliminate a terrorist leader named Ali Mahmud Jahar, even though Jahar is already in police custody. Dial is able to kill Jahar, shooting him through the window of a court building from a nearby church tower, but fails to make a clean getaway and is forced to go on the run. Dial is wanted by the British police, who wrongly believe that he was responsible for the murder of a police officer named Chief Superintendent Andrew Windsor. (The Queen's second son has obviously taken up a new profession). To make matter worse, Dial is also being pursued by the CIA, who want to eliminate him to cover up the fact that they have been carrying out illegal assassinations."The Contractor" is a reasonably fast-paced and well-constructed thriller. Or it would be were it not for one detail. It never gives us any reason to care what happens to Dial, and completely glosses over the ethical implications of his actions. It never really explains why he accepts the mission to kill Jahar or why the CIA are so keen to kill a man being held prisoner by America's closest ally. The film-makers obviously see Dial as the film's hero, but it might be more accurate to see him as a villain, a paid assassin who kills for money. Killing a notorious terrorist like Jahar might be justifiable if there were no other way of bringing him to justice or preventing him from committing further atrocities, but given that he is already under arrest and about to stand trial for his crimes, killing him just seems like cold-blooded murder. Moreover, it also ensures that all his secrets go with him to the grave, ensuring that British interrogators will lose the chance to find out more about the organisation to which he belongs. This is the sort of political thriller that appears to have been made by people totally clueless about real-life politics. 4/10

"The Contractor" is the best DTV Snipes movie yet.The plot: Agent James Dial (Snipes) has to take out a target in London. It goes as planned, but the police and his former employers are after him.The movie has a good mix of action and drama. Snipes (finally) looks interested in the material and it shows. Lena Headey and Charles Dance also have their time to shine too. It's fast-paced and suspenseful. I think it's better than the similar titled\plotted "Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg. "The Contractor" was actually called "Shooter" but it was changed for obvious reasons.In the end: I'm excited to report that "The Contractor" is worth seeing and not the usual piece of DTV junk that Snipes has foisted upon us in the past.For more insanity, check out: comeuppancereviews.com

Government assassin Wesley Snipes is set up by his own covert ops organisation (he really should have known better, didn't he see Shooter?), and ends up on the run in London pursued by his own organisation and the Metropolitan Police, with help from troubled teenager Emily.Notwithstanding the fact that the story is very familiar, it is presented with some panache. Snipes can play this role in his sleep, of course, and pretty much does so. Bulgaria does a pretty good impression of seedy south London. There is a nice, if unlikely, wrinkle in Charles Dance's relationship with his police officer daughter, and the action bashes along satisfactorily.On the negative side there is a gun battle early on during which the Metropolitan Police spray automatic weapon fire all over the place in a way which would simply not happen (even the controversial de Menezes killing didn't involve indiscriminate discharge in public of automatic weapons).But on a positive note - a very strongly positive note - there is a fabulous performance from Eliza Bennett. She acts Snipes off the screen, and her performance - naturalistic, humorous and powerfully touching - raises this movie to a higher level than its otherwise rather pedestrian nature would have taken it to.

The US appear to run the UK police who all run around armed to the teeth and did you know that CID officers change into uniform when they stop work and go down the pub! This has got to be one of the most unrealistic films with the worst portrayal of "real" UK police that has ever been foisted on the unsuspecting public. I can see that Mr Snipes might have needed the money to pay his back tax bill but what the heck a good actor like Charles Dance was doing in it is a mystery.Worse than the worse low budget "B" film of the 50's. An hour and a half of suicide and time I will never get back.Avoid it like the veritable plague.