First of all – look at the stars.  Morgan Freeman is a near guarantee that a movie will be interesting, even if it is not necessarily great, and he has an Oscar to prove it.  John Cusack is one of the bigger, more interesting actors in the Hollywood scene – granted his star has been kind of on the wane in recent years, but he is still someone who should be able to open a movie. 

To add to the confusion, The Contract is also Freeman’s reunion with his acclaimed Driving Miss Daisy director, two-time Oscar winner Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Breaker Morant).   

Turns out not that bad at all, though rather formulaic.  (In fact, the basic storyline is extremely similar to last year’s action film The Marine with wrestler John Cena – though The Contract does handle the plot much more skillfully)

Freeman plays Frank Cordell, a former CIA spook who has been under-the-radar for the 30 years since he left the agency and turned into a gun-for-hire.  He is in the middle of planning a hit when a freak car crash puts him back into the eye of the law.

When Cordell is being transferred to jail, a botched escape attempt by his team leaves him in the middle of the woods, where the fed who is accompanying him tells two campers to be sure to get him to jail – right before dying.  The campers are Ray Keene (John Cusack), a former-cop-turned-teacher and his son (Jamie Anderson), who are trying to mend the rifts in their relationships.

Thus begins a cat-and-mouse chase through the woods where Keene and his son try to lead Cordell past his men, all the while his men take on the law.  There are crosses and double-crosses, crooked feds, multiple crashes and shootouts.  Nothing stunningly original, but it’s mostly done in style.