CONTRACTS *** 2019 Canada Dir: Alex Chung. 75 mins
What an insane ride. This is one of those films that’s difficult to critique—because the script borders on baffling and it’s poorly acted, but the fight scenes are choreographed better than
some big-budget projects.
The plot? A couple of assassins find themselves at the wrong end of a burn notice. A corrupt Senator has sent every psychopath in the city after them—so they have to fight their way out and take every one of their would-be killers down.
According to the director he paid for almost the entire film out of pocket—and he still managed to make a (mostly) high octane action movie with insanely good fight choreography and gruesome kills. My favourite? Slicing an arm open from wrist to armpit. But there was so much shooting, stabbing, punching, flipping, bone breaking, and disemboweling it was hard to keep up. It cannot be stressed enough how unexpected the quality and quantity of the fighting was. The filmmaker poured his heart (and blood and sweat) into this one, and you can really tell.
If you’re a fan of high-action martial arts movies like JOHN WICK and want to watch a zero-budget film made by a director who loves them too, check out CONTRACTS, an absolute love letter to the genre. You’ll have nothing but fun with it.
Review by Julia Lynch