Contracts (2019) User Reviews

All action, little plotline

[Stanlee107 · 2/10 · 21 November 2020]

This film amounts to lots of fighting scenes held together with a plot that could have been written on a back of a receipt: betrayal and revenge. This has been done well in the Rambo films. This is just embarrassing as it seems more like action scenes you may find in video games like Mortal Kombat whereby the player is hitting the kick & punch buttons randomly (disjointed cheographic fight scenes). This is something that does not warrant making a film out of it...

This reminds me of the Raid minus the compelling storyline and choreograph fight scenes that flowed smoothly. In this film the fight scenes are like poor imitation of fight scenes you may see in the Jackie Chan's films.

This is not even on par with the later kickboxer films... It was a very ambitious debut film but like my enforced pandemic lockdown restaurants it just did not deliver what the viewer had hoped for...

I watch this

[shortbrett · 2/10 · 11 November 2020]

So you didn't have to. You're welcome . Please. Trust me on tis

Typical Canadian movie

[amccaig-86235 · 2/10 · 7 November 2023]

Poor script, poor acting, the fight scenes are ok but they don't save the movie. The movie is another of those bad Canadian movies that Canadians are forced to watch on their TV programming be cause of CANCON rules. Truth be told there is very little Canadian film or tv that is good, and Canadians live right next door to a massive film/tv industry that even at it's worst offering is usually 10 times better than anything CANCON. Granted there are some gems that come out of Canada, but very few. Thanks to the oppressive Canadian gov't and the CRTC, what content Canadians can see is controlled because they think that Canadians will lose their identity if they see too much American film/tv.

All fights

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 27 November 2020]

Did you ever play with G.I. Joes? Did you ever spend an entire day setting up a gigantic battle with your friends and then wait for the carnage to begin, which soon ends up with nearly every single Joe and Cobra dead except for the two or three favorites of each person playing?

Yep. That's this movie.

Assassin Anthony Lo (Alex Chung, who also write and directed this) joins hitman Marc Sullivan to battle a rogue gang of killers who are picking off their friends.

This was originally going to be a prequel to some of the shorts that Chung has worked on in the past, but it ended up being a standalone feature, which may explain why some of the story makes little to no sense.

That said, you're not watching this movie for the story. You're watching it for the fights. And this movie has just as many, if not more, fights than you were looking for. Honestly, I think people are still fighting despite the movie being over.

Plenty room to improve B-Movie

[jslaats-99278 · 4/10 · 17 November 2020]

Director Alex Chung should compare a fight scene from his movie with good movies and learn! I Don't like write bad about somone so Alex Chung is uh, not that good, and many improvements to make in his future films :).

I don't get all the hate?

[ole-75106 · 10/10 · 28 December 2021]

What do you want from a movie? Entertainment? Yes? This movie has some great action scenes, with moves you don't see in other movies, so i really don't understand all the negativity, sometimes people are just stupid i guess... Don't listen to the hate, be your own judge!!!

If you're looking for a story here...

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 15 November 2020]

...you'll barely find one. But if you're looking for some surprisingly awesome choreographed fight and action scenes, you've come to the right place.

This is pro-stunt-man-turned-newb-filmmaker Alex Chung's first full length feature film (with only a handful a previous shorts) as writer, producer, director, editor, choreographer and *whew* actor. It's an independent, surprisingly "zero funded", B grade Canadian film. According to the Trivia section, this story was supposed to be a trilogy of shorts, but instead was mended together into a full length film - which perhaps explains the choppy screenplay.

The cinematography was decent, the score surprisingly fitting and bearable (unlike most B-grade films where it's too loud, overbearing, unfitting and annoying), but the directing certainly needed improvement. The cast performances for the most part were unconvincing and amateurish, but I'm sure most of it was due to Chung's lack of experience in directing his cast effectively. The conceptual story was creative, but the screenplay was way too choppy and convoluted and could've also been edited better. I'm still confused to what I saw in the first 5 minutes with the convoluted back and forth scenes.

So as the story began, I was even more disappointed with pretty much every aspect - even the sound was way off, as if someone forgot to bring the boom mics. But the more I saw the outstandingly choreographed fight and action scenes including some unexpectedly crazy gore, I really started getting into the film and saw it right to the "Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse meets Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon" crazy ending. I have to say it has some of the best John Wick style fight scenes I've seen in awhile.

Clearly this is no Hollywood big budget production, but still a decent effort from a newb filmmaker. And as such, I'm giving this film a very generous 6/10 based on its own merits and low production costs. It is certainly undeserving of any 1's and 2's, considering new filmmaker's have to start somewhere, right? Having said that, I'm gonna go back again to see some of those amazing fight scenes, which imo, make up for at least a some of its flaws.

I'm looking forward to Chung improving his filmmaking skills and coming up with some feature films that are well produced and still have these amazing fight choreography, action and stunts. Props and respect for his first attempt.

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