Contract to Kill Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.0

Contract to Kill Blu-ray Movie Review

Is assisted suicide an option?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 1, 2017

Is there any manifest difference between this Steven Seagal effort and the last one I reviewed recently, End of a Gun? Both are “films by Keoni Waxman” (in a high falutin’ sounding claim of authorship that’s actually kind of funny, given the pulpy ambience of both), both were shot in Romania, both feature death(s) coming out of nowhere in the opening sequence, both feature a babelicious female partner for Seagal’s character (like that’s a surprise), and Seagal himself plays a former DEA agent who’s out to crack drug smuggling heads. There’s something almost commendably audacious about Seagal not shirking from recycling so many elements in so many of his “films” of recent vintage, but Contract to Kill certainly comes close to scraping the bottom of the barrel, this despite some insistence on the part of the film’s crew (as evidenced by a supplement included on this Blu-ray release) that this outing marks a return to “old style” Seagal offerings, by which one assumes they meant something older than End of a Gun.

One of the things that kind of confused me about Contract to Kill is why Seagal and auteur Waxman even went to the bother of giving Seagal’s character a new name in this feature. Wouldn’t it make more sense to try to build a new franchise for Seagal, where his Decker character from End of a Gun could take on bad guys all over—Romania? But, no, this time out Seagal is the “completely different” John Harmon, a guy who is non-ironically called The Mechanic by a cohort attempting to hire him. Harmon has all sorts of experience in his background, including supposedly deep undercover work at both the DEA and CIA, though evidently not undercover enough for other folks to know about it and to either admire or fear him because of it.

Almost unbelievably, the same supplement which wants us to believe that Contract to Kill is a return to whatever form Seagal is assumed to have once had, they also have the temerity to reference Yojimbo, in that Harmon attempts to play gang members against each other in order to attain justice for the good guys. If that isn’t wishing upon an (unattainable) star, I’m not sure what qualifies. Harmon of course ends up getting help from the alluring FBI agent Zara Hayek (Jemma Dallender), evidently a distant relative of Salma’s who is able to kick butt considerably more effectively than the now pretty heavy Seagal. In fact, one of this film’s most alarming deficiencies is its really badly edited fight scenes, where Seagal’s seeming inability to even move tends to get in the way of effective battle choreography.

There’s an interesting idea lurking somewhere (fairly far) beneath the surface of Contract to Kill, with Mexican drug cartels battling it out with Al-Qaeda-esque terrorists, both groups pawns being played by Harmon for supposedly nobler purposes. But the film is so haphazardly shot and scripted that whatever energy it manages to muster in a couple of set pieces (notably often not featuring Seagal) is almost immediately squandered in some of the most absurdly talky exposition scenes any supposed action adventure thriller has ever been saddled with. Add to the lengthy explanatory diatribes the fact that Seagal evidently believes speaking veerrry slowly somehow gives his scenes more gravitas, and you’re in for a fairly lurching viewing experience.

In fact, Seagal just looks downright unhappy throughout virtually all of this picture, a dour demeanor that can’t be solely attributed to his supposedly taciturn character. Seagal would seem to be yet another aging action star who would be perfect for at least a cameo in films like The Expendables franchise, but he seems content (or at least as content as he’s able to be) to wile away his time in Romania shooting these more or less straight to video offerings with his buddy Waxman. At this point, though, it’s become less about filmmaking and more about the cinematic equivalent of making a Xerox copy of an original that wasn’t that original to begin with.

Contract to Kill Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Contract to Kill is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. Much as with End of a Gun, this is a perhaps surprisingly nice looking presentation despite the film's obvious lo-fi qualities. While (again as with End of a Gun) some establishing shots of the supposed far flung locales in play in the story appear to have been sourced from slightly raggedy looking stock footage, the bulk of the presentation offers very good to excellent clarity and some good detail and fine detail levels, especially in brighter lit moments. The "Istanbul" sequences are often graded to a kind of nice honey yellow color, but detail levels are only marginally affected by this strategy, and the bulk of the rest of the presentation features a natural looking palette that features some appealingly bright colors, like the vivid yellow muscle car Harmon tools around in.

Contract to Kill Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Contract to Kill's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is considerably more forceful than the surround track on End of a Gun, boosted by typical effects like rampant gunfire and the crunch of bones in hand to hand combat sequences. Some of the car sequences feature decent panning activity as well. The dialogue, while mind numbing at times, is presented cleanly and clearly and with good prioritization.

Contract to Kill Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Contract to Kill (1080p; 14:46) is a standard issue EPK, though it features a couple of fairly outrageous comments (as documented above) while also offering the weird sight of Seagal being interviewed in a mostly darkened room.


• Contract to Kill Trailer (1080p; 2:04)

Contract to Kill Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Contract to Kill is further evidence of the kind of sad decline of Steven Seagal. The actor seems genuinely unhappy throughout this film, unable to move very gracefully and seemingly barely able to utter a line of dialogue without employing an almost catatonic stance. The once agile action star is unfortunately one of the weaker elements in an overall underwhelming enterprise. Technical merits are surprisingly strong for those considering a purchase.