What do u get when u mix completely clichéd wooden dialog, totally unbelievable cardboard characters and a thousand-times-done-before chase story which keeps getting more and more dim-witted with every turn it takes?
'16 Blocks'? Yes, true, but also: The Contract..
While adding new dimensions to the term predictable, and not without some hilarious unintentional comedy (the choppercrash), Contract sends the viewer on a journey following a trail filled with all the standard chase story- checklist items (Let's sabotage a bridge, lets almost die hanging from a steep cliff in a nasty storm, lets get rescued from this situation by the bad guy, lets portrayal the local police as a bunch of hicks).
The two-star cast (Freeman and Cusack) does its best with what they are offered (which came straight out of the Lazy Screenwriters Book of Good-guy Bad-guy Dialog) but cannot begin to save this serious contender for Worst Execution of Chase-the-rabbit.
Right from the point where Cusack decides to be an ex-cop-hero and irrationally endangers the lives of both him and his son by not letting Freeman go, the viewer has to stretch enormous lengths to suspend disbelief. But nothing in this movie helps the unfortunate viewer in achieving this. This will continue throughout the rest of the story when for example Cusack and his son tell Freeman their names which is so annoyingly dumb that any sympathy that was left for their characters or the film, is instantly shattered.
Adding to this some painfully weak crosses and double-crosses, the formulaic and contrived romance further on and some truly horrible acting by the support cast, one is truly left to wonder why this movie ever saw the green light in the first place.
This film watches like a bad episode of the A-team. Did Cusack and Freeman lose a gambling-bet and were they out of money so badly they didn't even bother to read the script? 1/10
'16 Blocks'? Yes, true, but also: The Contract..
While adding new dimensions to the term predictable, and not without some hilarious unintentional comedy (the choppercrash), Contract sends the viewer on a journey following a trail filled with all the standard chase story- checklist items (Let's sabotage a bridge, lets almost die hanging from a steep cliff in a nasty storm, lets get rescued from this situation by the bad guy, lets portrayal the local police as a bunch of hicks).
The two-star cast (Freeman and Cusack) does its best with what they are offered (which came straight out of the Lazy Screenwriters Book of Good-guy Bad-guy Dialog) but cannot begin to save this serious contender for Worst Execution of Chase-the-rabbit.
Right from the point where Cusack decides to be an ex-cop-hero and irrationally endangers the lives of both him and his son by not letting Freeman go, the viewer has to stretch enormous lengths to suspend disbelief. But nothing in this movie helps the unfortunate viewer in achieving this. This will continue throughout the rest of the story when for example Cusack and his son tell Freeman their names which is so annoyingly dumb that any sympathy that was left for their characters or the film, is instantly shattered.
Adding to this some painfully weak crosses and double-crosses, the formulaic and contrived romance further on and some truly horrible acting by the support cast, one is truly left to wonder why this movie ever saw the green light in the first place.
This film watches like a bad episode of the A-team. Did Cusack and Freeman lose a gambling-bet and were they out of money so badly they didn't even bother to read the script? 1/10