There is a respectable and subtle attention to detail in the character development, costume, and props. A Special Forces Medical Sergeant assigned to B Co, 2nd Bn, 3rd Special Forces Group (if you know, you know), gets kicked out of the Army for a failed urinalysis and goes into contracting to make ends meet.
While the ensuing plot is far fetched, Chris Pike plays a very real, plausible Green Beret and the violence and skill is within the realm of possibility. Americans like the characters portrayed in this film do exist and we are fortunate to have them.

This movie focuses on 3 basic levels of psychological abuse from : Government, father and employer. It follows a son of a former spec. ops Ranger, who when cut from service flees from his family, perhaps from shame. Growing up in household of toxic masculinity...the boy is forced to emulate the father and is systematically abused until he is abandoned by his father.

The government "chews&spits" out military members. Special private contractors use and abandon their men,...but in the end, (Chris Pine ) breaks the chain of abuse and returns to his son.

On the surface, it looks like a typical military movie which is predictable, slow and boring as some people have written reviews, reflecting these points. But, this movie bucks the typical tough-guy movie and takes a deeper look into some of the psychological abuses and solutions to them. Although, it is a 'sledge-hammer' approach to psychology, at least it attempts to do more with movie scripts...

These abuses take place in today's military, on various scales/levels. The most egregious abuse is : take the vaccine or get out of the military.

I've seen worse believe me....I like the movie even though it's slow in some places. I have always been a Chris Pine fan. I have always been a Ben Foster fan too. The acting is decent, the storyline could have been better but it was better than a lot of other movies that I've watched lately. Four and a half stars for the acting and three stars for the storyline...

I was actually in the military. This movie while not perfect, gets many things right others got wrong. The uniforms are spot on, the gun handling, and tactics are pretty solid. You can tell this movie had a really good military/tactical advisor. Chris Pine and Ben Foster play excellent Special Forces veterans. The ONLY issue with the movie is the plot is somewhat weak. I feel they wasted a very solid performance by Chris Pine and Foster for a plot that kind of went nowhere. We never see the motivations of the "villains" of the movie, I guess it's money? But nothing is fleshed out well. Parts of the movie reach Jason Bourne levels of cool, other parts are like a B movie. I give the movie a solid 6.5/10 stars. It's a definite watch but not a buy. It's a movie that Hollywood can build off of. With a better plot I felt this movie had the potential to be a 8/10 or even 9/10 movie. All of the pieces were there.

Loved the movie. Great plot, great cast. If you like good action thrillers then I highly recommend watching this one

I read reviews before I watch a movie - the 1 and 2 star reviews first. Interestingly, people comment about how the movie was slow in some places and how you never find out whether the end motive was money. This movie wasn't slow in places unless you want non-stop action. To me it was a nice flow of action, setting the stage of the plot and story line - normal. The motive is pretty clear. I liked the view of discharged military men and the hardships they encounter and how they try to overcome. Private military for hire after sevrving the US is an interesting topic too. I knew a Colonel who went with a private firm after he left the US. Interestingly, I think corporations who hire former military to do "military work" for them can be just as brutal, if not more to their employess, than even the hardships faced by some currently in the US military. I actually think corporate America pays more, but chits on their "military" employees. The military at least has firm procedure. Corporate military personnel are more "disposable" - but, hey, isn't that corporate America. To tie that little speach into this movie. . . this movie shows the personal life of a military man (and men) and then corporate military. While I think this movie may be a little more extreme than what most of the real world, private corporate miltary types do, it is interesting to see this perspective. Most movies dive in to CIA, NSA, and other government forms of "killing" and US military. This is an interesting movie to see because very few movies dive into trying to provide an accurate (yet maybe exaggerated) depiction of private, corporate military. Good flick.

Good idea, poorly executed. This "B" rated film can be seen by watching the preview. Its slow,, yet jumps scenes every 5-10 seconds. Scenes are not fully developed, and a lot is just left to your imagination. What a waste of $20 on a Friday night.

I'd say the Jason Bourne formula has finally been perfected in 'The Contractor'. The protagonist of this story- special forces sergeant James Harper portrayed convincingly by Chris Pine- is discharged honorably but without any benefits after fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has sustained major injuries to his knee and to make matters worse bills are now piling up on him and his family, He needs a job and shouldn't have any trouble finding one with his special skill set, except who has use for this highly skilled warrior and others like him but the national security state. This is where the action just begins in this film. For the sake of brevity, this is an intense and emotional film that masquerades as a suspense/action film. The drama of it is so realistic and down to earth that the suspense and action become bonuses or the icing on the cake. Highly recommend this film to anyone who has ever felt a heartache over America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and feels for all the lives destroyed, and for all those who were injured. And what did the world gain in the end? This film at least has a kind of happy ending.