The Contract is a 1999 action thriller film directed by genre filmmaker K.C. Bascombe, written by him and videogame voice actor and writer Navid Khonsari. It stars Johanna Nicosia, Laurent Imbault, Matthew Olver, Sean Bell, Jon Jordan and Billy Dee Williams. Produced by Wishbone Entertainment Inc. and Cut to the Horse Productions Inc, the film was clearly one of the films in that wave of Nikita-inspired films, comics and TV shows with women assassins in a modern crime environment.
Hannah (Johanna Nicosia) was raised by her ex-black ops father, Luc, to be an expert assassin. They take hits for hire and execute their targets with much efficiency. An unlikely black republican politician (Dee Williams) who is, realistically, a criminal conspirator plans to tie all the loose ends that can relate him to organized crime and mess with his election chances, so he sends out his goons out to murder the father-daughter duo of professional killers, but Luc is the only one that gets killed. Hannah then has to unravel the conspiracy behind her fathers death while having to reveal the truth to her boyfriend.
A satisfying stylish assassin thriller with some visual interest as it has good handheld camerawork and decent production design, even if the environments are a bit dry they do retain that starkness and grimy look a film like this needs. Always fast paced and with technical skills to keep you interested in the derivative drama and executing its action scenes with fluidity and stimulation in awesome choreographies.
The performers do their job very well and Billy Dee Williams is also a highlight. Nicosia is very convincing and likable in her role. While not everyone stands out, you do get to grasp the motivations of every single character and their place in this world, even the goons that are killed off get some decent moments to shine and leave a mark instead of being mechanically dispatched out of the movie as the disposable characters they are.
With solid action sequences and a well known but ultimately decently done storyline, The Contract is an enjoyable and worthwhile Nikita copycat. Recommended for fans of assassin ladies.
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