Contracts (2019)

Contracts: Directed by Alex Chung. With Margaryta Soldatova, Kyle Stewart, Christena Gaunce, Dan Sanderson. A team of assassins led by an extremist become victims of a superior killer.

“…youu0026#39;ll barely find one. But if youu0026#39;re looking for some surprisingly awesome choreographed fight and action scenes, youu0026#39;ve come to the right place.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is pro-stunt-man-turned-newb-filmmaker Alex Chungu0026#39;s first full length feature film (with only a handful a previous shorts) as writer, producer, director, editor, choreographer and *whew* actor. Itu0026#39;s an independent, surprisingly u0026quot;zero fundedu0026quot;, 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe cinematography was decent, the score surprisingly fitting and bearable (unlike most B-grade films where itu0026#39;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 Iu0026#39;m sure most of it was due to Chungu0026#39;s lack of experience in directing his cast effectively. The conceptual story was creative, but the screenplay was way too choppy and convoluted and couldu0026#39;ve also been edited better. Iu0026#39;m still confused to what I saw in the first 5 minutes with the convoluted back and forth scenes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo 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 u0026quot;Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse meets Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragonu0026quot; crazy ending. I have to say it has some of the best John Wick style fight scenes Iu0026#39;ve seen in awhile.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClearly this is no Hollywood big budget production, but still a decent effort from a newb filmmaker. And as such, Iu0026#39;m giving this film a very generous 6/10 based on its own merits and low production costs. It is certainly undeserving of any 1u0026#39;s and 2u0026#39;s, considering new filmmakeru0026#39;s have to start somewhere, right? Having said that, Iu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTo see my review rating system, and more of my 1000+ reviews, simply click on my username.”