The Ending Of The Contractor Explained

Chris Pine's casting in "The Contractor" is almost stunt-casting. In sweeping and dashing heroic roles like Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman movies, as well as Captain James T. Kirk in the modern "Star Trek" films, Pine has been every bit the glamorous, all-American hero that other famous Chrises play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (he even memorably poked fun at Hemsworth, Evans, and Pratt in an "SNL" monologue). But in "The Contractor," director Tarik Saleh puts Pine through the wringer. In a thoroughly beleaguered, un-glamorous performance Pine plays James Harper, a desperate former soldier that turns to the shadowy and morally dubious world of private contracting as a mercenary.

In an exclusive interview with Looper, Pine called "The Contractor" "a really complex little Rubik's Cube of a script" that appears simple at first glance. The movie attempts to satisfy as an intrigue-laced thriller in the vein of the "Bourne" franchise, but also functions as a message movie that calls attention to the personal difficulties that servicemembers face as well as the moral and legal grey area that results from privatizing a significant portion of our national security. As a result, "The Contractor" is a little hazy and hard to follow since it cares a bit more about emotional texture than resolving every detail of the plot. Let's read between what lines the movie gives us and fill in some blanks. This is the ending of "The Contractor" explained.

Pour one out for Mike, who unfortunately dies after getting shot by Rusty in the final shoot-out. The most compelling emotional journey of "The Contractor" is the roller coaster of trying to guess where Mike's loyalties lie. He was James's commanding officer when they served together, and doesn't seem like he would recruit him into anything that bad. But when he's revealed to be alive and well after Rusty claimed Mike never made it out of Berlin, James has to assume he can't trust his best friend. We're happy to assume along in the audience, especially since Ben Foster is well known for playing loose-cannon characters in action movies like the moody Western "3:10 to Yuma," or in his earlier team-up with Chris Pine in "Hell or High Water."

When James makes it back to the states after the Berlin fiasco to confront Mike, we learn there's a middle ground: although Mike wasn't necessarily clear on their true purpose in Berlin, he clearly understood that it might not have been the noble national security mission Rusty claimed. He was also told that James died attempting to flee the city, and his loyalty to Rusty is broken after learning that James was nearly killed by his other forces. Redeemed to a degree by joining James in the assault on Rusty's compound, Mike dies a qualified hero. He may not have "died in his sleep," but he became a mercenary to provide for his family and lost himself in the process.

"The Contractor" is a quietly existential story as James and his fellow ex-servicemen are all dealing with a profound lack of purpose and identity. As they reckon with the recent suicide of another member of their old unit, James even essentially asks Mike what reasons he has to get out of bed in the morning, to keep living. According to data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans are more than twice as likely as a member of the general population to take their own life.

Mike's answer to this question, and essentially the movie's answer as well, is that ensuring the safety and future of your family is the best guiding light available. Mike's turned to contract work to provide for his special-needs son, and even the doomed scientist Salim (Fares Fares) promises his own son he was working toward a better future for his sake, in a pre-recorded video. James is at a loss in life without the military, but his desire to make a life for Brianne and little Jack (Sander Thomas) is purpose enough, at least in the short term.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

James' discussion with Virgil, although it's cut tragically short, is "The Contractor" at its most hopeful and humane. Virgil puts it to words eloquently when he sums up the reasons he's not in contact with his family: "When I reach out, I break things." Beyond the general struggle to redefine themselves and keep going, former members of the military face a host of challenges. According to a study in "Advances in Medical Education and Practice," U.S. veterans face an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, chronic pain, substance abuse, homelessness, and more. 

Virgil may not be with his family, but he at least acknowledges the breath of what veterans face in attempting to readjust. In James' community at home, it all goes unspoken until it reaches a crisis point. When Brianne comes home to find James working on the roof in the middle of the night, it's an example of the exact sort of pathological behavior that Virgil was getting at. Without getting polemical or biting off more than it can chew philosophically, "The Contractor" shows us the costs of molding men into weapons of war in the grimaces, weary silence, and thousand-yard stares of its leading men.

A quiet theme at the beginning of "The Contractor" is the ostensible failure of religion to actually provide a community for veterans. The priest who opens the movie says people are more prone to isolation than ever, and even as he offers words for soldiers in the congregation, James is clearly staring off into space and paying no attention. Church has become a rote ritual, surrounded by people that don't understand his experience. The moment when his son's "Amen" brings him back to reality is quietly heartbreaking.

"The Contractor" pulls away from this theme as James' story unfolds; it clearly has more interest in condemning the military than the church. But it's telling that despite multiple scenes of attending church in the early going, there's no larger sense of community or help for Jack and Brianne to rely on as they face sudden insolvency. Especially as the last century of warfare has become less about world wars and more about endless occupations and drone strikes with obfuscated motives, the sanctity and spiritual weight that we assign to the military has perhaps changed with the times.

Something that "The Contractor" establishes early on is how tender and patient James is as a father to Jack. He's genuinely supportive as he helps Jack learn to swim, and doesn't upbraid or lose patience when his son shows anxiety or fear. Later, we learn that this is in stark contrast to James's own father. His old man was a soldier that got James a painful American flag tattoo as an early birthday present and molded James to be the ultimate soldier in his own image. But after his service, facing the same demons of purposelessness and readjusting that James is now, his father disappeared without a trace and abandoned his family.

As James loses the forces that defined his life, first the military and then the brief hope that contract work would have similar clarity of purpose, he begins to focus more and more on just being a better father to Jack than his own father was to him. At many points in Berlin he could have easily given up and stopped running, with his body giving out and his resources limited, but the motivation not to abandon his own family and keep the cycle going pulled him through it all.