Rod Lurie's The Contender begins with a bang when a car drives over a pier and into the water where Governor Jack Hathaway (William L. Petersen) is fishing. He tries to save her but fails. Meanwhile, President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) needs to appoint a vice president, since his just died. He's been in office for six-and-a-half years, and will appoint one as a `swan song'. So, after Hathaway's act of heroism, he seems like a shoo-in, right? Nope, since Evans is thinking of appointing Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), much to the dismay of many, including Representative Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman).
Runyon and others don't want a female vice president, so they go and try to dig up dirt about Hanson's past. They finally conjure up a shocking sex thing from college. Rather than admit it, Hanson says that it isn't appropriate and `nobody would care how many people a man had sex with in college.'
The Contender is an enthralling political mystery. It takes many twists and turns that you wouldn't expect. The ending is a nice but low-key slap-in-the-face, with it trying to squeeze a moral into it somewhere. Where most political movies have flaws, this one does, also. First off, they throw in too many characters for their own good. Not having enough is a problem, but too many is worse, because it will confuse, and ultimately bore, your viewers. I'm not saying, in any way, that The Contender is boring, but if they had toned down on the number of characters it would have been better.
I thought Allen was great-she displayed the right amount of sensitivity, and cunning, that this role needed. She may not be the largest name in Hollywood, but she is a respected actress. Oldman was great, also-I thought he looks somewhat like Woody Allen (*sheepish grin*). His vileness seemed true. Bridges took off from his normal comedic-type roles (although he did have a few funny parts), and also displayed talent.
Christian Slater played a role of Representative Webster, someone who seemed to get very involved in the whole scandal. Slater, to me, seems like a man whose name I know of and I know has been around for a while but I haven't actually seen a movie with him. Now that isn't true. I enjoyed him in this role. The intelligent script (written by the director), which, at first, seems simple, snowballs into directions you wouldn't expect, and it's fun (I guess you could say).
I read that directed Lurie was an atheist, which he incorporated into the movie (Hanson is one). While I respect his decision, I thought it was kind of shameless promotion (not the best words). You can see how this situation parallels the government of today. You can actually feel for Hanson, which I was glad for, because for movies like this you need to get into the characters. Unfortunately, we couldn't do that with supporting ones. There's some dude named Kermit, and Saul Rubinek is some government person. But who? Don't ask me.
The Contender is a very interesting and entertaining movie not without flaws but is still enjoyable.
My rating: 7/10
Rated R for strong sexual content and language.
Runyon and others don't want a female vice president, so they go and try to dig up dirt about Hanson's past. They finally conjure up a shocking sex thing from college. Rather than admit it, Hanson says that it isn't appropriate and `nobody would care how many people a man had sex with in college.'
The Contender is an enthralling political mystery. It takes many twists and turns that you wouldn't expect. The ending is a nice but low-key slap-in-the-face, with it trying to squeeze a moral into it somewhere. Where most political movies have flaws, this one does, also. First off, they throw in too many characters for their own good. Not having enough is a problem, but too many is worse, because it will confuse, and ultimately bore, your viewers. I'm not saying, in any way, that The Contender is boring, but if they had toned down on the number of characters it would have been better.
I thought Allen was great-she displayed the right amount of sensitivity, and cunning, that this role needed. She may not be the largest name in Hollywood, but she is a respected actress. Oldman was great, also-I thought he looks somewhat like Woody Allen (*sheepish grin*). His vileness seemed true. Bridges took off from his normal comedic-type roles (although he did have a few funny parts), and also displayed talent.
Christian Slater played a role of Representative Webster, someone who seemed to get very involved in the whole scandal. Slater, to me, seems like a man whose name I know of and I know has been around for a while but I haven't actually seen a movie with him. Now that isn't true. I enjoyed him in this role. The intelligent script (written by the director), which, at first, seems simple, snowballs into directions you wouldn't expect, and it's fun (I guess you could say).
I read that directed Lurie was an atheist, which he incorporated into the movie (Hanson is one). While I respect his decision, I thought it was kind of shameless promotion (not the best words). You can see how this situation parallels the government of today. You can actually feel for Hanson, which I was glad for, because for movies like this you need to get into the characters. Unfortunately, we couldn't do that with supporting ones. There's some dude named Kermit, and Saul Rubinek is some government person. But who? Don't ask me.
The Contender is a very interesting and entertaining movie not without flaws but is still enjoyable.
My rating: 7/10
Rated R for strong sexual content and language.