Sony Music Masterworks releases the soundtrack for The Contractor with music by composer Alex Belcher. Chris Pine stars in the action-packed thriller as Special Forces Sergeant James Harper, who is involuntarily discharged from the Army and cut-off from his pension. In debt, out of options and desperate to provide for his family, Harper contracts with a private underground military force. When the very first assignment goes awry, the elite soldier finds himself hunted and on the run, caught in a dangerous conspiracy and fighting to stay alive long enough to get home and uncover the true motives of those who betrayed him...

Alex Belcher delivers an intricate, multi-layered score for The Contractor, which works well in the movie to heighten the onscreen action. However, as integral as it is to the film, on its own merits it's a little less impressive. As a standalone album it doesn't work quite so well.

It's difficult to pinpoint why I didn't really warm to this. It could be that there's a few too many atmospheric background segments which drag on a little. It could be that there's little in the way of variety, but I think it's mainly because it feels a little cliched; like a million and one movie scores you've heard before.

If you loved the music when watching the film then it's worth adding this to your collection, but I can't really recommend it as a standalone score in its own right. Technically it's spot on, but I didn't feel it had enough thematic segments to hook me in.

6

Darren Rea