The Contractor

There's something about The Contractor that creates a sense of melancholy. It is a sign that the older, grittier action hero is dying as audiences lap up mainstream heroes and superheroes in worlds where there is always some kind of escape or comic relief. We are not going to be pompous here to call this a good or bad thing - it is just something that is happening within the movie business that is driven by audience interests.

The Contractor is the English language debut film of Swedish director Tarik Saleh, whose only previous foray into the language was an episode of the HBO d....