The Human Contract (2008)

Just perfect...

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Blistering performances.

calling this a film would be insult to cinema i would say in my opinion as this is such a terrible project that it deserves a zero percent rating & should be on bottom in IMDb charts.first of all if anyone is looking for some hot sex or good story here then get ready to be disappointed as its got none here just some kissing scenes are included that's that's all,i am not going to waste my time talking about the plot its written here go read it yourself.the characters are awfully written here all the actors got wasted here Jason Clarke doing here he ruined it much more this guy can't act at all so i don't care for his role he was just way too over the top loud in his performance here but what the hell were Idris Elba & Paz Vega doing here these two are method actors & masters in their field when word acting comes to mind,Idris Elba is amazing guy he got wasted here as for Paz Vega my god what has Hollywood done to this Spanish beauty is just sad,she is really really wasting her talents in Hollywood she will never have a career like Penelope Cruz or Salma Hayek in Hollywood her Spanish films are true classics it is really sad to see her giving her best performance in this lame film but it just doesn't work,she plays a character called Michael here hello are these filmmakers joking or what Michael is a terrible character name for a female specially when you have the hottest actress in the world like Paz Vega in the cast.the story goes nowhere the chemistry never works between actors i repeat not characters the actors they felt uncomfortable when filming this it easily shows.may i ask where did the camera go that Paz Vega used to record the sexy kissing scene of Jason Clarke inside limousine what is that story angle i though she was going to use it to frame him later & a big twist was coming in the name of revenge but boy i was wrong,all that 50 shades of Grey type nonsense these people were pulling on each other was useless.the final confrontation between Julian & Michael is hilarious when Jason Clarke punches Paz Vega & she goes flying crashes into the nearby table then instead of getting up she sticks a pen inside her leg hurting herself for no reason & bleeding out.anyway the point remains is the human contract is a pointless film Jada Pinket Smith is a better actress she should remain one & never direct movies storytelling is not her thing.The Human Contract 2008 is embarrassment for the whole cast specially Idris Elba & Paz Vega such fine actors should never sign this type of film contract without reading the script my rating is 2/10.Skipp It

Well, you can certainly tell from watching The Human Contract that writer/director Jada Pinkett Smith knew exactly what she wanted to do with this film. It is equally clear she didn't have much of a clue how to actually do it. The result is like looking at someone who thinks they can do a magic act because they once saw Doug Henning perform.The surprisingly unattractive Julian Wright (Jason Clarke) is the creative heart of a small firm in what used to be called advertising but is now known as "brand management". He's also got a pending divorce and a complicated family history with his mother (Joanna Cassidy) and sister (Jada Pinkett Smith). The least of the complications is that Julian is white and his sister is black and if they explained that in the movie, I must have missed it.Just as his firm gets a buyout offer that could make Julian richer and more successful than he ever dreamed, he also meet an uninhibited iconoclast named Michael (Paz Vega) who challenges everything Julian has ever thought about himself and his life. They fall in lust, which this movie mistakes for love, and both his obsession with Michael and his family dysfunction end up threatened the buyout deal for Julian's firm.You know how something can sound great in your head but when you say it out loud it's not great at all? That's what The Human Contract is like. Smith clearly had a story to tell here. She just couldn't get it to come out right. This thing is poorly structured, has no sense of pace, doesn't have a firm grip on its main character, has too many supporting characters, too many extraneous scenes and piles up personal tragedy like it was stacking cordwood.Let me give you a couple of examples of the sort of unskilled storytelling at work here. Julian has a darkroom in his apartment with a combination lock on the door. When he meets Michael, they have some brief and playful banter about him not letting her inside. A while later, Michael makes a reference to the dark room in a post-coital embrace. Just a reference, mind you, not even asking for the combination. Then toward the end of the movie, the darkroom is put forth as this huge symbol of how Julian is closed off from Michael and everybody else. It's supposed to be a big moment, but Pinkett Smith spent only about 8 lines of dialog and less than 45 seconds of screen time building up to that big moment. She knew how important the darkroom was to the story, but she didn't know how to convey that to the audience. So, she really just fumbles around and then springs it on the viewer like a bear trap.The other example is the whole thing with the buyout. It's built up throughout The Human Contract as one of the major pressures on Julian and there are several scenes about how his behavior regarding his family and Michael is threatening the deal. Pinkett Smith is much more effective in building up to the question of whether the buyout will happen or not. Then when that big moment comes, it passes with a shrug and is never dealt with again. The audience is left to assume what happened, assume what the consequences were and assume how those consequences impacted Julian. Pinkett Smith obviously never heard the saying that when you ask someone to assume, you're making an "ass" out of "u" and "me".The Human Contract looks good and is relatively well performed, but it's like a beautiful woman with a sexy accent telling you a joke that isn't funny. You only laugh because you want her to have sex with you…which is not something this film is ever going to do. Save the fake laugh and watch something else.

Into the big repertoire of actors who have a try as directors, there are some examples of success and many of failures.In other words, for every Clint Eastwood or Ron Howard, who make their transition with good results, we have people like Asia Argento or William Shatner, whose efforts behind the cameras did not end up being good.Unfortunately, The Human Contract, Jada Pinkett Smith's debut as a director, falls into the second category, because I found it to be obtuse, tedious and irritating.I usually dislike these passional dramas, because I usually find them to be over the top and implausible, specially when there is not too much chemistry between the main actors, or there is a lack of valid reasons to sustain their relationships beyond the simple fact they are attractive.However, I admit it can be a genre with some pleasant surprises, because when there is an interesting twist (like in Blink), an original situation (like in The Handmaid's Tale), or good interaction between the main actors (like in Basic Instinct), the result is entertaining.Needless to say that The Human Contract does not belong to that group.To start with, the characters are absolutely disgusting.In some movies, that thing works when they are impulsed by a strong motivation, or when they have an hypnotic personality which wakes our interest.Unfortunately, The Human Contract does not fulfill with that conditions, so it forces us to spend almost two hours in company of stupid, antipathetic and insipid characters, whose problems feel irrelevant because of their lack of connection with the spectator.In other words, this is one of those movies which tell us what the characters feel, instead of making us live their emotions.So, I do not recommend The Human Contract at all, because I think it is a horrible film with more style than substance and I found it to be absolutely inert in every single narrative aspect.I think Pinkett Smith should keep being an actress and leave the direction aside.

The title pretty much sums it up. I went into this film with low expectations since Jada Pinkett Smith has never been a good actress and now not a good director. The film has every cliché that you can imagine and the personal relationships are contrived at best.The director as a woman had her husband beg and plead for this opportunity instead of earning the opportunity herself. You don't start as a film director, because TV is usually the proving ground to get you noticed.These Hollywood couples make me want to puke because they spin out dreck like this film which is nothing new at all!!