Final Cut

Rating:
Summary: Run for your life! One of the lamest movies of 2004!
Review: Every once in a while, a movie comes along that is so hilariously inept at every single turn, so stupid in nearly every conceit, so laughably mundane with every plot strand, that you can't help but stare at it for the entire time like a slow-motion 25-car-pileup. The Final Cut begins with a childhood flashback that reminded me of the stupid opening of Taking Lives (i.e. - not a good sign) and continues to look like the worst TV movie ever made despite the fact that its central conceit (despite tons of logic holes) is mildly interesting.

Robin Williams returns to One Hour Photo/Insomnia territory as Alan Hakman, a man who makes his living editing memory chips pre-natally implanted in people (now deceased) that record every single moment of their lives - good and bad. A 'Cutter' takes key moments of the dead person's life, edits them into a 2-hour format, and then presents them at 'Rememory' ceremonies, kind of a futuristic memorial service. Now, nevermind the fact that it would be absolutely impossible to perform a service like this: as of writing this review, I have lived for 170,028.5 hours. Even if a MAC truck hit me today, an editing job on me would make Lawrence of Arabia look like a piece of cake. Not to mention that chips like these would be an invasion of privacy, would change the criminal justice system, and would cause irreparable psychological damage to the people who discover they have them.

Now, forget the conceit's implausibility and it is some sort of a P.K.Dickian invention that branches out into a sort of philosophy. This, in and of itself, is interesting and the movie has a few moments directly involving the 'Guillotine' (Cutting device) that are intriguing. First-time writer/director Omar Naim isn't just happy with a shaky premise, though, so he layers the film with a dorky childhood flashback (unintentionally funny), an implausible love subplot (Mira Sorvino + Robin Williams = *shudder*), an antagonist who used to be a Cutter (Jim Caveizel...shut up and play Jesus), a kiddie-raper theme in one of the deceased's memories (maudlin), and some of the worst dialogue I've heard since Brad Pitt charged forth in Troy.

The IMDB message boards are touting Naim as maybe the next Shyamalan, but this consistently horrible mess only serves to make Night's awful The Village look like Citizen Kane. The Final Cut exists only as a marketing experiment by Lion's Gate Films, really. It was projected on a DTDS DVD Player the entire time (yes, I'm not kidding; the movie doesn't even show in theaters on real 35-mm film) just to see if that new system would be lucrative. I have a chilly vision about the future - theaters might actually start using that. It is ugly, it has no aesthetic (then again, neither does the movie), and it shines a dim light on the future of the movies. Funny thing - this movie does the same for Robin Williams' career. D-



Rating:
Summary: Robin Williams at his best
Review: Imagine in the future we all will have an implant in our heads that will record everything we see and hear. The main character, Alan, played by Williams is a "cutter". He takes your implant after death and edits all the footage so that your family can come and watch a "Rememory" of your life.

Alan leads a lonely, depressing life, completely devoted to his work. When a big project comes up he jumps at the chance but then he sees something that changes his entire life..

It's a really well made, moving, thoughtful film. Robin Williams at his best, similar to One Hour Photo but not to hectic or monotone. It'll remind you of gattaca and of how far technology and the human race will go. What if we could relive everything a person ever saw? The real question would be: would we really want to?



Rating:
Summary: The Final Cut
Review: In the indeterminate future, people can choose to have a chip, called a Zoe implant, embedded in their brain that will record their memories. Upon their death, a cutter will edit those memories down to a two hour movie called a Rememory for loved ones to view. Alan Hackman (Williams) is not only a cutter, but he is one of the best. He can make a low life criminal look like a saint, and there is no job he will not take. He is a sort of Sin Eater, taking all the bad events of a person's life upon himself. He is somewhat antisocial, with a kind of-girlfriend named Della (Sorvino). Their relationship suffers because of his dedication to his job, and while she is not happy, he seems somewhat content.

Hackman is hired to do a Rememory for a wealthy man with a shady past. His widow wants the Rememory to make him look good, and knows that he can do it based on his reputation. Enter Fletcher (Caviezel), a former cutter who now is a leader of a group opposed to Remories. He wants to take the rich man's Zoe implant and use it for his own purposes. Hackman naturally refuses, and so begins a cat and mouse game to see who will end up with the implant.

Finally, interspersed with the story is a memory from Hackman's childhood that may have shaped his career path and the person he is today.

This is an interesting and entertaining movie. Once again, Robin Williams shows that he is excellent in more serious roles. Cabiezel is good as the bad guy, and Sorvino does her best with the small part that she has. This is an intelligent science fiction story that will make you question the nature and truthfulness of your memories. "The Final Cut" is a pleasant surprise that is in very limited release, so search it out and see it.

Rating:
Summary: Where's Mork when you need him?
Review: THE FINAL CUT is relentlessly dark and somber. I found myself wishing for a cameo by Mork, or perhaps even Mindy, to lighten the mood.

It's sometime in the future. Affluent parents can have an implant placed in their unborn child's brain that'll record all the sights and sounds seen and heard during that individual's life from birth until death. Then, after death, the implant's data are able to be downloaded into a computer as a series of scenes sequentially numbered according to the person's age in years, days and hours. Those vignettes can be edited by a "Cutter" to create a visual remembrance of the deceased. A sort of "This Is the Best of Your Life" souvenir for the survivors. Alan Hakman (Robin Williams) is such a Cutter, one of the best in the business when it comes to cleaning up a depraved life's visual record into something suitable for family viewing at the wake.

A childhood trauma involving the accidental death of a playmate, as well as the early demise of his own parents in an auto accident, have left Alan devoid of much emotion. Rather, he experiences life vicariously through his cutting jobs. According to one of the rules of the profession, a Cutter cannot have an implant. Alan discovers by chance that he has one, not being told about it by Mom and Pop before they were killed. So, the essence of the film becomes that old saw, "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword", as Hakman comes into conflict with a renegade Cutter (James Caviezel) now running with the right-to-privacy militants that want to put the kabosh on implant technology.

Once again, Williams shows that he's an exceptional dramatic actor at the complete opposite of the spectrum from MORK AND MINDY. Because of Robin's performance and the reasonably clever concept of the implant technology, I wish I could've liked this film more, but couldn't because the central plot was so unengaging and turned-back on itself. It didn't go anywhere that made me sit up and say "Way cool!". The script was perhaps conceived by a film editor with a vicious hangover. It didn't help that the cinematography was moody and joyless - dark rooms, dark streets, and dark buildings. Even the Cutters' workstations were constructed of gloomy, retro-looking wood. And Caviezel's character elicited nothing from me whatsoever. (Of course, after you've played Jesus, anything else is a comedown.)

THE FINAL CUT is best left for a DVD rental when the computer is down and you can't surf the Web using "depression" as your search engine key word.