Name: Retro Film Review: The Final Cut (1995)
Item: The Final Cut
Rating: 40
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

Those North American filmmakers who had wanted to emulate the success of Speed by using Mad Bomber plots lived to regret it in 1995. The audience was not only quickly fed up by little variations of the same material, but also unwilling to watch anything that would remind them of real life Oklahoma City massacre. However, some of those knock-offs were slightly more interesting than others. The Final Cut, 1995 Canadian action thriller directed by Roger Christian, is one of such examples.

The plot takes place in Seattle and deals with the bombing campaign by unknown terrorist. The bomber seems to be the top expert in his field, and many of his victims happen to be bomb disposal experts. The toll among Seattle Police is such that the authorities must seek the services of John Pierce (played by Sam Elliott), former head of Bomb Squad. He reluctantly takes the job and joins the task force that includes federal and military experts. However, his apparent inability to stop the bomber slowly creates suspicion among his colleagues that Pierce might be perpetrator.

Roger Christian in this film, perhaps more than in any other, shows that Blade Runner made great impact on his film making philosophy. Mike Sutton's cinematography and Ross Vanelli's New Age music provide a lot of dark atmosphere, making The Final Cut one of the more "artsy" titles of low budget cinema. However, the magic is gone as soon as Sam Elliott appears on the screen. Otherwise dependable actor here displays unusual lack of interest for the role, and the viewers soon follow his example and lose the interest in film as a whole. Predictable plot doesn't help either, so The Final Cut, although somewhat better than the reputation of its director (Battlefield Earth) would indicate, isn't a film that should attract special attention.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on January 27th 2003)