The Cutter (2005)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

William Tannen

Writer (WGA):

Bruce Haskett (written by)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The past holds the key!

Plot:

A detective comes to the aid of an aged diamond cutter. |

Plot Keywords:

Diamond Cutter | Diamond | DVD | Kidnapping | Ransom

Cast

Chuck Norris	...	John Shepherd
Joanna Pacula	...	Elizabeth Teller
Daniel Bernhardt	...	Dirk
Bernie Kopell	...	Issac Teller
Todd Jensen	...	Parks
Marshall R. Teague	...	Moore
Tracy Scoggins	...	Alena
Curt Lowens	...	Col. Speerman
Deron McBee	...	Alex / Repairman
Dean Cochran	...	Eddie
Mark Ivanir	...	Doctor Joseph
Víctor Quintero	...	Man 1
Rick Avery	...	Man 2
Aaron Norris	...	Tony Maylam
Mickey Mank	...	Old Woman

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

USA:92 min | Australia:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA | UK:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Gonzaga University - 502 E. Boone Avenue, Spokane, Washington, USA

Company:

Millennium Films

Trivia:

This project took over 10 years to get produced. It had been optioned by three studios and had been re-written at least five times to cater to the whims of either a studio or a star. Originally set in New York, it was later changed to Los Angeles then to Prague and finally Spokane, Washington. The final "change" was the elimination of any and all references to Israel and the removal of the Hasidim from the script of a movie about diamonds and centered in the diamond district of a major American city. The producer (an Israeli) said he could not sell the film to "certain territories" if these elements remained in the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: The scene on the bus, the bus route numbers on the outside of the bus.

Spare us The Cutter...

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits

In the 80s, few could forget Echo and the Bunnymen's famous anthem 'Spare Us The Cutter', which springs to mind with Chuck's new film. With his most recent film Bells of Innocence (quite enjoyable actually), he used no martial arts at all and I noted how maybe now because of his age, he was phasing this out of his act and concentrating more on expanding his range. Well, he's back at it alive and kicking (unwitting pun) here, duking it out with smaller time fellow fighting star Daniel Bernhardt, but that The Cutter would still be less fun than BOI even in spite of this should speak volumes.

Here Chuck returns as Sam Shepherd, a former detective who quit the force after a mission went tragically wrong, who's now working as a Private Investigator. When a woman's grand-father goes missing, she comes to him for help and he has no reason not to oblige. But then it emerges the old fella's been abducted by a Nazi war criminal and his younger cohort (Bernhardt) and his life rests on him using his expert diamond cutting skills on an artifact stolen from the desert. Digging deeper into the man's whereabouts, Sam and the woman find themselves the target of mysterious assailants here to and everywhere as they close in on the culprits.

He's kept himself in really good shape but all the same you can't help but shake the feeling Chuck is an action star who time has passed by, even with the help of frenetic camera editing and flashy shots. It's an exciting prospect watching two martial arts experts like him and Bernhardt duke it out but their fight scenes feel ridiculously phony, with some ridiculous loud punching sounds used that give them a really hammy feel. Unfortunately, it's not even as if the story can make things any more exciting, a deadly dull affair that drags by with the minimum of suspense or excitement, predictable as punch to boot. He's in remarkably good shape for his age and it's nice to see him make a comeback, but if this is the best he can manage, maybe Chuck just can't 'cut' it any more. **