Review of The Final Cut (2004) by Eric H — 04 Sep 2007

I initially avoided this because it appeared to be some kind of lame thriller with Robin Williams trying to be serious again. But I discovered that I enjoy it when Williams takes a role that requires him to shut up most of the time and this sci-fi type film was utterly fascinating.

The idea of an implant that allows 'cutters' to create a 'rememory' for someone's loved ones is a great idea. it is truly great when the filmmaker creates a philosophical question akin to 1984 about it. At first I was wondering why they put in political activists over something that I thought would be a nice idea until I realized that it is just like having cameras on people without their knowledge. And then there's the idea of freewill since no one has a choice if they have an implant or not and, once they know, they cannot truly be themselves. There are some deep issues going on in this one.

Williams performance is perfect for this role as he can play reserved as well as he can play animated. Caviezel is slightly ominous as a former cutter. Sorvino is just kind of there. It wasn't a bad performance but nothing really stuck out. Her character seemed to be thrown in, I think.

The director also tried some splitscreen stuff and a few camera tricks that help to create a sense of things being recorded and a slight sense of paranoia.