Clear Cut

Sorry to say but this movie deserves maybe 3 stars on a boring, rainy day.

This movie you can skip, you don't miss anything you haven't seen already with better acting and script.

Starting decent it goes shortly after into an incoherent story with stupid and way too much time jumps, overacting of the characters which IMHO is the directors fault, bad CGI and effects plus unplausible events. Jack is a real superman, can hike in the woods miles in minutes and beats the bad guys in their truck, gets beat up real bad and comes back to fight and win against armed gangsters. Everybody in those woods, including the rangers, are part of the same drug operation.

A twist in the plot is nice, but not if it doesn't make any sense.

I did watch id because I think Alec Baldwin deserves some credit after being bashed so harsh. He paid someone to handle and take care of the guns in his movie, because his task was acting, plus live ammo is strictly forbidden on an acting set! That's it!

Clear Cut has the ingredients for a solid action thriller-a rugged setting, a high-stakes conflict, and a cast of familiar faces-but it never quite comes together in a satisfying way. The premise of loggers stumbling upon a meth operation in the deep woods has potential, yet the film struggles with pacing issues and predictable storytelling.

Clive Standen does his best as the lead, and Alec Baldwin and Stephen Dorff bring some presence to their roles, but the characters feel underdeveloped, making it hard to invest in their struggles. The action sequences are serviceable but lack real tension, and the villains are one-dimensional, reducing the stakes of the conflict.

While Clear Cut attempts to weave in deeper themes about survival and morality, it never fully commits, leaving the film feeling like a missed opportunity. If you're in the mood for a generic action flick with some decent performances, it might be worth a watch-but don't expect much beyond that.

Clear Cut is a complete waste of talent. The veteran actors deserved better, and it's baffling why they took on such minor roles-perhaps due to personal connections with the writers or producers. Alec's presence is barely felt with just a few minutes of screen time, which feels like a missed opportunity. Stephen delivers a solid performance, but it's overshadowed by the overall mediocrity of the film. Jesse, on the other hand, lacks the skill to carry his role, making him one of the weakest links among the more recognizable actors. Overall, the film fails to capitalize on its cast and ends up feeling like a frustrating waste of potential.

Bloody Action Punctuates this Never-Engaging Story of Gangs and an Undercover Family-Man that Fails to Amount to Much that Solidifies the Characters or Motivations that Make for Something to Care About.

It is Unevenly Spaced and Inadvisably Ventures Cross the Line with the Shooting Death of a Toddler, Wanting to Gain Enormous Sympathy but Leaves a Bad-Taste.

Alec Baldwin, in a Poster-Paycheck-Picture, is Offed Almost Immediately and it's Up to Villain Stephen Dorff (playing to Type) to Carry the Film and the Bad-Guys.

While Clive Standon is an Almost Indestructible Protagonist that has to Fight His Way (mostly hand to hand, but not exclusively) Out of Capture about every 15 Minutes.

It Makes for a Wild-Ride Filled with Extreme and Bloody Action that Keeps the Movie Alive while the Story is Lost in the Woods almost from the Get-Go.

The Movie is One of those that "Thinking-Caps" are a No-No, and Requires a Total Abandonment of Anything Remotely Involving Intellect, or even Making Much Sense.

A 90 Minute Excuse for some Vibrant Violence, but is Stitch Together so Loosely its in Danger of Coming Unraveled Immediately.

In Fact it Does Come Unraveled, Despite some Good Fisticuffs and Grind-House, Old-School Blood-Letting.

For those Action Fans with a Great Deal of Tolerance for Sloppy Story-Telling...

Worth a Watch.

Alec Baldwin is masterful as a logger who receives an arrow through the neck ten minutes into this D-grade robbery thriller in the woods since he needed to make at least five other direct-to-DVD films to cover his rent and family expenses since accidentally shooting that chick on his Western and deep-sixing his career. Other neglected master thespians in the cast include that guy who played the security guard who gets electrocuted in Freddy Vs. Jason and Tom Welling. This film should be more viewed alongside other naturalist masterpieces like Terrence Malick's The New World and not between Anaconda films on the Scy Fy network at three in the morning. Thank you, Clear Cut. American cinema is rescued once again.