Clear-cutting, 2024.
SYNOPSIS:
A team of loggers discovers a methamphetamine preparation in the middle of the forest and is forced to fight for their lives while being chased by a drug cartel.
With a name like Clear Cut, you’d think director Brian Skiba seems vaguely cute and deliberately confused as his narrative absentmindedly rewinds into unfunny time. The truth is that what the film seeks to do with its story is quite evident after the flashback of the moment, executed with such a poor editing strategy (Skiba also fulfills those tasks) that we are left with the surprise of the ineptitude when it cuts to a scene with Alec who was recently killed at the beginning.
Dead characters appearing in flashbacks are inherently acceptable, but watching them diffuse here is confusing; You can reconfigure the scenes chronologically and this already ugly movie might work better. After that, Alec is no longer a recurring presence; The movie is just dead like that. At the very least, it may have avoided the not-so-smooth (I think?) attempt to lie to the audience about what’s happening with its central plot. It’s difficult, that is, because the editing makes everything more confusing than the story. Furthermore, the fact that I have so many questions about the filmmaker’s goal already shows that everything he tried to do with the layout was unsuccessful. That’s an understatement.
The story itself is about Jack, played by Clive Standen, who undertakes logging jobs on his way to a structure with his genius and mentor (Alec Baldwin). Now, if reading this arouses any interest, there could be a positive and serious message about deforestation at its source. In the heart of the action, let me remind readers that this is one of the very reasonable Lionsgate VOD entities that are making their way into some theaters across the United States. Jack seeks revenge on some criminals who run a meth operation here in the woods, which also raises several logistical questions that the film never bothers to answer.
Unsurprisingly, the one who cooks the meth gives the dumbest performance, which essentially means that Lochlyn Munro plays the role of a psychopathic Southern cliché who runs around with a crossbow, murdering whoever might disrupt his shady business dealings. By bringing an inexplicably giant amount of coins into a deal where the user cooking the methamphetamine lives in an RV, possibly in the middle of nowhere, the primary buyers conveniently leave the coins in the back of a truck for Jack to steal and run away. with. Stephen Dorff also plays a ranger who cares about both sides in combat. The less said about the women featured in this movie, the better probably the better.
While Clive Standen provides satisfying functionality in terms of the emotional toll recent tragic occasions have taken on him and the close-up action, it is also undermined throughout the film (written by Joe Perruccio) by inventing scenarios that unintentionally accentuate this drama. . As far as direction goes, nothing here stands out unless for a moment or two towards the end, Clive Standen lets out some of that pent-up anger and sadness. It’s conceivable that if you show someone the last 10 minutes of Clear Cut, they’ll mistakenly assume that you’ve just seen a good movie. Fortunately, what is clear is that it is probably not worth watching.
Ranking of those who shine – Film: ★ / Film: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the editor of Flickering Myth Reviews. Check here for new reviews, my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail. com.