A classic B movie, or what used to be called a B movie. These days, a B movie is called `made for cable' and is often shot in Canada with American stars and Canadian supporting actors---like this one! In The Final Cut, Vancouver doubles for Seattle (clever, eh?). We've seen all the pieces before: Mad Bomber plants explosive devices in densely populated locations and stymies the police bomb squad. Rugged, hard-boiled, world-weary, careworn John Pierce (Sam Elliott), former head of the bomb squad, reluctantly allows himself to be pressed back into service to stop the Bomber. Of course, he is framed as the Bomber himself, and in the process of clearing himself and catching the real bad guy, he must face some of his own personal demons. Sam Elliott is always watchable and this film is also graced by the presence of three beautiful women: Anne Ramsay effects a complete reversal of her role as ditzy Lisa Stemple in Mad About You. She is great here as the athletic, gun-toting, resourceful chick cop. She is allowed to get covered in perspiration in scenes that don't involve sex; how often does that happen in films these days? (Contrast The Matrix, in which Carrie-Ann Moss does incredible acrobatics without so much as breaking a sweat.) The gorgeous Barbara Tyson comes in like a lioness but unexpectedly almost disappears from view after some very hot early scenes; I wonder if some of her scenes wound up on the cutting-room floor. Finally, the lissome Lisa Langlois, who seems to specialize in victim roles, has another one here, as a human bomb. At least this time she gets to survive rather than being slashed, dismembered or incinerated.
This movie is just good enough to hold your attention till the end. It's ideal for insomniacs who watch cable at 2 a.m. in order to get sleepy enough to go back to bed.
