Clear Cut

Stumbling upon the 2024 thriller "Clear Cut" by random chance here in 2025, I opted to watch it on account of it being a movie that I had never heard about, much less actually seen.

I was rather surprised with the cast ensemble in the movie, and I have to say that when I saw that the movie had Clive Standen in the leading role, I did harbor some expectations to the movie.

The storyline in the movie was enjoyable. I like what writer Joe Perruccio put together for director Brian Skiba to bring to the screen. Sure, you might argue that the storyline is a bit generic for a movie such as this, but it proved to be entertaining and enjoyable, and that is what a movie is supposed to do in my book.

The movie actually has a great cast ensemble, with the likes of Clive Standen, Alec Baldwin, Stephen Dorff, Lochlyn Munro, Jesse Metcalfe, Tom Welling and Mike Dopud on the cast list. The acting performances in the movie were good, but that was a given with that cast ensemble.

"Clear Cut" genuinely entertained me throughout the course of the 88 minutes that it ran for. But it is not a movie that actually have enough contents to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Brian Skiba's 2024 thriller "Clear Cut" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I got tricked into thinking this was a Alec Baldwin film, which is what honestly drove me to watch this. I am a big Alec Baldwin fan, so when I seen he had a new film I was excited. But I was wrong. He is not in this film long. The film is about a man that's trying to work for a living ends up stumbling upon some bad people in the woods and finds a ton of money, that belongs to the bsd guys. They harm his family and he then goes on the warpath. That's it. That's the list of it. I have seen better films and I have seen worse films. The best part about this film honestly is the outdoor scenes. It's filmed beautifully in the woods.

Why watch a bimbo in a $10 horror movie make terrible decisions when we've got THIS movie? I've never seen so many stupid decisions made by a lead character in my entire lifetime of watching movies. There are no well drawn characters, there's no real tension here at all, not even a good use of the pacific northwest locale. The special effects, especially the fire effects, are an insult to the intelligence. Alec Baldwin is barely in this for three minutes and his exit is as lamely shot as possible. But no other character is is important as the Clive Standen character is, and we never know what the hell he's up to. Nothing he does make any sense. I'd rather watch lost puppies go through the same story because at least there will be some action on the screen that makes some natural sense.

But you won't find any sense in this movie.

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.

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!