Cutaway

Customs agent played by Stephen Baldwin is sent by his chief Ron Silver to a dangerous mission . He must infiltrate undercover into a band of drug dealers who deliver the dope via skydiving to sell to international narcotics mobsters . Tom Berenger is the leader of the skydiving subculture , he's a thrill-seeker , fun-loving with destructive ways . Baldwin is sucked into the cool mysticism of the sport's guru and he learns the skydiving gives him a biggest adrenaline rush than his employment as agent . Furthermore , he falls in love with a gorgeous skydiving coacher , well played by Maxime Bhans .

This solid though predictable thriller contains dazzling airborne stunts which keeps you tied on the edge of your seat . William Baldwin and Tom Berenger help raise potential actioner tale to a higher plane . If you can suspend you disbelief , this crime-adventure is just enjoyable and keep you entertained . Mind-numbing and incredible storyline written by the Manos brothers , Guy and Greg , redeemed by breathtaking skydiving scenes . Spectacular as well as colorful cinematography by Gerry Lively , a man of many talents , as he's cameraman , director and actor . The film belongs to 'Skydiving sub-genre' , whose initial outing was ¨The Gypsy Moths¨(1969) by John Frankenheimer , followed by ¨Drop zone (John Badham) , ¨Terminal velocity¨ (Deran Sarafian)¨ and its masterpiece ¨Point break¨ (Kathryn Bigelow)¨ . The motion picture was professionally directed by Guy Manos with assured and fast moving direction , he's usually in charge of aerial stunts . Action lovers will enjoy this ode to the skydiving sport, in spite of story deficiencies . Rating : Acceptable and passable , well worth seeing .

I enjoyed this film. Baldwin is a cop investigating elusive drug traffickers. Berenger is the leader of a sky diving team that Baldwin suspects of being behind the trafficking. I picked this movie up because of Casper Van Dien's part. He appears at the beginning as a military trainer Baldwin hires to steady his skills. Van Dien later appears again at the end as a competitive adversary to Baldwin's team. Watching all of the sky diving and training was very interesting. Most of the suspense was during flight instead of during "law enforcement" confrontations as one might expect. The WIND tunnel where Van Dien trained Baldwin looked SO fun! Baldwin's turmoil is mostly trying to balance his loyalty to the sky diving team and the police force. The ending isn't really predictable, but it's not surprising either. Certainly worth a watch!

I really enjoyed this one. Some top notch actors kept the plot moving well. The idea of drug smuggling by sky diving is exciting and quite plausible. I'd be amazed if I learned it had never been done in real life.

Seeing Rodman act was a kick. You could tell he was enjoying himself. Ron Silver and Tom Berenger proved their veteran status. Steven Baldwin and Maxine Bonds (sp) play a pretty hot couple (although she's so hot she'd look sexy with any lead). The sky diving was thrilling. I heard that Berenger and Baldwin actually got certified in sky diving for the picture and did some of their own stunts. Looking forward to buying this one when it comes out on video.

Somehow I got the feeling that they left out a considerable amount of scenes that make much more sense of the whole drugs angle in the movie. The moment Stephen Baldwin goes undercover you will get a "Point Break" flashback and will realize how great that movie is compared to this little movie. But that said I must admit that "Cutaway" has some amazing sky diving scenes. Those stunts alone is reason enough to see this movie. And probably the director realized that since he didn't make much of the plot. Tom Berenger is great as always but thought he was far too underused as he could have provided much more depth to his character and story if he had more scenes. The interactions between Ron Silver and Stephen Baldwin could have been avoided entirely since they add nothing to the conflicts an undercover agent has doing his job. Since it already is made clear from the first scene that Stephen Baldwin is not doing his job out of a sense of duty but simply to be the best in whatever activity he is presented with. The scenes with Ron Silver create an expectation of an impact that never occurs at least not as big as it could have been. So in short forget about the plot and just enjoy the beautiful skydiving scenes!

If you truly savor a bad movie once in a while, "Cutaway" will be a tasty treat that will have you coming back for seconds. It's got everything - a sullen Dennis Rodman who has about three lines (yet gets third billing), fat, old, and drunk-looking Academy Award nominee Tom Beringer spouting insane dialogue (sad, really), Steven Baldwin giving the blandest performance ever committed to film, Casper Van Dien overacting and making menacing facial expressions, Ron Silver being Ron Silver, an awful token love interest chick, and lots and lots of annoying supporting characters. And that's just the cast! The story, involving skydiving and drug smuggling and a "cop who gets in too deep", is not only horribly written but a rip-off of the plots of "Drop Zone" and "Point Break"! The movie was made by the Manos brothers, who apparently have a lot of experience filming skydiving. And they do it well. But pretty skydiving scenes can't make up for the overall poor quality of this movie. It might make you laugh, it might make you cry. But you must see Cutaway, if only to see just how bad it can get.