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From classics like Rocky, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Raging Bull to more recent films like Million Dollar Baby, Cinderella Man and The Fighter, the underdog boxing movie is the kind of cinema that audiences love to root for. No matter your age or background, we all can get behind a story about a down-and-out contender who's able to overcome adversity and their own personal demons to achieve greatness. It's a tried-and-true recipe for success that's kept filmmakers coming back to the genre round after round. And with The Cut, director Sean Ellis is entering the ring, in this gritty tale about a former champion who risks everything for a second chance at the super welterweight title. Set 10 years after losing the biggest fight of his career and walking away from the sport at a professional level, the film follows a retired boxer (Orlando Bloom) who, along with his girlfriend and trainer, Caitlin (Caitriona Balfe), now runs a boxing club in Ireland. Formerly known as the Wolf of Dublin, this once-promising athlete has been reduced to little more than a cautionary tale to the country's new generation of boxers, spending his days cleaning up around the club and regretting the mistakes of his past. However, when he's offered a chance to redeem himself by being on the title card at a highly anticipated match in Las Vegas, he jumps at the chance, in spite of the doubt and hesitation of everyone around him. With less than a week to shed some 30 pounds in order to make the weight cutoff for the match, he'll face insurmountable odds that go beyond simply getting his mind and body back in fighting shape. But even with the assistance of a hard-nosed and unconventional coach named Boz (Jon Turturro), will he succeed in proving once and all that he's championship material? Written by Justin Bull, the result is a generally formulaic and clichéd genre effort that tries hard to disguise its cookie-cutter narrative by incorporating black-and-white flashbacks to its main character's traumatic childhood. For the most part, however, The Cut registers as a movie desperately attempting to punch above its weight. And while Bloom and Balfe do their best to try to bring added dimension to their stereotypical archetypes, it ultimately isn't enough to earn this drama the accolades it's so clearly aiming for. |
The Cut screens under the Special Presentations programme at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Its runtime is 1 hr. 39 min.
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