The Final Cut (2004)

The title implies a good editor, and doesn't deliver

Unfortunately, this movie is poorly edited and the plot is revealed in an unintuitive order. The cinematography is great, and the color scheme looks well thought out. Williams delivers the same performance he does in One Hour Photo, a decidedly good movie, and so there's some tedium to the method of his acting here.

In a movie about cutting and editing and rearranging memories, I question the to choice to name any character, especially the protagonist, Hackman. I laughed out loud every time I heard it. I could not take seriously the film's variation on the Big Brother theme: If someone could watch your life through your eyes and you still did the same good and terrible things throughout your life time, just as people do today, what is the point of the film's premise? What is so significant about systematic surveillance if human behavior remains status quo?

You aren't missing much if you miss this film. And if you did mistakenly watch it, you may want to have the time you spent watching the film cut from your memory. July 5, 2008

CAN'T SAY I LIKED IT

Something is missing in this movie - something just doesn't "gel". Robin Williams has played some amazing roles - such as in What Dreams May Come (perhaps his best movie/performance ever). This movie was more along the lines of 1 Hr Photo. But the topic was too big, the "science" too outlandish. The concept of an implant that remembers everything you see in life - so the family left behind after you die can preserve certain memories - is quite frankly ridiculous. It's a fundamentally stupid idea, a stupid concept, and I think that's where the movie fails - right from the very premise. The performances are OK. Williams is very good as usual. Sorvino was good - though aged terribly in this movie. Some of the other acting was downright terrible. The fat little kid who played a young Williams was just annoying - but maybe he was supposed to be. But again, the problem here is not with the actors, but the script. The whole memory implant concept is so unrealistic, so stupid, that it puts the whole movie beyond belief. So even though there are some good moments in the movie - it's like building a house on a weak foundation. The whole movie fails because the foundation (the premise) is so weak. July 3, 2008

Be sure your sins will find you out.

Alan Hakman (Robin Williams) has the world's worst job. Set in the future, he operates a business that is responsible for "editing" the memories of rich, dead executive-types who's families want their memories to digitally be replayed during their funeral ceremonies. Some offer as much as $500,000 to Hakman for his services, and the sum of money is typically predicated on just how many skeletons the recently expired loved-ones had in their overpriced closets, and just how good a job he does at "cutting" those memories.

Hakman is himself no saint. A tragedy from his own childhood still haunts him and drives him to border-line paranoia. He is unsure of how this past episode actually happened, but is quite certain he was directly responsible for the incident, at least in his own mind. When Hakman discovers that one of his clients has hired him to erase certain memories of her dead husband in order to essentially expunge his dark involvement with their pre-teen daughter, Hakman's own personal ghosts come howling back to confront him and besiege him with questions on whether he should continue to dissolve certain memories of these shady dead men in order to continue making a living by splicing their memories and making them appear almost saintly.

This was a completely original and very entertaining film. Jim Caviezel and Mira Sorvino co-star. I recommend this film to anyone desiring an original plot with a highly-engrossing storyline.
April 16, 2008

Eerie...and mesmerizing

It's difficult for me, even after all this time and the evidence of such films as One Hour Photo, The Fisher King, and so forth to get it into my head that Robin Williams is not so much a 'comedian' as he is a consumate actor capable of portraying 'on the edge' characters. His portrayal as the disturbed and disturbing Cutter (one who edits the organic tape memories of a person's entire life for presentation to loved ones after that person's death)in The Final Cut is nothing short of awe-inspiring. As usual with most of his (serious)movies, you're going to be left with more questions than answers, more doubt than certainty. The supporting cast, all reduced to mere cameo roles by director Omar Naim, truly do support Mr. Williams' portrayal of a character one unfortunately must acknowledge is not too far off in our future. I doubt I'll ever watch this movie again, and I'm damned glad I didn't miss it. February 22, 2008

Not Quite

This movie was fairly interesting, but I wasn't too impressed.

The acting was decent enough, that's not what I was bothered by. I kept feeling like everything was so abrupt and there was no flow to the story.

I ended up finishing it, but I remember thinking a few times during it that I could turn if off and wouldn't be too upset for having missed it.

I wouldn't highly suggest this movie, but I could see it becoming like a "cult classic" because the premise of it is so interesting. It just didn't get tied together into a story that sucked you in.

= EK January 30, 2008

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