Movie Review ~ Clear Cut

Back in the days when Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Van Damme reigned supreme, audiences couldn’t get enough of the one-man-army against the world flicks.  The screen would light up with a lone wolf facing down evil gangs/pimps/mob bosses/nightclub owners to avenge their families/communities/friends/pets, and the box office receipts would pour in.  As dollar signs flashed in the eyes of studio executives, countless copycats would try to match these muscle-bound heroes and their popcorn flicks, touting relentless action and almost always ending with a cathartic release of justice served ice cold.  That was the heyday of the ’80s and ’90s, though, and tastes have changed as the target audiences for these workmanlike constructs have aged. 

However, testosterone-fueled fun hasn’t wholly left cinemas (or your streaming site of choice).  Modern successors to the Dolph Lundgren dynasty, such as Jason Statham, continually crank out brutally bone-crunching efforts that transport us back to the action spectacles that would pack theaters.  Earlier this year, Statham’s highly enjoyable The Beekeeper found the UK star unleashing his wrath on an organization that targeted older adults.  Now, in Clear Cut, another Brit is attempting to tap into the nostalgia of the classic revenge tale.

Putting a woodsy twist on a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, Clive Standen plays Jack, a rugged lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest, out for his first day on the job.  Accompanied by a veteran timber cutter (Alec Baldwin, Still Alice), the plot thickens as their routine harvest is interrupted by Jack’s discovery of a bag of cash alongside the body of a young woman.  Finding the body is one thing, but taking the money puts a target on their backs by a gang of thieves that have set up shop in the woods and don’t want to yield such prime real estate. 

Jack’s only option is to flee deeper into the wilderness, facing environmental and physical threats in addition to the criminals in hot pursuit.  In the woods, ghosts from Jack’s past come into focus, and we learn his presence that day may not have been entirely by chance.  This man has been on a mission of vengeance and is hell-bent on achieving it to calm his haunted conscience.  To survive long enough to reach civilization, he must tap into his primal instincts and use the harsh terrain to his advantage.

Standen, best known for his work on TV’s Vikings, tackles the lead with gusto, making him an easy-to-root-for hero.  The key quality of action icons past, which kept them on top for so long, is a likability factor, and Standen has that wrapped up.  While he may not reach revolutionary thespian heights, particularly in dramatic flashback scenes, he capably gives Jack a gritty determination that serves the story’s central complexities well.  I also appreciated that when he is called to switch to action mode, his burly everyman demeanor doesn’t drop to reveal a prize fighter but a down-in-the-trenches, scrappy brawler.

Fresh off his Rust controversy, Baldwin’s presence lends a certain gravitas to this B-movie.  Baldwin’s screen time may be limited, but he brings his trademark intensity to the role, reminding us that he’s undeniably good at what he does in front of the camera.  As for the rest of the cast, that’s where Clear Cut gets a little muddy.  The familiar faces of Stephen Dorff (The Iceman), Jesse Metcalfe (Hard Kill), and Tom Welling (Draft Day) round out the cast, and while their performances are competent, they aren’t particularly memorable.  Like Baldwin, two of them are in it for such a short time that it’s practically false advertising to feature them so prominently in the marketing.  If anything, their participation seems partly aimed at fulfilling their Screen Actors Guild eligibility weeks. 

The real star of Clear Cut might be where it was filmed.  Vancouver Island, BC, adds a beautiful backdrop for the mayhem, its dense forests providing a fitting playground for Jack’s perilous journey.  Cinematographer Gabriel Medina (who also dabbles in other behind-the-scenes work on film like Longlegs and Hypnotic) makes good use of the location, never missing the opportunity to capture the coastline or treetops via drone, framing shots to showcase the picturesque setting and the potential dangers lurking behind each tree.  When the action moves indoors for flashback sequences, the visuals become less innovative and soft-focused, the real indicator of a small budget being stretched thin.

While Clear Cut begins as a modestly enjoyable treat (especially if you are in the right mood) and screenwriter Joe Perruccio has wisely done away with the lumpy excess of extraneous characters to drag the pace down, it eventually falls into a formulaic cookie-cutter mode.  Director Brian Skiba claims he was inspired by the types of films made by the stars I mentioned at the beginning of this review, classics that utilized practical effects to emphasize their authenticity.  It’s strange, then, that many of the visual effects in Clear Cut are CGI creations.  The hand-to-hand combat fares better, but I often felt this down-and-dirty survival story was too clean-cut and polished, almost like no one wanted to get their hair messed up.  (The exception is Lochlyn Munro, who appears to have munched on the dirt he rolled around in before each take.)

A perfectly serviceable entry in the action genre, Clear Cut will satisfy those craving an easy adrenaline fix.  It’s the 88-minute equivalent of comfort food – familiar, occasionally satisfying, but ultimately forgettable.  Standen is a stand-out and maybe the best reason to consider seeing this now rather than waiting until later when you could save it for a late-night viewing with a bag of Doritos and a can of Mountain Dew.