Bidding adieu to Middle Earth and the high seas, Orlando Bloom plays a troubled Irish boxer — in fact, he’s called The Boxer — who’s asked to return to the pro circuit after 10 years away for a splashy bout in Las Vegas.
At the start, “The Cut” is an adequate, typical gloves-and-shoves picture. And then, with a snap of the fingers, director Sean Ellis’ film turns absolutely interminable.
The main crux of this displeasure cruise is Bloom’s character losing 28 pounds in just six days to be eligible to compete.
That means locking himself away in a ghastly hotel room, eating hardly any food, popping laxatives like TicTacs, using dangerous illegal drugs and sweating profusely. He nearly dies.
John Turturro, Caitriona Balfe, Orlando Bloom and Sean Ellis attend the world premiere of “The Cut” at the Toronto International Film Festival. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
But that’s not a potent enough dose of misery. We also witness flashbacks to his terrible childhood in Northern Ireland, surrounded by IRA terrorists and a sex worker mom who, in a despicable moment, offers her young son up to a paying pedophile.
He learns to fight to stay alive.
Are these realistic horrors in an ugly and desperate world? Sure. But condensed into two hours, it becomes just short of impossible to engage with a story in which the main character sets out to conquer his past demons by introducing yet more demons.
More than half the film is uninterrupted psychological torment and bodily trauma.
And as he writhes and injects, we don’t much like the boxer, find him intriguing or believe in anything he aims to do.
The only hero you root for is the end credits.
In “The Cut,” a boxer (Bloom) tries to lose 28 pounds rapidly with the help of Boz (Turturro). His girlfriend Caitlin (Caitriona Balfe) is concerned. Getty Images for IMDb
Caitríona Balfe from “Outlander” plays the boxer’s girlfriend Caitlin, who exists in a constant state of worry. Understandably. But it’s a dull part for a magnetic actress.
John Turturro is Donny’s reprehensible trainer Boz, who I had enough of after five minutes.
Bloom commits admirably to the cause, and does well with what he’s given. Rough around the edges, he creates a Conor McGregor type that’s the polar opposite of what we usually associate Bloom with.
With a snap of the fingers, director Sean Ellis’ gritty boxing film “The Cut” turns absolutely interminable. Getty Images for IMDb
Actors love roles like this that are lazily deemed hard-hitting because they’re all agony. Viewers can see the performer’s work like it’s the Grand Canyon. You can’t miss it.
Bloom is surely trying to shed his pretty-boy, elven image, as much as the boxer is trying to shed pounds, and taking on more roles like this will achieve that end.
But viewers must actually want to watch his films for that to happen. And with “The Cut,” we only want to cut and run.
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