Boxing movies usually fixate on the glory of fight night, with courageous underdogs overcoming insurmountable odds to climb off the canvas and knock out seemingly unbeatable champions.
However, while fans around the world praise the competitors for what they achieve inside the ring, there’s a battle often just as tough that transpires before the crowd ever sees the athletes make their walks.
In ‘The Cut’, Orlando Bloom takes viewers on a visceral journey, in a gut-wrenching display that showcases possibly the most dangerous aspect of the entire sport.
While for most, boxing is an art, for others, it’s a business, with the fighters themselves feeling the brunt of this reality.
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Orlando Bloom shines with a compelling performance in ‘The Cut’
The film starts at a furious pace, sticking fans right in the thick of the action, with Orlando Bloom’s character trading bombs inside the ring, en route to suffering a dramatic defeat.
Fast-forward ten years, and the big nights that the boxer has become so accustomed to are long gone, with the former athlete, like so many other fighters, struggling to cope with the monotony of everyday life.
We’re quickly introduced to his partner, Caitlin, played by Caitríona Balfe, who beautifully portrays a wife who only wants the best for her husband, when seemingly everybody else is merely invested in the money he can generate, regardless of the cost to his health.
Despite training the next generation, nothing is enough to scratch the itch of competing inside the ring himself, with the Irish brawler agreeing to take a massive fight in the States on just six days’ notice, in a desperate bid to chase the highs of his heyday.
And if the lack of preparation time wasn’t bad enough, the sportsman has just six days to cut 26 pounds — a task that’s not just difficult, but dangerous.
Upon flying into Las Vegas, the boxer is greeted with the bright lights synonymous with the city, but there’s nothing exciting about what’s to come next.
The Cut captivates viewers in a dark descent into the horrors of weight-cutting
With the protagonist desperately struggling to shed the weight, the promoter brings in the help of Boz, a no-nonsense trainer who’s willing to do whatever it takes to get the fighter down to 154 pounds, no matter how controversial.
At this point, everything begins to unravel with Bloom sprinting on the treadmill as he reflects on the heart-wrenching things his mother had to do to ensure they survived during the troubles in Ireland, magnificently symbolizing just how difficult it is to outrun your past.
As the weight comes off and the fighter begins to push away those close to him, viewers are left wondering what’s real and what’s not, as his life begins to spiral completely out of control, in a masterful piece of directing akin to American Psycho.
With the fight drawing nearer, everything gets worse, with the media attention, the weight cut and past trauma drowning the boxer under an unrelenting wave of pressure.
The Cut, which released in UK, Irish and US cinemas today, is dramatic, triggering, and undeniably eye-opening, with an ending that brilliantly embodies the point the film was trying to prove.
