CLEAR CUT
(director: Brian Skiba; screenwriter: Joe Perruccio; cinematographer: Gabbriel Medina; editor: Brian Skiba; music: Eva King; cast: Alec Baldwin (Sam), Stephen Dorff (Ike), Tom Welling (Keen), Clive Standen (Jack), Lucy Martin (Becca), Jessie Metcalfe (Eli), Lochlyn Munro (Bo, meth cook), Tom Stevens (Jacob), Chelsey Reist (Jasmine), Kamaria Willow Purdy (Maddie, 5-year-old), Mike Dopud (Keller); Runtime: 89; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Corey Large; Lionsgate; 2024)
“Outdoors thriller, that left me chilly.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Director and editor Brian Skiba (“Pursuit”/”Dead Man’s Hand”) helms this forgettable outdoors thriller, that left me chilly. It’s blandly scripted by Joe Perruccio. The sketchy characters are bores, and it’s poorly directed and edited.
Loggers in the Pacific Northwest, Jack (Clive Standen), on his first day on the job, and his boss mentor, Sam (Alec Baldwin), come upon a meth lab, and a bag of cash in the middle of the woods. The one cooking the meth is living in a camper, and is a psychopath, armed with a crossbow, named Bo (Lochlyn Munro).
Sam is killed and Jack is chased through the woods by the drug traffickers Eli (Jesse Metcalfe), Keen (Tom Welling) and Jasmine (Chelsey Reist), after Jack steals the bag of money from the camper and runs away. While fleeing, flashbacks reveal things about Jack such as his marriage to Becca (Lucy Martin) and 5-year-old daughter (Willow Purdy).
Ike (Stephen Dorff) is the park ranger Jack stares at in the woods.
The thriller, with a convoluted plot, never becomes more than a pointless bloody revenge film, with a twisty ending that doesn’t make sense. The notable stars only have brief roles.
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Director and editor Brian Skiba (“Pursuit”/”Dead Man’s Hand”) helms this forgettable outdoors thriller, that left me chilly. It’s blandly scripted by Joe Perruccio. The sketchy characters are bores, and it’s poorly directed and edited.
Loggers in the Pacific Northwest, Jack (Clive Standen), on his first day on the job, and his boss mentor, Sam (Alec Baldwin), come upon a meth lab, and a bag of cash in the middle of the woods. The one cooking the meth is living in a camper, and is a psychopath, armed with a crossbow, named Bo (Lochlyn Munro).
Sam is killed and Jack is chased through the woods by the drug traffickers Eli (Jesse Metcalfe), Keen (Tom Welling) and Jasmine (Chelsey Reist), after Jack steals the bag of money from the camper and runs away. While fleeing, flashbacks reveal things about Jack such as his marriage to Becca (Lucy Martin) and 5-year-old daughter (Willow Purdy).
Ike (Stephen Dorff) is the park ranger Jack stares at in the woods.
The thriller, with a convoluted plot, never becomes more than a pointless bloody revenge film, with a twisty ending that doesn’t make sense. The notable stars only have brief roles.
REVIEWED ON 7/26/2024 GRADE: C +
dennisschwartzreviews.com