By now, boxing movies are such an overplayed genre, it’s tough for any filmmaker to innovate how the sport appears on screen. Sean Ellis ‘ “ The Cut ” finds a way around that problem by focusing on physical and psychological struggles outside the ring, especially the grueling battle to make weight. The film tries several things at once, including a flashback structure than doesn’t fully connect, but its impact ultimately comes down to Orlando Bloom ‘s visceral, transformative performance as an unnamed Irish brawler.
Bloom’s protagonist — referred to as “the Boxer” in press notes, and frustratingly, nothing at all in the movie — can be seen engaged in a professional boxing bout exactly once in “The Cut.” During the film’s brief prologue, the accomplished prizefighter seems well on his way to another victory, when something mysterious and unseen distracts him from off-screen — something in the ether that only he can see — resulting in his opponent getting the upper hand and opening a deep, career-threatening gash above his eye. A decade later, the Boxer diligently runs a dilapidated gym in Ireland with his wife Caitlin (Caitríona Balfe), and can be seen at one point forcing himself to throw up.
His life may have changed, but his past seems to live with him, an idea Bloom embodies completely in every moment, and unveils further when his character has a chance to get back in the ring for one big Vegas prize fight — on one confounding condition..