| The Cutter (2005) Cast:Chuck Norris, Joanna Pacula,Daniel Bernhardt, Tracy Scroggins Chuck Norris is an action star that was replaced by Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal,Dolph Lundgren and maybe even Michael Dudikoff in the late 80's. Everything that Norris did in the 90's made far less money than any of those action stars' work. For instance Lundgren's I Come In Peace made about the same money on screen as Norris' Hitman, but had a much bigger following on video. So with his aging becoming ever apparent and TV being somewhat behind him, Norris goes back to the basics in The Cutter, unfortunately time waits for no man and as usual Van Damme and Lundgren's straight to video efforts show much more flair and style than Norris' new effort (Although Norris is better than Seagal at STVs) the problem with The Cutter is it's ridiculous standard-issue plot which finds Norris protecting a woman (Pacula) from nazi mercenaries as well as fighting to save a jewel cutter from the clutches of those nazi mercenaries in this generic outing. Chuck Norris' martial arts movies always paled beside Bruce Lee, with the exception of the underrated Lone Wolf McQuade and maybe Forced Vengeance, Norris' martial arts movies like The Octagon, A Force Of One and Silent Rage were very awful indeed. His reinvention as a Rambo wannabe was probably his most successful, in that he churned out the enjoyable Delta Force and Code Of Silence. It's here is what probably made Norris what he is today. However The Cutter feels more like an early Norris effort from the early 80's than it does of his one man army days. That's probably due to his age, I myself quite enjoyed Bells Of Innocense, despite fans of Norris going generally disappointing, that one at least had ambitions, this one could've been done by Lorenzo Lamas and the result would've been the same. Movies like The Cutter work, if they're able to rise above the cliched plot with a sense of humor, but let it be said that Chuck Norris is so humorless that he gives his ridiculously campy performance in Invasion USA a run for it's money. It's hard to go the Charles Bronson route and continue making the movies with young dogs in the genre, but now that Van Damme, Seagal and Lundgren are where Norris was at in the 80's, Norris finds himself in the same one as Charles Bronson and without Bronson's charisma, it becomes quite obvious that Norris maybe to old for this sort of thing. Nonetheless Norris can still kick over his head at 65 (!) D.William Tannen** |