I've just watched the Cutter and it's pretty dull I'm afraid. The direction is flat, the action is flat and the performances are flat.
Yes, Chuck gets doubled, but at the same time he gets more to do than Seagal, because the fights are longer, and he at least apears for plenty of master shots. The trouble is the fights are so routine and boringly shot and cut that it doesn't really matter. A big reason of the constricitve form of shooting and cutting the fights together is of course to hide the double, as we have gotten used to with Seagal.
The film is wildly inconsistent as well from just ploddingly simple direction and editing, to the occasional burst of overly stylised MTV style editing that is glaring and annoying. Director William Tannen has no flair whatsoever and certainly fails to bring out any interest in a dull story. On a technical level the only thing that is done competently is the score from Elia Cmiral, proving quite reliable in doing these movies after a good job in The Mechanik (or Russian Specialist). His work is never too b-movieish and although falling way behind his work in Mechanik, and a hell of long way behind his apex in the De Niro flick Ronin, it's still well done.
Chuck I have to say is a personality void (I know, I know, I have just condemned myself to a roundhouse kick related death) and at 65; the answer to the following question: Is he too old for this sh1t? Is of course Yes.
It's sad really cause Chuck was always the serene and quiet ass-kicker, mr Nice Guy (kind of an antithesis to Seagals, quiet, serene, tough guy with an attitude and dark edge.) and Chuck has no distinct or lively persona to speak off. He still seems a damn sight more involved and energetic that Seagal in recent movies, but the movie is just so plain boring that it even lacks the excitement of watching Seagal's movies in anticipation of how much he participates. Elsewhere the once hot Joanna Pacula is looking ragid and aged and is no longer hot (sad when other stars her age still got it) and that is ditto to Tracy Scoggins. Daniel Bernhardt is in dastardly villain mode and is the best thing in the picture but considering he only really fights Chuck, and those fights were butchered by the directing, editing and switching between Chuck and double. He is wasted.
Overall this is pretty boring stuff. It has a coherence to it lacking in recent Seagal movies, while lacking the interest to watch it (ie watching in the hope Seagal pulls out a diamond, or at least is actually on camera). Sure Chuck Norris does his own dialogue, and appears in more than 75% of the movie, but he's so boring here that may just be a hinderence. This is quite some way behind Seagal's Into The Sun and Belly Of The Beast, and while more competent than his other DTV films, it is not as entertaining. It is als a country mile behind the standard that Jean Claude and Mr Dolph are doing at the moment. I'm afriad to report that this could, and probably should be Chuck Norris' last foray into fisticuffs. I;m off to watch Lone Wolf Mcquade and Delta Force and have a cry. *