The Cut
September 12th, 2025
MOVIE: THE CUT
STARRING: ORLANDO BLOOM, CAITRÍONA BALFE, JOHN TURTURRO, GARY BEADLE
DIRECTED BY: SEAN ELLIS
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 ½ STARS (Out of 4)
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 99 MINUTES
The boxing movie has been done a thousand times before. From Rocky to Raging Bull, the genre has its own well-worn beats, becoming stories we know by heart. The only way to make a boxing film feel fresh is to sidestep the clichés and find a unique angle. Enter Sean Ellis’ The Cut, a shocking yet frustrating entry in the canon, centered on a boxer who spends almost no time in the ring and all his time preparing for a fight. With a powerful, committed performance from Orlando Bloom and great ambition behind the camera, The Cut doesn’t land a knockout punch, but it does go the distance.
Our protagonist is simply called “Boxer” (played by Bloom), once one of the sport’s best. Now, he spends his days training teens in search of an outlet, alongside his partner Caitlin (Caitríona Balfe), and occasionally jumping in for a sparring session to keep the rust off. Still, there’s a lingering sense that his fighting days are behind him. As fate (and formula) would have it, he’s approached by promoter Donny (Gary Beadle) and offered one last shot at the championship. The catch? He’s 30 pounds over fighting weight. Thus begins the brutal, obsessive process of cutting weight to reclaim lost glory.
The Cut carries many of the familiar themes of boxing films: the comeback narrative, the crisis of identity, the unconventional trainer (played here by the always-reliable John Turturro), and the emotional struggle of self-belief. But this time, almost the entire film takes place in a hotel room. Instead of training montages or motivational speeches, we witness a man torturing his body in an attempt to lose weight. Ellis directs it with the intensity of a horror film. Bloom- who reportedly lost 52 pounds for the role- vomits, sweats, urinates, runs, and collapses again and again in a cycle that’s both mesmerizing and grueling.
The monotony is intentional, but midway through, the exhaustion becomes palpable, not just for the character, but for the audience. Balfe’s Caitlin pleads with both Boxer and his trainer to stop the madness, calling the process inhumane. But he pushes on, hopping back onto the treadmill, vomiting again, refusing to quit. The screenplay by Justin Bull and Mark Lane functions best as a psychological deep-dive into the punishing expectations of athletes, the toxic valorization of sacrifice, and the blurred line between discipline and self-destruction. How much the viewer connects will depend on their tolerance for the film’s deliberate repetition.
Still, the ambition behind The Cut is undeniable. It swings hard for something new, and even when it doesn’t fully connect, there’s something admirable in the attempt. Sean Ellis draws a raw, vulnerable performance from Bloom- arguably a career best- and delivers a film that feels more like a body horror drama than a typical sports movie.
The Cut may leave the viewer physically and emotionally drained, but it holds its head high. It may not emerge unscathed, but in the end, all good fights leave a few bruises.
2 ½ STARS
THE CUT IS CURRENTLY PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS.
Written by: Leo Brady
