- Orlando Bloom, Caitriona Balfe, John Turturro
- September 5th 2025
- 96
- Sean Ellis
Orlando Bloom plays a retired boxer who risks his life to lose 32 pounds in a matter of days to make the weight class for his comeback.
Orlando Bloom first played a boxer in The Calcium Kid 21 years ago, and now he’s returning to the sport for a very different kind of movie.
Ten years after a career-ending defeat, Bloom’s unnamed Irish boxer now runs a gym with his partner and coach Caitlin (Caitriona Balfe).
When he is offered the opportunity to make his comeback with a high-profile fight in Las Vegas, the boxer jumps at the chance, even though it requires him to lose a whopping 32 pounds in less than a week.
It is impossible to safely lose that much weight in such a short space of time, so the boxer ignores Caitlin’s weight-cutting guidance and turns to unorthodox coach Boz (John Turturro), who has no issue resorting to illegal and potentially life-threatening methods.
Those expecting a sports movie may be surprised because there’s very little boxing on screen. The Cut is actually a startling psychological thriller about the dangerous lengths a person will go to for another shot at glory.
Watching a person starve and dehydrate themselves to the point of delirium is hard, but that’s child’s play compared to what’s coming.
You will not be prepared for how dark and bleak this film gets, and how far the boxer takes his pursuit of being 154 pounds. It’s basically a horror by the end!
Bloom lost 30 pounds in real life (over a longer period of time) to play this character, and his physical transformation is shocking. This is one of his best performances yet, but he still never truly gets to the heart of the boxer. It doesn’t help that the flashbacks depicting his childhood trauma are poorly written and clunky.
Balfe has emotional depth and is very compelling, so it’s a shame we don’t learn more about her character. However, her clashes with Boz are fascinating; they are basically fighting for the boxer to listen to them – she wants him to pull out for his safety, while Boz will stop at nothing until the scales read 154.
Despite the patchy writing, The Cut is an unexpected and alarming watch that will stay with you long after the credits roll.
In cinemas from Friday 5th September.
By Hannah Wales.
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