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Vic Cooper (Stephen Baldwin) plays a recently reinstated undercover U.S. Customs agent who is
back from suspension for becoming too involved in his last case. Cooper's big handicap is he can't draw the line between his personal life and undercover personas. His new
objective is to get inside a professional skydiving group believed to be involved in big-time drug smuggling. The skydivers, led by Red Line (Tom Berrenger), are essentially a
commune whose members have cut-off their lives in the outside world and sold all their belongings to jump full time. Red Line's goal is to lure away the sport's top prize from
a group of hotshot army jumpers led by Delmira (Casper Van Dien). The group accepts Cooper who immerses himself in the skydiving life and gets ever closer to Red Line and the
secrets he holds. But Cooper backslides, getting too personally involved in the case, blurring once again his perceptions of right and wrong.
While Cutaway
would appeal to a specific audience, it is nonetheless impressive for the skydiving stunts shown. In fact, the plot gets so overshadowed by the countless jump shots that one suspects the film has been created to serve as a showcase for the stars' jumping skills. It's as if the story just came in a second thought. The story gets lost, squeezed out as it were by skydiving footages. The trouble with
Cutaway is it tries to tell two stories: the mad pursuit of the trophy and the amateurish pursuit of drug smugglers. Considering the amazing skydiving feats
demonstrated, the pursuit of the trophy would have been enough. The actors are perfectly cast, though, lending credibility to the movie. And whether or not you're a skydiving
buff, you will agree that jump shots are the product of people who know and understand skydiving.
The movie is 90 percent action and five percent plot development. The remaining five is for
the viewer to supply—once the adrenalin flow stops and your breathing goes back to normal. After all that excitement watching people jump and free fall, you may want to look
at the values the movie contains. Teamwork, for one. The importance of self-discipline, fair play, perseverance. Then you may ask why, despite the skydivers' dedication to
their sport, things go wrong. When does devotion turn into an obsession? To what lengths would people go to realize their dreams? Where does "right" end and "wrong" begin? The
beauty of Cutaway is, long after the closing credits are gone, you would still be thinking, "Why did he do this and not that?" What really happened when that guy
plunged to his death?"
(Date reviewed: June 1, 2001)
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