Discovering the Final Cut

In 2014, one of the finest actors of the film industry and the best comedians of all times – Robin Williams, left his fans upset after committing suicide by hanging himself. The news was devastating for his followers all over the world. Many wished to know what caused the star who made everyone happy, to be so depressed that he took his life.

Only if there were a microchip implanted in his brain to record memories, as depicted in one of his movies The Final Cut, it would have been possible to find out. The movie, The Final Cut, is based on the near future, where recording devices are implanted in the brains during birth and taken out after the death of the individual.

Released more than a decade ago, in 2004, the sci-fi movie garnered mixed reviews from the audiences. However, we thought the film has an interesting storyline and a thought-provoking plot. Here we provide you all the details you need to know to decide if it’s your cup of tea or not! We have explained the plot in detail without any spoilers and some reviews about the movie to let you decide if it is worth investing your precious 2-hours.

The Plot

Written and directed by Omar Nasim,The Final Cut is considered a complex movie that shows a distant future. People are implanted with memory recording devices called “Zoe” implants. These microchips are implanted when a baby is born and is removed when he dies.

The footages of the memory are edited by a “cutter” using the Guillotine device to edit the film down to a few minutes. This edited version is played at the funeral of the deceased to pay tribute to him/her. These edited clippings of memories of people are called rememories. Robin Williams played the role of Alan Hakman – a skillful cutter, who is hired by immoral patrons to create their rememories by editing their indiscretions.

The movie begins with a couple of boys playing marbles and exploring an abandoned factory. Then we see young Alan (played by Casey Dubois) challenging his friend Louis (Liam Ranger) to cross a plank place above a deep pit. He then trips and plunges to the concrete below, starting to bleed. The scene changes, and Alan is shown leaving the town regretfully.

Later, we see the work of Hakman is displayed at a funeral, where the loved ones of the departed soul are seen praising him. However, we, as an audience, are shown that certain images of the past of the dead were not included in his edited rememory. Thus, giving us a clue that Hakman is not as pious as he seems to be.

As Hakman steps out from the funeral, people are shown protesting against the microchips being implanted in their brains. They argue that such devices being inside the brains make them feel cautious about themselves, and they have lost the freedom to live.

A lead protestor, James Caviezel, claims that Hakman covers up the evil deeds of his wealthy clients by editing them. It is then shown that Alan Hakman is called to cut another rememory of an executive (Bannister) working at the company that produces the memory recording devices. When the information reaches Caviezel, he requests Hakman to sell the footage to him. He has an idea about the wrongdoings of the executive that he intends to use against the company and get the Zoe devices banned. But, the cutter refused to sell it and begins editing.

It is then revealed that the executive had molested his daughter. Regardless, Hakman continues to edit the rememories and finds another man in the footage who attended a party with Bannister. Hakman realizes that man is his childhood friend whom he had left in a warehouse to die years ago. While Alan Hakman tries to look for that man, Caviezel attempts to get his hands on the footage of the executive. Meanwhile, some confessions are made with a few surprises.

Reviews

Despite a strong story, the movie didn’t do too well at the box-office. While some were all praises about it, others didn’t find it too fascinating. Some people thought the movie had an interesting premise with an amazing cast, but the story execution wasn’t too good. Others reviewed the movie as being too grim with a poor story. At the same time, many believed that the story was quite different.

The great performance of Robin Williams in this sci-fi thriller made it worth-watching. However, some believed that a sci-fi director would have done a better job in executing the story.

Though the concept of the movie was different, the anticlimactic ending was a little disappointing for the audience. Nonetheless, Robin Williams acting was outstanding in the movie; it is true that inside every comedian, a sad man is refusing to weep, and Williams successfully channeled the other person. On the other hand, his acting didn’t please some watchers who thought it was nothing extraordinary, and the movie was a drag.

Considering the reviews, it is safe to say that two elements of the movie were certainly remarkable – 1. The concept and 2. Robin Williams. The concept was mind-boggling, which would make you wonder about its good and bad implications. And of course, Robin Williams’ performance was incredible.

How The Final Cut Relates to Real Life?

As the movie showed a recording of our lives through a micro-chip, we think social media platforms follow a similar suite. We post our daily updates and life events on these sites. Photographs, videos, and other life happenings are saved on our profiles, which can be accessed by our friends and relatives. These can also be used for creating rememories without having a device implanted in our brains.

We think the time isn’t too far when we would experience something of the sort. Only the good memories are shared, while the not-so-good ones are edited by us. Though it was seen in the movie that people were objecting over the implantation of the micro-chips, today, we willingly make such information publicly accessible for a broad audience. These can help create memorabilia for the deceased.