Cutaway (2000) Online

Customs agent played by Stephen Baldwin is sent by his chief Ron Silver to a dangerous mission . He must infiltrate undercover into a band of drug dealers who deliver the dope via skydiving to sell to international narcotics mobsters . Tom Berenger is the leader of the skydiving subculture , he's a thrill-seeker , fun-loving with destructive ways . Baldwin is sucked into the cool mysticism of the sport's guru and he learns the skydiving gives him a biggest adrenaline rush than his employment as agent . Furthermore , he falls in love with a gorgeous skydiving coacher , well played by Maxime Bhans .

This solid though predictable thriller contains dazzling airborne stunts which keeps you tied on the edge of your seat . William Baldwin and Tom Berenger help raise potential actioner tale to a higher plane . If you can suspend you disbelief , this crime-adventure is just enjoyable and keep you entertained . Mind-numbing and incredible storyline written by the Manos brothers , Guy and Greg , redeemed by breathtaking skydiving scenes . Spectacular as well as colorful cinematography by Gerry Lively , a man of many talents , as he's cameraman , director and actor . The film belongs to 'Skydiving sub-genre' , whose initial outing was ¨The Gypsy Moths¨(1969) by John Frankenheimer , followed by ¨Drop zone (John Badham) , ¨Terminal velocity¨ (Deran Sarafian)¨ and its masterpiece ¨Point break¨ (Kathryn Bigelow)¨ . The motion picture was professionally directed by Guy Manos with assured and fast moving direction , he's usually in charge of aerial stunts . Action lovers will enjoy this ode to the skydiving sport, in spite of story deficiencies . Rating : Acceptable and passable , well worth seeing .

An odd mix between undercover-cop-infiltrating-the-bad-guys and sports-movies! It does have a likeable cast and some terrific skydiving-scenes (the lead actors obviously jumped in real life). But what really makes it entertaining enough to sit through is the flamboyant performance of good old Tom Berenger, reminding us of what once made him one of the finest actors on-screen. Here he really is half the show in a 9 million dollar production that looks like 20 million.

This is a movie that I love watching.

Regardless to what other people say, I believe that this movie is by far the BEST Skydiving movie EVER MADE! Berenger and Baldwin did most of their own stunts (Baldwin admits to it on DVD, Guy Manos talks about Berenger on his track on the DVD)

People who regard this movie in the same aspect as Point Break and Dropzone, give your head a shake. Take a look thru the credits, in the two movies, you'll see Golden ParaShoot did all the skydiving stunts in both movies.

I have obviously given this movie a 10 / 10 (I wish I could go higher)

Before I saw this movie, I was a person who thought of skydiving as a interesting idea, now I LOVE the sport.

The successful undercover agent Victor Cooper (Stephen Baldwin) is assigned for his ninth mission: to find how the loading of drug that is being brought to Miami. He suspects that the drug is coming through the air and joins a team of sky diving, under the leadership of Red Line (Tom Berenger), who is a fanatic and considered the athlete number one in this sport in the world. Due to his profile of winner, Vic gets involved with the group and he "disconnects" from his position of infiltrated agent, "connecting" with the team.

"Cutaway" is a film that gives the sensation of "dejavu", and the viewer has the sensation that had seen it before. Indeed, it is a collection of clichés, using the same storyline of "Point Break" but in the air, instead of in the sea; or "Donnie Brasco", just to mention two famous movies. However, "Cutaway" reasonably works and is watchable, mainly based on the great shootings in the air. Fans of Tom Berenger may enjoy and he has a good performance in the role of a charismatic leader, capable of any action to win in the sports he embraced. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Instinto Radical" ("Radical Instinct")

**SPOILERS** Staking out an airfield outside Miami to catch a plane smuggling cocaine the US Custom Agents are shocked to find that all the plane had in it's cargo bay was hundreds of pounds of freshly caught shrimps!

Feeling that their being made to look like mindless buffoons the custom agents headed by Let. Brian Margate, Ron Silver, and his very eager assistant, wearing a clip-on Abe Lincoln-type beard as a disguise, Vic Cooper, Stephen Baldwin, go all out in finding just how these drug-smugglers are making monkeys out of them and the US Custom Services. Vic almost by accident figures out, by mistakingly rescuing a paratroop GI Joe doll, how all this is done and then goes to infiltrate a local Miami skydiving team to get the goods, as well as the dope, on them!

Not much of a story but loads of spectacular airborne action with Vic getting at first over his head and then with the program as he becomes the top flight diver of an eight man, really seven men and one woman, canopy formation act headed by skydiving legend Red Line, Tom Barenger. Vic secretly getting trained in skydiving by US Army skydiving team Captain Delmira, Casper Van Dien, whom Red Line's Miami skydivers are to later compete with quickly gets the hang of the sport. Vic is so good that he soon unseats the top diver, besides Red Line, Randy "Turbo" Kingston, Dennis Rodman, from his position as the #7 diver; Red Line is #8 or the anchor of the skydiving team. With Turbo mad as a hornet in getting dropped he and Vic have it out later in the movie in a kamikaze like dive where Turbo gets his neck broke in midair and dies before he ever hit the ground.

What Vic was later to find out is that both Red Line and the late Turbo Kingston were the only two of the skydiving team involved in drug trafficking. They were using the money to finance their first and only love skydiving in supplying their teammates the equipment that they needed but for the most part, with them not having a job or cash to pay for it, couldn't afford.

The movie "Cutaway" only comes to life when we see Red Line and his team, as well as later Captain Demira's Goldan Knights, in action. The big build up for the Championship of Skydiving Competition Contest, at Myrtle Beach S. Carolina, is well paced and doesn't drag the film down with drug angle kept almost out of the story until the last few minutes in the film.

You don't have to be into skydiving to appreciate the heart-stopping scenes of Red Line's and Delmira's teams go into action as the two groups of skydivers break record after record competing against each other over the blue sunny and deadly skies of Myrtle Beach. Taking the lead over the Miami, or Red Line, team the Goldan Knights rack up an unbelievable score, in their four skydives, of an average of 13.08 seconds! That's the time it took the Goldan Knights to makes formation after the first man jumped, going at speeds of 160 to 180 MPH, out of the plane!

With defeat looking him in the face Red Line finally realizes that Vic is an undercover US Custom Agent setting him up for a fall. It's then when Red Line, cracked ribs and all, gives it all that he's, as well as Vic and the rest of his team, got in a desperate and suicidal-like dive with Vic close behind.***SPOILERS*** That almost impossible effort on Red Line's part not only pulls out a victory from out of the jaws of defeat but also prevents him form falling into the arms of to law, with Let. Margate & Co waiting for Red Line on the ground to arrest him.

P.S Red Line's passion and love of the sport of skydiving made a believer out of Victor Cooper who in the end gave up his career as a law enforcer and took to the skies. A place where a man, or woman, is completely free without, like back on earth, any strings attached. Except the strings of the parachute he or she's wearing.

This movie is just more than you would expect from a movie like this... It all seems just some ordinary flick with a bad storyline etc.. but in fact it has a nice storyline.. and great action through the whole movie... Nice actors.. a good looking lady and great camera work.

This movie deserves more than it ever got and will get.. too bad...

Rent it on vhs/dvd and I assure you it won't be a waste...

I enjoyed this film. Baldwin is a cop investigating elusive drug traffickers. Berenger is the leader of a sky diving team that Baldwin suspects of being behind the trafficking. I picked this movie up because of Casper Van Dien's part. He appears at the beginning as a military trainer Baldwin hires to steady his skills. Van Dien later appears again at the end as a competitive adversary to Baldwin's team. Watching all of the sky diving and training was very interesting. Most of the suspense was during flight instead of during "law enforcement" confrontations as one might expect. The WIND tunnel where Van Dien trained Baldwin looked SO fun! Baldwin's turmoil is mostly trying to balance his loyalty to the sky diving team and the police force. The ending isn't really predictable, but it's not surprising either. Certainly worth a watch!

Somehow I got the feeling that they left out a considerable amount of scenes that make much more sense of the whole drugs angle in the movie. The moment Stephen Baldwin goes undercover you will get a "Point Break" flashback and will realize how great that movie is compared to this little movie. But that said I must admit that "Cutaway" has some amazing sky diving scenes. Those stunts alone is reason enough to see this movie. And probably the director realized that since he didn't make much of the plot. Tom Berenger is great as always but thought he was far too underused as he could have provided much more depth to his character and story if he had more scenes. The interactions between Ron Silver and Stephen Baldwin could have been avoided entirely since they add nothing to the conflicts an undercover agent has doing his job. Since it already is made clear from the first scene that Stephen Baldwin is not doing his job out of a sense of duty but simply to be the best in whatever activity he is presented with. The scenes with Ron Silver create an expectation of an impact that never occurs at least not as big as it could have been. So in short forget about the plot and just enjoy the beautiful skydiving scenes!

A definite 10 out of 10 - if only we could have given it more! Myself and my friend have just watched Cutaway at the Drop Zone where we live, and as qualified skydivers, we found this to be possibly one of the most factually accurate representations of our sport ever made.

We were drawn into Vic's story from the beginning, finding absolutely no part of it to be false or unbelievable. Many a time, people have turned up at our drop zone to then be accosted by our most attractive female member of staff and taken on a tandem, with no training required. Further to this, we have taken many "woofos" under our wing, and taught them not only to skydive, but to perform disciplines such as Canopy Formations, freeflying and relative work at high standards in as little as 18 jumps.

We cannot emphasize enough how accurate this film is. Should anyone wish to become a skydiver, like Vic, it is certain that time in a wind tunnel will bring you to competition standard in a matter of weeks.

Myself and my friend are currently looking into the possibility of changing our names by D-Poll to Rip and Cord, though we are still trying to decide whether these names are worthy of our skydiving stature, or whether we should go for Vic and Red Line as our new names. We have already "cut it all away" - I have myself given up my career in medicine and left my husband and two young children to live at a drop zone, and my friend was a qualified lawyer before leaving his home on Kentucky to live at the DZ.

Anyhoo... AMAZING film, wonderfully acted and beautifully researched. Definitely one to watch, particularly if you wish to learn to skydive yourself.

If you truly savor a bad movie once in a while, "Cutaway" will be a tasty treat that will have you coming back for seconds. It's got everything - a sullen Dennis Rodman who has about three lines (yet gets third billing), fat, old, and drunk-looking Academy Award nominee Tom Beringer spouting insane dialogue (sad, really), Steven Baldwin giving the blandest performance ever committed to film, Casper Van Dien overacting and making menacing facial expressions, Ron Silver being Ron Silver, an awful token love interest chick, and lots and lots of annoying supporting characters. And that's just the cast! The story, involving skydiving and drug smuggling and a "cop who gets in too deep", is not only horribly written but a rip-off of the plots of "Drop Zone" and "Point Break"! The movie was made by the Manos brothers, who apparently have a lot of experience filming skydiving. And they do it well. But pretty skydiving scenes can't make up for the overall poor quality of this movie. It might make you laugh, it might make you cry. But you must see Cutaway, if only to see just how bad it can get.

"Cutaway" is one of the goofiest films ever. Baldwin plays an FBI agent named Vic who goes undercover and meets "Red Line" (Berenger) who is a skydiver. 'Line uses his skydiving skills with the help of "Turbo" (Rodman) to smuggle drugs.

For a DTV film, this has a pretty big B-list cast. It also includes over-the-top performances by Ron Silver and Casper Van Dien. Silver shouts all of his lines, for example: "I'M YOUR PARTNER! THEY WERE SHOOTING AT ME!" Van Dien is just kinda there. Baldwin is very wooden as usual. He has one expression on his face: boredom. Berenger does a good job, but Rodman tries too hard.

What's good about this film are the skydiving stunts. They look great. The rumor is that the cast did all of their own stunts. The best thing in the movie is a line by Vic's character when he gets "In Too Deep"... (whispering): "I'm Cutting Away". I guess that means you're getting away from life's problems. There's no need to get serious. Speaking of serious, the ending is a perfect example of melodrama.

But overall, "Cutaway" is a fun movie if you're a fan of Stephen Baldwin, or Tom Berenger.

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I'm not a big Steven Baldwin fan, but I liked him here. This movie is almost a bad one. It's saving grace? It's subject. The skydiving scenes were pretty good (not the best) but good enough to keep me interested. Tom Berenger was hilarious (whether he meant to be or not remains to be scene), and Rodman was, well, himself, minus the rebounding prowess. The beginning of the movie features some kinda-interesting ATC chatter between pilots and controllers which prevented me from turning this movie off before it began. This movie is probably one you'll forget about after watching it but, it's still not too bad. I actually kinda liked it.

this film was average. the story was great, premise great , cinematography great but the acting was poor so very very poor i loved the film but really wished the main character would plummet into the ground but the massively redeeming bits were they actually jump and lines from the script actually shine through the crap that is the acting, are well worth watching the film when the commentators are commentating is absolutely great its amusing any way worth watching if u enjoy good cinematography and cheese because that is all the acting was, i suppose it depends on point of view you may wish to stay clear of it if you skydive the ending is massively amusing, though not in a good way.

The story line is weak and the acting a little "stiff" in places (sorry Dennis and Stephen) but overall the film is good to watch and have some fantastic skydiving scenes to enjoy. "Star" (Maxine Bahns) is gorgeous and fits the role well,beautiful to look at and would definitely pass as a DZ babe - if she's looking for a hubby, look this way :-) "Red Line" (Tom Berringer) is not the right person to be cast in the role in my view) has a few wooden moments but is good none-the-less. I've watched the film countless times, its enjoyable and for skydivers one of the rare treats where we get to see lots of actual skydiving. I'd recommend the film to watch, especially on dark and windy days at the DZ

This movie has a terrible plot. Scratch that, it has no plot. If you are a skydiver like me or have ever thought about skydiving, however, then this film is well worth seeing. It is all about the sport. The footage is awesome and the dives are real. Berenger and Baldwin did many of their own skydives as they learned to skydive secretly while making the movie.

If skydiving holds no interest for you or you must have character developement, worthwhile story, and plot then this film is not for you.

However, if you breath ozone, live for being in the sky and it is raining outside, you should see this movie. But since the skydiving community is so small, if this profile fits you, you've probably already seen it.

DEA agent Stephen Baldwin, who reports to an ultra-serious Ron Silver, joins a skydiving/parachuting team (Team Miami), led by Tom Berenger, in order to determine the team's involvement in drug smuggling. Berenger is one of the many on the team who have "cutout"--cut out all responsibilities from his life in order to dedicate it to skydiving/team competition. Baldwin ("Vic") becomes completely engrossed in the skydiving aspect and skydiving team competition (primarily against the US Army's always championship team, the Golden Knights, led by an arrogant Casper Van Diem). Vic becomes involved in the skydiving/drug dropping in order to determine who the big guys who are actually the buyers/sellers are. Soon, his loyalties are questioned and a love-interest develops between Vic and another chutist on his team. Does Vic become a rogue agent? Does he betray the team or the DEA? Are the team members more afraid of dying or not being the best at what they do or being imprisoned? Surprises! The acting is very good in this film (even Dennis Rodman--"Turbo"--acts like someone other than himself in this film)and the action and skydiving scenes are outstanding. This film is definitely worth renting--or buying.

This movie with its excellent skydive scenes gives the viewer a good idea of what this fun, exciting, and spectacular sport is really like. It would look even better on a big screen. Other movies, like Drop Zone or Terminal Velocity have a similar story complete with skydiving and cops chasing criminals, but Cutaway is better and more realistic than either. Even the part about having good freefall skills after all that wind tunnel training in Fort Bragg, S.C. is believable. Of course he (Officer Cooper) still had much work to do with this canopy control skills (Remember some of his landings!). All throughout the movie, the jump scenes were enjoyable to watch as they were so authentic looking. You could tell these scenes were actually filmed in the air above Florida and not in a studio or with a computer. The story itself is also quite believable; no doubt many kilos of drugs have been parachuted into Florida or elsewhere. Even the name of the movie was chosen well; you actually do cutaway if your main parachute malfunctions. Besides all of the above, it had some funny parts also.

This movie never made it big like other movies in 2000, which is too bad. Nowadays, for an action movie to be popular it appears to need a lot of expensive special effects. Cutaway may have been too realistic for most of today's viewing audience. If you want to see those amazing special effects you won't like this movie, but if you want a good fun action movie with some element of reality, this one's for you.

Presently, I am a skydiver with my A license. After watching this movie, I am eagerly looking forward to getting my B license so I can do relative work (or formation jumps). If you've never jumped before, watching this movie may well convince you to try this fun sport. If not, you'll certainly want to go out to a drop zone and watch others jump. Blue Skies!

I really loved the movie Cutaway, considering that Tom Berenger is an excellent actor. Casper Van Dien is also plays a great role in this movie. But since I am only 13 years of age, most people wouldn't think that my vote should count, since I am under 18. I've always dreamed of skydiving, and was surprised to find out that the Golden Knights are a real professional team. I think that the movie Cutaway is a great movie.

Here is another movie with the great Tom Berenger in it. I have it on (dvd) and I can't get enough of it! If there was ever a movie made that deserves a sequal this is the one. My only change in the sequal would be to have Julie Bowen take Maxine Bahn's place or to simply add her to the cast. Julie Bowen from what I have read about her enjoys skydiving. Let's put Stephen Baldwin and the rest of the skydiving experienced talent into another great movie or in this case a great sequal!

This movie is a head rush. From the beginning scene to very end, the action is out of sight. The plot is basic, but still gets the point across. I loved watching how people trained to perfect their sport. I have been skydiving a few times and this movie sent chills up and down my spine. This movie is a worth see movie and if you don't feel like skydiving after seeing this movie, you'd better check your pulse to see if you are still living!

Manos walks an interesting line between hype and facts all through the commentary. He stresses that Stephen Baldwin (Agent Vic Cooper) and Tom Berenger (Red Line) did their own stunts and without actually saying "all their own stunts", certainly implies it. Clearly that's not the case. He also implies that Dennis Rodman (Turbo) does his own stunts as well, but from what I understand from other sources, Rodman never even got near a plane in flight.

Manos does admit that he did -some- of the stunts for Red Line when Berenger was "unavailable." Manos' wife, Pam, does the skydiving for Maxine Bahns (Star), the female lead. Manos never fesses up as to who does the more advanced skydiving scenes (head down, swoop pond, ect.) for Baldwin. With the exception of Casper Van Dien (Delmira), those really are the Golden Knights and that's the wind tunnel at Fort Bragg, SC.

There are a couple of interesting factoids sprinkled throughout the commentary such as how so and so shot was done, how some of the action sequences were performed and that Marcos A. Ferraez (Ground Rush) was actually a skydiving buddy of Baldwin's before production was even given the green light. However, the really interesting stuff to me was how the script was developed and how some of the scenes and events were based upon Manos' true life experiences. I got the feeling that maybe at some point Manos actually had considered the tandem drug running scheme and he does mention that it had been done a couple of times maybe ten or so years ago to actually help finance a Nationals team.

I'm not sure where fact and hype merge here.

Manos does explain things about keeping the story, costumes and sport simple enough for the audience to understand yet "real", but he never explains his choice of the "8-way speed star" event. I'm thinking just 2 more people would have made that a lot more "real", but there was probably a budget consideration (23 shooting days x 2 people, costumes, hotel rooms, catering, pack jobs, ect.).

To my surprise, there are ALSO comments on yet another audio track from Baldwin and Bahns. I haven't yet fully listened to those, but it's clear from the sample I did listen to that they must have been having a -really- good time, maybe even a little tipsy (maybe a LOT tipsy), when they recorded them. I'll have to fully listen to those in the near future.

Paul

I don't get it, haven't the makers of this movie seen Drop Zone? It's the same but worse, here you haven't got a Wesley Snipes to save it! The script is pretty bad in the beginning but it gets a little better in the end. There are some nice airshots but that's all there is to it.

If you like some good skydiving, go see him. But if not,...

I really enjoyed this one. Some top notch actors kept the plot moving well. The idea of drug smuggling by sky diving is exciting and quite plausible. I'd be amazed if I learned it had never been done in real life.

Seeing Rodman act was a kick. You could tell he was enjoying himself. Ron Silver and Tom Berenger proved their veteran status. Steven Baldwin and Maxine Bonds (sp) play a pretty hot couple (although she's so hot she'd look sexy with any lead). The sky diving was thrilling. I heard that Berenger and Baldwin actually got certified in sky diving for the picture and did some of their own stunts. Looking forward to buying this one when it comes out on video.

What a fast-paced exciting Skydiving flick (with great in-air scenes) Makes me really want to jump! Silent parachutes bringing in the load" for cold cash was cool. And my family liked the movie - I personally think they must have cut something out of it here and there, I mean you gotta believe that this life-style depicted in Cutaway was probably even more wild than what's in the movie. Boy, would I have liked to be on the plane with that blonde pilot! She was soooooooo hot! And the chick who did the stunts for Maxine can really fly... the head-down flying & ball toss between each other was extremely cool too. I recommend the movie to anyone who is grinding a 9-5 job making great money and doesn't like what they're doing on the weekends and/or vacations!

This is a great action flick. Anytime an action movie leaves me wanting to participate in the action portrayed I feel it has lived up to its "action" billing. The aerial stunts are pure adrenalin, the backgrounds spectacular. This movie left me wanting to JUMP! So I did.

More than just an action flick, this movie tells a story. The drug smuggling premise is true to life and the director uses every frame to weave his tale. Pay attention! You might miss something.

While I enjoyed all the characters that made up this montage of the skydiving subculture, I particularly enjoyed the two leads, Cooper (Baldwin), and Red Line (Berenger). Cooper struggles with the dilemma of maintaining his honor/integrity as a cop while undercover in a culture that is becoming "him". Redline gives us insights into the obsessive nature of a champion. How far will obsession take a man? And how much will it cost?

See this movie! The characters will draw you in, the story will entertain, the action will move you------ off the couch, and out the door of an AIRPLANE!!!!!