Cut Bank
Director Matt Shakman’s Cut Bank is full of big star acting talent that is unfortunately under appreciated and way under utilized. The story, based in Cutbank, Montana(the coldest city in the country), consists of Dwayne (Liam Hemsworth) and his girlfriend Cassandra (Teresa Palmer) filming a video in a field of flowers when suddenly they witness the homicide of the local postman (Bruce Dern). When the video footage is shown to Sheriff Vogel (John Malkovic), all hell breaks loose in the small Montana town which had never before seen a murder.
We soon learn that Dwayne is in on the supposed murder plot in order to collect on $100,000 of reward money. Without ruining the story, what turns out as a simple innocent plan, ends up in a mess where several folks get hurt and even killed in sick and twisted ways.
This film constantly feels like a “Fargo Wannabe” without the panache and style of the Coen Brothers. Hemsworth seems a bit too stoic in his role and Billy Bob Thornton (Big Stan Steeley) is pretty much wasted in this very limited role. On the plus side, I think the villainous role of Derby Milton is handled very well by Michael Stuhlbarg, with his stutter and need to find his postal parcel comedic, yet profound. John Malkovic also gives a decent, if not satisfactory performance in the sheriff’s role which could have honestly been much bigger.
Despite a few interesting moments, for the most part the plot is slow, boring, and not very cohesive at times. 6 out of 10 stars.
