This sci-fi thriller finds its strength in an original premise. Alan W. Hakman (Robin Williams, ONE HOUR PHOTO) is a cutter, which are people who edit the recorded memories of a recently deceased person who has had a Zoe chip implanted into their brain when they were children. Alan is the best at what he does and often takes the cases no other cutter will touch. The ones where he has to make disgusting people look like saints.
Hakman is quite obsessed with his work and with a childhood memory that has haunted him his whole life. His relationship with bookstore worker Delila (Mira Sorvino, MIGHTY APHRODITE) is rocky. Hakman is assigned to cut a “rememory” for Charles Bannister (Michael St. John Smith, BLADE: TRINITY), a lawyer for Eye Tech, the creators of the Zoe chip.
Fletcher (James Caviezel, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST) is a former cutter who leads an anti-chip movement and wants to get hold of Bannister’s Zoe chip so that he can create a scandal thus ruining the Zoe chip industry. As Alan gets deeper into Bannister’s memories, he discovers dark secrets from Bannister's past as well as his own.
The idea is fascinating and the movie is always engaging. The film only suffers from some coincidences that are hard to chew and an ending that morally seems indecisive. However, Williams carries the material with a subtle performance. The debates about the pros and cons of recording a person’s memories are inherently intriguing. For how sci-fi has become just an excuse for bigger explosions, the film is a rare new sci-fi movie that actual has something to say.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
