"Final Cut" starring Robin Williams

[Leovinus]

I rented "Final Cut" on DVD yesterday. A very interesting Sci Fi movie. Anybody want to discuss it? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[wmdragon]

Ive seen the cover but have no idea whatsoever what it is about. what is the premise/plot, without giving anything away? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

The premise is that there is a company that creates an organic recording device that is inserted into a fetus in the womb. It records all sights and sounds from birth to death. Upon death, "cutters", which are essentially film editors, review the entire life video (fortunately sorted out into various categories for easy access) by a computer known as a "guillotine". The cutter's job is to take the life history, reduce it to 1-2 hours of highlights and special moments, and present it for a memorial service called a "rememory".<br /><br />As you can imagine, the cutters see a lot of good things and a lot of unpleasant things.<br /><br />In this movie, Robin Williams, in a non-comedic role, is a cutter and he sees something in one person's life file which has special importance to him and the rest of the plot revolves around this event. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[ascan1984]

Here is the amazon.com explaination<br /><br />While it works better as a somber mood piece than a futuristic thriller, The Final Cut posits a unique what-if scenario that some viewers will find fascinating. In a role that calls for his low-key One Hour Photo persona, Robin Williams plays an expert "cutter" who's in demand for his ability to distill anyone's lifetime into a feature-length "rememory" film that highlights the better side of anyone's nature. His profession is made possible by the "Zoe" chip, a prenatal brain implant capable of recording a person's entire lifetime--a technology opposed by a former cutter (Jim Caviezel) and puzzled over by Williams' on-and-off girlfriend (Mira Sorvino). First-time writer-director Omar Naim divided critics with his impressive visual style and lackluster screenplay, which fails to account for the larger implications of the Zoe chip's exploitation. Still, the film contains several intriguing ideas that place it among other sci-fi films like Gattaca, suggesting one of the many potential controversies that await us in a future where ethics and technology are not always compatible. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.

 

[Leovinus]

I was thinking about how such a device could be used for devious purposes. Suppose, for example, someone with access to Top Secret information happened to have a chip like that. This person is a target for enemy agents.<br /><br />Or if someone wanted to steal industrial secrets -- one could kidnap and slaughter a competitive designer and access the playback to see what he read and what he wrote.<br /><br />I also thought that the chip could be used to help solve crimes.<br /><br />Finally, I think such a chip could be used to record history. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[wmdragon]

"Or if someone wanted to steal industrial secrets -- one could kidnap and slaughter a competitive designer and access the playback to see what he read and what he wrote."<br /><br />much like johnny mnemonic in that sense then, except this device records a lifetime of personal history instead of generic data. interesting, I might check it out. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

My impression from the movie is that you could not remove the chip without killing the host. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>