Nerdly » ‘Final Cut’ Review

10th Mar2023

‘Final Cut’ Review

by Alain Elliott

Stars: Romain Duris, Beěreěnice Bejo, Grégory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Sébastien Chassagne, Raphaël Quenard, Lyès Salem, Jean-Pascal Zadi | Written and Directed by Michel Hazanavicius

When I first saw One Cut of the Dead, I didn’t think that in a couple of years’ time I would be watching a French remake of it, but here we are with Final Cut.

One Cut of the Dead blew me away when I saw it. Just the perfect original zombie movie, which, while it was well received, I do feel like it should have done even better and got more of a widespread audience. Remaking it such a short time later seems like a strange idea but getting renowned director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) definitely got some eyes on the movie that wouldn’t have been on it before it.

For once, I’m glad that I haven’t got a great memory and that it had been a couple of years since I last watched One Cut of the Dead. That’s because this is an almost shot-for-shot remake. From my memory, it does add a few things but the main action is exactly the same. It does do a slightly odd thing that I enjoyed by making the movie within a movie a remake of One Cut of the Dead (are you following me?), so this is set in the same universe as the first film.

If you haven’t seen the original movie, I won’t be giving anything away here. We see a small film crew shooting a zombie movie, only for them to be attacked by real zombies. And that’s about all you need to know about the main story. I will say, even if you’re not enjoying it after thirty minutes, please please please stick with it and you will get your rewards. That said, like One Cut of the Dead, I really enjoyed the first glorious low-budget-looking opening half an hour.

Everything that is good about Final Cut, was also good in the original. This does have a bigger budget I think, so the practical effects do look even better. The decapitations, flying limbs and lots of blood look fantastic! Final Cut also manages to keep all the charm of the original. During those last forty-five minutes I was constantly smiling and absolutely beaming for the final few moments. They are fantastic. I was very glad it made me feel how I felt with the original. That said, any surprise element from that first movie, obviously don’t have quite the same impact here if you have seen the original film.

Final Cut does go into a little bit more detail when it comes to the ‘making of’ the movie within a movie and gives more time to a story with the director and his daughter – a new part of the story that I thought worked really well and actually added something worthwhile.

Is this remake needed or necessary at all? Probably not. And it is a little hard to recommend it if you have seen the original movie recently. That said, I think there’s room for both. Because One Cut of the Dead is such a clever and original film, Final Cut is still a very good movie. Smart, funny and full of heart, just maybe not quite so original anymore.