Orlando Bloom plays a washed-up boxer in Sean Ellis' film The Cut who receives a second chance at the spotlight, but at a high cost. The film premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, with Bloom delivering an outstanding performance.

 Justin Bull developed the script, based on an idea that Bloom pitched through Mark Lane. The film opens with a flashback of the boxer squandering a world championship title opportunity on international television. A decade later, he runs a boxing gym in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with his wife, business partner, and former boxing manager, Caitlin (Caitríona Balfe).

 The younger stars of his own gym disrespect the boxer, forcing him to perform menial tasks. However, following the sudden death of a championship challenger, the boxer and Caitlin find themselves at dinner with a wealthy boxing promoter. The promoter sees the potential for a comeback story and offers the boxer a chance to fight.

 There's a catch, though: the boxer is significantly overweight for the junior middleweight class. The boxer, despite Caitlin's doubts, insists he can lose the weight in time, and he whisks the two away to Las Vegas to train.

 Despite intensive workouts and a strict diet, the boxer struggles to lose weight. Unknown to his teammates, he resorts to sneaking into the resort restrooms to vomit up his meals.Though faced with numerous challenges, the boxer remains determined to make a comeback.
As time goes on, the Boxer starts to experience hallucinations and disturbing childhood memories of his mother in war-ravaged Belfast (Clare Dunne's performance outshines the material). However, his current physical nightmare is about to transform into a terrifying hellscape. With only 48 hours until his weigh-in, he is still 26 pounds overweight, putting him and his promoter in a precarious situation. Desperate for any advantage, the promoter hires Boz (John Turturro, delivering a spot-on performance), a trainer known for working miracles in a short time. Almost immediately, Boz disregards any safety measures that Caitlin, the boxer's nutritionist, attempts to implement. Caitlin and Paolo, the boxer's nutritionist, leave within hours, their consciences refusing to allow them to continue this death march.

In "The Cut," director Ellis escalates the intensity to a level that turns the stomach. This intensity is a result of the film's cinematography and its acknowledgement of the dangers inherent in the boxer's quest to lose weight quickly. Although the premise of a journey into lunacy for weight loss may not sound inherently cinematic or engaging, the performances of Bloom, Turturro, and Mansaray bring an unexpected intimacy to the film.

 From an aesthetic perspective, Ellis's artistic choices are debatable. The film relies heavily on childhood flashbacks and the Boxer's thoughts, some of which border on cliché. However, despite these artistic decisions, "The Cut" remains captivating. Perhaps this is due to the film's originality, the actors' performances, Bloom's dedication to his role, or the uncomfortable proximity of the Boxer's fictional experience to reality.

 The latter part of the film is particularly intense, causing the audience to squirm in their seats. The discomfort may make some want to leave, but the film's effectiveness is shown by this response.