not as good as all the hype

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Somehow I got the feeling that they left out a considerable amount of scenes that make much more sense of the whole drugs angle in the movie. The moment Stephen Baldwin goes undercover you will get a "Point Break" flashback and will realize how great that movie is compared to this little movie. But that said I must admit that "Cutaway" has some amazing sky diving scenes. Those stunts alone is reason enough to see this movie. And probably the director realized that since he didn't make much of the plot. Tom Berenger is great as always but thought he was far too underused as he could have provided much more depth to his character and story if he had more scenes. The interactions between Ron Silver and Stephen Baldwin could have been avoided entirely since they add nothing to the conflicts an undercover agent has doing his job. Since it already is made clear from the first scene that Stephen Baldwin is not doing his job out of a sense of duty but simply to be the best in whatever activity he is presented with. The scenes with Ron Silver create an expectation of an impact that never occurs at least not as big as it could have been. So in short forget about the plot and just enjoy the beautiful skydiving scenes!

DEA agent Stephen Baldwin, who reports to an ultra-serious Ron Silver, joins a skydiving/parachuting team (Team Miami), led by Tom Berenger, in order to determine the team's involvement in drug smuggling. Berenger is one of the many on the team who have "cutout"--cut out all responsibilities from his life in order to dedicate it to skydiving/team competition. Baldwin ("Vic") becomes completely engrossed in the skydiving aspect and skydiving team competition (primarily against the US Army's always championship team, the Golden Knights, led by an arrogant Casper Van Diem). Vic becomes involved in the skydiving/drug dropping in order to determine who the big guys who are actually the buyers/sellers are. Soon, his loyalties are questioned and a love-interest develops between Vic and another chutist on his team. Does Vic become a rogue agent? Does he betray the team or the DEA? Are the team members more afraid of dying or not being the best at what they do or being imprisoned? Surprises! The acting is very good in this film (even Dennis Rodman--"Turbo"--acts like someone other than himself in this film)and the action and skydiving scenes are outstanding. This film is definitely worth renting--or buying.

This movie with its excellent skydive scenes gives the viewer a good idea of what this fun, exciting, and spectacular sport is really like. It would look even better on a big screen. Other movies, like Drop Zone or Terminal Velocity have a similar story complete with skydiving and cops chasing criminals, but Cutaway is better and more realistic than either. Even the part about having good freefall skills after all that wind tunnel training in Fort Bragg, S.C. is believable. Of course he (Officer Cooper) still had much work to do with this canopy control skills (Remember some of his landings!). All throughout the movie, the jump scenes were enjoyable to watch as they were so authentic looking. You could tell these scenes were actually filmed in the air above Florida and not in a studio or with a computer. The story itself is also quite believable; no doubt many kilos of drugs have been parachuted into Florida or elsewhere. Even the name of the movie was chosen well; you actually do cutaway if your main parachute malfunctions. Besides all of the above, it had some funny parts also.This movie never made it big like other movies in 2000, which is too bad. Nowadays, for an action movie to be popular it appears to need a lot of expensive special effects. Cutaway may have been too realistic for most of today's viewing audience. If you want to see those amazing special effects you won't like this movie, but if you want a good fun action movie with some element of reality, this one's for you.Presently, I am a skydiver with my A license. After watching this movie, I am eagerly looking forward to getting my B license so I can do relative work (or formation jumps). If you've never jumped before, watching this movie may well convince you to try this fun sport. If not, you'll certainly want to go out to a drop zone and watch others jump. Blue Skies!

This is a movie that I love watching.Regardless to what other people say, I believe that this movie is by far the BEST Skydiving movie EVER MADE! Berenger and Baldwin did most of their own stunts (Baldwin admits to it on DVD, Guy Manos talks about Berenger on his track on the DVD)People who regard this movie in the same aspect as Point Break and Dropzone, give your head a shake. Take a look thru the credits, in the two movies, you'll see Golden ParaShoot did all the skydiving stunts in both movies.I have obviously given this movie a 10 / 10 (I wish I could go higher)Before I saw this movie, I was a person who thought of skydiving as a interesting idea, now I LOVE the sport.