Cutthroat Island [Blu-ray]

Great movie. Critics were wrong! Funny, adventurous, and a good story.

This is a wonderful film if you want pure escapist, fun action entertainment instead of the dour dystopian movies so common lately. It’s puzzling how such a great, entertaining movie could get so much bad press. After reading the negative reviews I had to counter their attacks because Geena Davis, who plays Morgan, ROCKS as the charismatic pirate queen, Morgan--an empowered woman in a man’s world whose quick whit immediately puts the rogues she encounters in their place right from the get-go where, in the opening scene she informs the Lieutenant she just slept with who holds her at gun point threatening to turn her in for government bounty that, “Oh, by the way, that won’t work (showing him the round slugs she emptied from his gun). See, I took your balls.” Then, with a glance at her pet monkey she snaps her fingers, he jumps onto her shoulder, and she’s off galloping along the beach en route to save her father. She’s gorgeous, full of sass, and sooo much more entertaining than the slurring, somewhat effete drunken character of Jack Sparrow. It’s easy to see that a great deal of thought, detail and finance was put into creating a believable, authentic, sumptuous period film set in the 17th century with exquisite period costuming and sets, elegant horse-drawn carriages and authentic-looking pirate ships with all the riggings. In addition, the pacing is great, with non-stop action in pristine Carribean-like settings (although it was actually filmed in Malta and Thailand). I read that Geena Davis did her own stunts, which is astonishing given how demanding they were. Her character is similar to the female action character Laura Croft, but warmer, more playful and with a much more interesting wardrobe! Kudos to Geena Davis and to a thoroughly entertaining film that didn’t get the acclaim it deserved.

Now this movie shows good old pirate fun, here be swabs, cheats, traitors, romance, adventure, and treachery. The first time I saw this movie was when I was 10 years old, and I immediately loved it. :) Geena Davis portrays a woman pirate captain with a lot of spirit and "the bad girl kind of attitude like don't mess with me". :) Besides Pirates of the Caribbean, you don't see a lot of woman pirates wondering about the seas of film should I say, and Geena Davis plays Morgan Adams the pirate in a way that is classic in my opinion.The film is about a woman pirate captain searching for her grandfathers lost treasure, while being pursued by the British navy and her wicked uncle Captain Dawg who is the main villain (wonderfully played by Frank Langella) along the way she picks up a theif/slave named William Shaw (played by Matthew Modine) and together while developing a romantic relationship go after the treasure, and the awesome climax of it all is a side by side ship battle. :)I like this film because it is a true pirate film, it shows in my opinion the rough and tough life of an actual pirate on the high seas, with no fantasy or fiction in it not that any of that is bad. And it is just pure adventure, one exciting thing happens after another and it keeps you wanting more action, I was so entertained by it that I actually hoped that they would eventually make a sequel or even a prequel, but since this movie got bad reviews from critics and did bad in the box office I knew that would not happen, but I don't care about what the critics said, this movie is amazing and very entertaining.For all you pirate lovers out there, this is for you. Especially if you want to see a freaking awesome woman pirate in action. :)

Cutthroat Island is not a great film. I do know however, that the production crew, and in particular the props and costume folks went all out toward accuracy. That attention to detail does show through, even if the script is cheesy and cliche'.Frank Langella was wonderful as Dawg Brown. I wanted to see more of him, and I wanted to know more of his motivations, more of the history behind he and his brothers Mordechai and Harry and the story behind the gold. Gina Davis was really a very good heroine in this movie, as Morgan Adams. She is now captain of the ship she has inherited from her father, Harry and as a woman, she has her challenges on a shipload of men, to be sure. But she is energetic and tough enough to make you believe it is within the realm of possibility. Davis' beauty is found in her underlying strength. The disappointment in her character for me lie in the fact that she far outshone Matthew Modine. Modine's performance was rather flat when set next to the leading lady and he seemed almost like a Saturday morning cartoon, or a young father playing pirates on the city park playground with his own children. It just did not come off as a very good performance at all. The spark between Davis and Modine was not at all believeable. If they had gotten someone else to play that role who was a bit more of a leading man, the movie may have been a lot better. I keep wanting to cast someone like Oded Fehr or Brandon Frazier, or someone of that ilk.If you like pirates or sea faring flicks, I would say definitely add it to your collection. It is not nearly as tight and polished as say Pirates of the Caribbean, but that is ok. This film is still somewhat of a good time.