Cutthroat Island (1995)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I almost didn't pick this up because I was sure it was a spin-off of Pirates of the Caribbean, but I was wrong. In actuality it was made before that movie and despite first appearances it can stand on its own. It's also Geena Davis, the gal that I associate with comedy-romance movies, the mushy and touchy-feely kind of movie that generally bore me. It's not that I can't appreciate a good comedy-romance, I just need to be in a certain kind of mood to watch those kinds of movies. But you know that Geena Davis is a brilliant actress and I loved her in The Long Kiss Goodnight with Samuel Jackson so I was glad I saw it. I wasn't disappointed as the swash buckling Morgan Adams and Matthew Modine steal my heart early on and I started rooting for the pirates on the edge of my seat. They were trying to piece together 3 pieces of a map to find an uncharted island that holds a rich pirate treasure hidden in it. The story is engaging, the action is good, great sound, and outstanding performances from the cast.

"Die Hard 2" director Renny Harlin's swashbuckling pirate movie "Cutthroat Island" is reminiscent of Errol Flynn's best adventure yarns aboard wooden sailing ships. The chief difference between the Flynn escapades and "Cutthroat Island" is that the protagonist is none other than a damsel who is rarely in distress. Geena Davis plays Morgan Adams, the rip-snorting, robust daughter of Black Harry (Harris Yulin), one of three brothers who scour the seven seas to steal untold treasure. The villain of this sprawling sea yarn is Black Harry's treacherous brother Douglas Brown (Frank Langella of "Dracula") who has taken Harry as prisoner aboard his ship and demands that his brother give him one of three pieces of a treasure map. Naturally, Black Harry refuses and prefers to plunge himself into Davy Jones' locker at the end of a rope attached to the ship's anchor. Meantime, Morgan escapes from a British naval lieutenant with whom she has spent the night in bed and frantically rides to the rescue of her father. Ironically, Black Harry doesn't want to be rescued, but Morgan doesn't abide by his wishes and dives into the drink after her doomed father and saves him long enough for him to tell her to shave his head. Now, Brown takes after Morgan in hot pursuit. As it turns out, Black Harry has concealed his scrap of the map under his hair on his scalp where it has been tattooed. One must idly wonder about the fate of the man who tattooed that map there. Initially, Morgan and her pirate crew, that once sailed for her father aboard the ship Morning Glory, decide that the map is written in Latin. Happily for them, they learn about a slave about to be sold at auction on a nearby island, and they buy him, or least try before certain bystanders discern that the woman garbed up like a lady is none other than Morgan who has a hundred pounds bounty on her head. Everybody escapes by the collective hair on their chins, and the race is on with Morgan after the second part of the map that belongs to Mordachai Fingers. Director Renny Harlin never lets the action loiter in this sizzler, and Frank Langella makes a terrifically terrifying pirate villain. Look long and hard and you won't spot the inevitable parrot perched on anybody's shoulder. Surprisingly, despite its beautiful scenery lensed off the coast of Thailand and John Debney's exhilarating orchestral score, "Cutthroat Island" was a huge theatrical flop.

I know what you thinking, we ripped Cutthroat Island before, but what critics didn't know that it's a swashbuckling pirate movie. Yeah, even with the bad dialogue, poor production value, and Geena Davis performance as a female pirate were lackluster at best. Suddenly, Carolco returned to sender and destroyed the film industry as becoming the latest victim of facing bankruptcy soon after the film crashed and burned hard at the box office and holds the (now-defunct) record of Biggest Box Office Flop of All Time with an embarrassing $98.1 Million budget only to reach $60 Million.Make no mistake, the film was bad. But I haven't even watched it on TV or appearing on other premium networks. To me, I felt like it should've add more money to make and director Renny Harlin still has lots of gas in the tank left for his ailing career.But Cutthroat Island is one of those films that is criminally underrated. And much like the success of the long-running Pirates of the Caribbean series, Cutthroat Island never had a chance of becoming a potential franchise too. But if you haven't seen this classic, it's worth a rental or buy on Blu-Ray.

This film has everything a pirate film should have & plenty of it! This movie is absolutely the greatest pirate movie ever filmed. Those who think otherwise must be dilly. Not only does it have a great plot that is not only both believable but the outlying scenes that take place amid the surrounding area of the main characters is fabulous. As for those have a rather pathetic attitude regarding a beautiful woman in such a role should take a peek or two at history where they will find no less than 5 fierce females pirate Captains who were well known for their skills is sword fighting, but with pistols as well. I have always been amazed by the lack of fighting &/or sea battles in so-called pirate films. In the realm of pirate movies, this film has the best overall sea battle, followed by Captain Blood, & next Pirates Of The Caribbean (The Black Pearl,) & lastly The King's Pirate. It's a shame that it wasn't promoted better. It was already out on VHS tape before I ever knew it existed.