L'Île aux pirates

"Cutthroat Island" is a 1995 film with chaotic production and distribution and with unfair reviews of the professional critics. Renny Harlin and Geena Davis were married at that time and he convinced the producers to cast his wife in an action film in a complete misevaluation of her talent. Geena Davis was a great actress in comedy and drama genres in the 80´s and 90´s but was only reasonable in the role of the female pirate Morgan Adams. Another problem was to find an actor for Morgan´s slave William Shaw since Matthew Modine was the last choice in a long list of actors that refused the role. It seems that this notorious film was also the responsible for the bankruptcy of Carolco Pictures since the box office was frustrating.

Said that, "Cutthroat Island" is indeed an entertaining modern (in 1995) pirate movie, with a good story. The successful franchize "Pirates of the Caribbean" is an improvement of "Cutthroat Island" with better technology, budget and cast. But the stories are equaly entertaining and funny. In the end, forget the bad ratings of professional critics and have a goodtime watching this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Ilha da Garganta Cortada" ("The Cutthroat Island")

Cutthroat Island is a movie that you can just sit back, relax and watch it with a big goofy grin on your face. Sure it tanked at the box office, but don't disregard it totally. It's entertaining as hell. Geena Davis is rather engaging as a female pirate and Frank Langella seemed to be enjoying himself. Most people will say that this movie can't hold a candle to the pirate films of Errol Flynn, and they're right. But for a rock em sock em pirate adventure with more explosions than the high seas ever saw, watch Cutthroat Island.

Making a valiant stab at becoming an action figure, Geena Davis plays Morgan Adams, a wily, rough & tumble pirate woman who lives for adventure and the like. When her evil Uncle Dawg (Frank Langella) turns on her and her dad, it's a race against time for Morgan as she tries to piece together a map that will lead her to Cut-Throat Island, where unimaginable wealth in stolen pirate gold resides. Along the way she is pursued by an evil British officer who goes into cahoots with treacherous crew members and Dawg, aided by a pretty boy Jack-of-all-trades thief named William Shaw (Matthew Modine), and confronted with a series of wildly over the top set pieces that no human being could possibly survive.

One of the most expensive flops ever made, this overlong but endearing and even occasionally exciting film deserved much better than what it got in the summer of the mid-90s. Not quite as funny as "Pirates of the Caribbean" but still fun.

Already a cardboard cut-out role to begin with, Geena Davis struggles to overcome her natural aura of motherly warmth to play the roughish Morgan, but she plays the part well enough (she really does come across as somebody's mother, albeit the kind of mother neighborhood boys fantasize about). It's easy to imagine her in the ring with Keira Knightley - who played Elizabeth Swann in "Pirates of the Caribbean" - and to have Geena walloping Keira's waif like frame. Matthew Modine has his moments as Shaw and Frank "Dracula/Skeletor" Langella is enjoyably hammy as Dawg.

If nothing else, rent it for the expensive sets, fancy costumes, and elaborate, over the top stunts - many of which Davis and Modine did themselves.

Just take this as it is: a fun aventure film to enjoy with a big bowl of popcorn. Geena Davis' natural face and statuesque figure, Thailand's breathtaking beaches/islands, ridiculously entertaining fight and chase scenes, gorgeous pirate ships, a hilarious pet monkey, and memorable characters, they're all a delight to watch. The soundtrack is perfectly suited for it. I give this film a 6.5.

An underrated epic pirate movie that failed at box office , set in 17th century and stars a female pirate searching for a valuable treasure. She is Morgan Adams : Geena Davis (then Mrs Harlin) who attempts to free a polish , rogue crook : Matthew Modine from slavery and save the life of her father : Harris Yulin at the hands of his brother Henry Morgan : Frank Langella . Her main problem is the map revealing the location has been divided into three pieces . Se only has the first , etched oh her daddy's scalp. Along the way she persuades the educated slave/thief Mathew Modine who has lots of charm , no morals to assist her . The Course has been set. There is no Turning Back. Prepare Your Weapons . Summon Your Courage . Discover the Adventure of a Lifetime¡

Lavish swashbuckling with great production design in which almost everything from entire sea ports -actually set in Malta- are destroyed along the way in a series of impressive stunts that will have your breath away, as well as spectacular sea battles in which entire ships to Jamaica were bombed , though really shot in Thailand . Small children will be entranced and amused by the frolics and antics of a pet monkey . Long on action and short on studio character and plot . Well starred by Geena Davis, she gives exuberance enough for her pirate queen role . Her despicable uncle is nicely played by Frank Langella as the scurvy veteran pirate who wants to take the treasure at whatever cost and he won't stop at nothing . They are finely accompanied by a good support cast , such as : Harris Yulin, Maury Chaykin, Patrick Malahide, Stan Shaw, Rex Linn , Paul Dillon, Angus Wright, Christopher Masterson , among others.

Special mention for the rousing and thrilling musical score by John Debney . As well as colorful and sunny cinematography by Peter Levy , shot on wonderful locations in Malta and Thailand. Filmmaker Renny Harlin likes lots of blowing up and frenetic action when he does not know what else to do, resulting in an overlong and a little tiring movie . It was a commercial flop that bankrupted the powerful production company Carolco/Mario Kassar . The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard , Cliffhanger, Hercules, Cleaner , Exorcist the beginning , Mindhunters, Deep Blue sea , Long Kiss goodnight , Driven , 12 Rounds , 5 days of War) . Rating : 6/10 . An amusing and fun pirate movie though kiddies may be frightened by some gory and bloody action scenes . Well worth watching .