Cast:
Geena Davis (Morgan Adams), Matthew Modine (William Shaw), Frank Langella (Douglas "Dawg" Brown), Maury Chaykin (John Reed), Patrick Malahide (Ainslee), Stan Shaw (Glasspoole), Rex Linn (Mr. Blair), Paul Dillon (Snelgrave), Chris Masterson (Bowen), Jimmie F. Skaggs (Tom Scully), Harris Yulin ("Black" Harry Adams) and Angus Wright (Trotter) Directed by Renny Harlin (#016 - Die Hard 2, #670 - Cliffhanger, #745 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and #2163 - The Adventures of Ford Fairlane)
Review:
Not all failures are created equal, but I'm sure you already know that. It isn't so much that the film was hated by audiences (barely anybody saw it), it was the fact that you don't get that many films labeled as "studio killers". The original idea for the film was sprung by James Gorman and Michael Frost Beckner, who had wanted to make a modernized pirate genre film involving hunting down folks for pieces of a map for adventure. That idea was presented and bought by Carolco Pictures. You might remember that Carolco (as originally founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna) was the production company involved in films such as First Blood (1982) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) but they had bet badly on their spending to the point of teetering debt. Cutthroat Island would be their last big-budget gasp (after selling the rights to other films in production such as Showgirls (1995), strangely enough), and it came out in the winter of 1995, one month after the studio filed for bankruptcy protection. It should be noted that six writers were credited by the time the film was finished (Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon for the story alongside Gorman & Beckner to go with Robert King & Marc Norman for the screenplay). Any chance for a well-adjusted budget feature of swashbuckling with stars went right down with hiring Renny Harlin, who actually was running on the heels of films such as Cliffhanger (1993). It was he who casted his wife (Academy Award winner Geena Davis) into ideas of being an action-adventure star that managed to turn the idea of pairing her with Michael Douglas (who did not want to play second fiddle) into one where she was instead paired with Matthew Modine (he can fence!). This, alongside massive delays in shooting (Oliver Reed was supposed to do a cameo, take one guess what happened) and re-writes and you have the recipe for a movie that maybe, maybe not, deserves to be looked at under the hood beyond just saying it is a flop.
Take this with a grain of salt: it is about exactly what you think would be in a pirate film for the kid at heart. It is right in the sweet spot of having craftsmanship show in each scene when it comes to crafting sequences with the look (sword fight or otherwise) ...but I'll be damned if I can really defend the movie beyond shrugging my shoulders and saying, "it worked for me". Pirate films just aren't the thing I really do much of (one has the choice of "Treasure Island" adaptations, or something based on theme parks), but I can say that the swashbuckler level is on the level I was hoping for. It may be hokey, it may be silly, but it doesn't bullshit itself in acts of contortion (i.e. the film has folks that at least look like they don't want to crawl into a hole and stay there). I will give the credit to Davis (and others who had to do stunts, when possible, clearly) when it comes to rolling along with the punches of serviceable pulp that is right at "looks like they can kick someone's ass" type of home. The nicest thing to say about Modine is that at least some of the quips are tolerable, but if you imagine that the role was supposed to be a riff on flipping the usual "rescue time in adventure" thing, it kind of works better. Undeniably, Langella shines above the rest because he is clearly having a ball with such an over-the-top villainous role (sure, he may have killed a few relatives, but at least he wasn't the one cutting someone's scalp...for a map piece). Who else could play a scene involving cutting down mouths to feed on a ship by just casually blasting a guy away than Langella (and his pleasant timing)? His coarse nature is at least the setup to a useful conflict with Davis when it comes to "PIRATE-fight" for the climax, and I think you get exactly what you pay for with the ending, which has a magnificent exploding ship. The other castmates are fair and fine for what is needed, although it amuses me that most of the folks that face peril or death are either in cameo form or in the case of certain folks are just flayed. John Debney's music score (particularly in the opening) might actually be the best thing of the whole film, which really does get the ball rolling in a positive direction. I can't say the movie does anything completely new for its genre, but I found myself chuckling with it in those familiar setups and payoffs because it clearly has a zest to just run. I never found it trying my patience or packed with any big detracting marks on it, and I would say that makes for a relatively comfortable experience. It's a neatly flawed movie that could mark the spot for worthwhile entertainment if one is hooked by the end result of timbers shivered, which I think is the case here.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
Next up: No joke, Radioland Murders.
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