In its day, "Cutthroat Island" was the most entertaining pirate adventure that I was ever aware of. Coming from the director of "Cliffhanger," you just know that this film is going to have enough explosions to make Michael Bay jealous. Sure enough, the film is loaded with explosive action and hard-hitting sword fights. A lot of the action dominates the film's final act, which is pretty much an all-out extravaganza of wild swashbuckling, booming muskets, and ear-shattering cannon fire. The rest of the film is fairly light and adventurous; maybe not perfectly-paced, but not too boring either. It also tries its best to be hard-edged, but it never really feels like anything more than a mere PG-13 flick. In this day and age, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series totally supplants this film in all areas.
The story for "CI" is pretty straightforward, and dare I say standard fare. Pirates get a hold of a map, find some treasure, then duke it out. That's pretty much it. The film tries its best to make the plot roll up and down in a standard thrill-ride formula, stretching the thin story out to fill the runtime. Even though it entertains, it's not terribly deep or anything. The best that can be said is that the characters are likable (including the villain).
The film looks nice, with some decent and stylish photography and editing. Acting is not too bad; I enjoyed Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, and Frank Langella in their roles. Writing is not terribly sophisticated, but it gets the job done. This production has sets, props, and costumes that look the part and fit in with the film's settings. Music is appropriately adventurous.
Maybe not the best film in this genre, but it certainly entertains. It's worth a rental.
4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Average | Film: Pretty Good)
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