Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Cutthroat Island Blu-ray Movie Review

Avast ye soggybottomed Blu-ray bilge rats and pay heed to the shimmerin’ cinematic spectacle that be Cutthroat Island!

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater August 14, 2009

Let me start by saying that if I see one more frat boy dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween, I think I might heave ho over the starboard bow. When Johnny Depp and company stormed our shores back in 2003 with The Curse of the Black Pearl, pirates suddenly became the mass-accepted, geek subculture icon de jour, and every half-hot jock from UCLA to Penn State suddenly thought he could charm the pantaloons off the ladies by donning a blouse, covering a few teeth with tin-foil, and acting like a drunk. It happens every couple of years— some nerd-core concept gets thrust into the limelight and embraced by the culture at large. It happened with zombies during the one-two-three combo of 28 Days Later, the Dawn of the Dead remake, and Land of the Dead, and now vampires are the latest geek-chic craze to be bled dry, with teen girls swooning at Twilight and HBO’s True Blood offering up a wicked snack for more mature audiences. The wave of pirate interest has since crested and receded, and I have a feeling Lionsgate’s Blu-ray release of Cutthroat Island will be received without much fanfare.

Previously on LOST...

When Cutthroat Island was released in 1995, it was a monumental flop on the scale of Waterworld. Between casting woes, an overinflated budget, and MGM’s refusal to spend any money on marketing, advance word of the film was sour, and Cutthroat Island sank out of sight after a mere week in U.S. theaters. The film recouped only about $10,000,000 of its massive $92,000,000 production costs, bankrupting Carolco Pictures and spelling doom for the box-office viability of future pirate flicks. Since then, the film has found a small cult following on home video, director Renny Harlin has become even more of a hack, and Disney has surprisingly resurrected the pirate genre with its hugely successful, Gore Verbinski-helmed trilogy. On the surface, Cutthroat Island and the Pirates of the Caribbean films have a lot in common—swashbuckling highjinks in tropical locales, massive action set pieces, and romance on the high seas—so why did Renny Harlin’s ill-fated adventure fail while Disney went on to create a franchise? There are myriad reasons, I’m sure, but consider these names: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom. That’s a bankable trio. Matthew Modine, Geena Davis, and Frank Langella? Not so much. But it can’t all come down to star power, can it?

Well, maybe. The story concerns female pirate Morgan Adams (Geena Davis), whose dying father has just commanded her to scalp him. You see, Harry Morgan has one third of a map to Cutthroat Island tattooed on his dome piece, and he wants his daughter to have it before he gets a locker next to Davy Jones. Morgan does some off-camera surgery, becomes the new captain of her father’s ship, and sets sail for Port Royal, where she picks up William Shaw (Matthew Modine), a conniving thief who is just educated enough to translate the Latin on the map. After being spotted by Royal Navy redcoats, Morgan and her crew of scallywags narrowly escape and head to a brothel to retrieve the second portion of the map from Morgan’s uncle Mordecai. With the location of the island now revealed, they cut through deadly seas toward their very own treasure island, pursued by nefarious pirate Dawg Brown (Frank Langella), Morgan’s other uncle—sheesh, what’s with this family—and possessor of the final third of the map. Once they make ground, Morgan and Shaw’s tenuous alliance is strained by sexual tension and greed, but they have to work together if it means reaching the treasure and getting out alive.

Filmed in Malta and Thailand, Cutthroat Island is every bit as big as Pirates of the Caribbean. Renny Harlin clearly made the most of his nearly unlimited bankroll, turning every childhood pirate fantasy imaginable into wild, explosion-filled set pieces that are all the more impressive for being wholly unaided by CGI. There’s one stunt in particular, where Geena Davis flips through a second-story glass window and down onto the seat of a rushing horse-drawn carriage, which will have you scratching your head for days. The film’s pace rarely lets up, and we’re drawn from one dizzying, death-defying encounter to the next, with only short character- building scenes for breathing space. Take a second to think of all the pirate movie clichés you’ve ever seen. Got ‘em? Now, I guarantee you that every single one of them is present in Cutthroat Island. Does someone swing from a chandelier? Is there swordfight on top of the mainsail? Will a cute monkey provide endless comic relief? Yes, yes, and yes. It’s as if someone told Renny Harlin, “Look, we’re going to give you one hundred million dollars to make a pirate movie, but you’ve got to watch every swashbuckling tale since The Black Pirate with Douglas Fairbanks, write down everything that happens, and put it all in your film.” There’s a mutiny, a half-submerged treasure in a perilous cave, a thunderous maritime cannon battle, some sly double entendres, and more steel-on-steel action than you could, well, shake a sword at. The only thing missing is a pirate getting hit on the head by a coconut. And while there’s nothing we haven’t seen before, Cutthroat Island is at least consistently entertaining, even if the principle actors don’t quite seem suited for their parts.

Looking at the film objectively—with no thoughts to the budgetary excesses or the director’s less- than-admirable cinematic reputation—Cutthroat Island’s main flaw is that there’s really nothing noteworthy about the actors’ performances. Geena Davis is like a fish out of water—I simply can’t buy her as a female pirate—and her pep talks to the crew are about as rousing as a week-long PBS telethon. Michael Douglas was originally set to play Shaw, and after he dropped out at the last minute, Harlin scrambled to find a replacement, finally settling on Full Metal Jacket’s Matthew Modine, whose arch and over-the-top intonations make it sound like he’s auditioning for a highschool musical. While Davis and Modine have some modicum of chemistry, we never really root for them as a couple. Worst of all, Frank Langella should win some hypothetical award for laziest, least-menacing screen villain. It could be that he’s just not given enough to do, but Dawg Brown is all bark, and a pretty wimpy bark at that. Still, if you look past some poor casting decisions and see the film for what it is—an old-fashioned pirate romp that never takes itself too seriously—then Cutthroat Island becomes a kind of scruffy underdog, pulling alongside The Pirates of the Caribbean with its guns out, ready to go head to head.

Cutthroat Island Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cutthroat Island slices and dices its way onto Blu-ray with a suitably sharp and well- restored 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. The print is almost entirely free of any specks, and displays only the thinnest veneer of grain—almost entirely absent during some scenes—without showing any of the smeared and waxy signs of clumsy DNR. This is a bold, colorful film, and the transfer has no trouble keeping up. The plush red coats of the Royal Navy officers pop cleanly on the screen, jungle foliage is a deep and vivid green, and the ocean waters cover the spectrum from stormy grey to tranquil turquoise. Skin tones can veer toward orange at times, but look warm and natural for most of the film. Contrast is tuned nearly perfectly, providing black levels that are deep but very rarely crush, and whites that are bright but only occasionally blow out. There are few scenes that look softer than others—I'm specifically thinking of Morgan and Shaw dangling over a cliff on ropes— but overall clarity is great, allowing us to see even the smallest details of the wonderful set design. There are two or three instances of minor contrast wavering, and a day-for-night scene that looks a bit washed out, but otherwise Cutthroat Island is a pleasing Blu-ray destination.

Cutthroat Island Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Renny Harlin remarks in his commentary track that there had never been a big pirate film since the advent of surround sound, and that he wanted Cutthroat Island's sound design to be a bold, immersive experience. I'd say he got it right, and the film arrives on Blu-ray with a DTS-HD MA 7.1 surround track that's more rousing than Geena Davis' speeches could ever be. The first thing you notice is John Debney's riveting, complementary score, bursting forth with old-fashioned Hollywood orchestration that shimmers, plows, and soars through the memorable musical cues. Environmental sounds are just as bombastic. Battle scenes rage with the clanging of swords and the sandy shuffle of boots scuffling across the deck. Birds cry out with directional precision from the jungle trees. Explosions are articulate and convincing as powder kegs go off, splintering wood and sending debris tumbling to the ground. Channel movements often go for heft over finesse, but the surround speakers are alive and well throughout the film, spitting out gunshots and sloshing with the rush of seawater. Dynamics are solid, from the low, LFE growl of a ship crashing through a storm to the metallic shwiing of swords being unsheathed. And while the ADR work is sometimes obvious, dialogue is crisp and coherent throughout, even during particularly raucous fights.

Cutthroat Island Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Featurette (SD, 6:08)

You know things aren't going to get very in-depth when a film's behind-the-scenes documentary is simply titled "Featurette." This is exactly what you'd expect, a mostly substanceless EPK piece that features a few quips from the key players and some quickly cut on-set footage.

Commentary by Director Renny Harlin

You might think Harlin would use this track to play apologist for the film—bucking all criticism and trying to save face—but he readily admits that mistakes were made and that the movie hit a few rough patches that contributed to its commercial failure. It's not all doom and gloom, though, and Harlin is actually quite insightful about the filmmaking process, giving first-hand accounts of what it's like to helm an enormous $100,000,000 production. He even seems a bit giddy at times —getting the opportunity to play out his boyhood pirate fantasies on a large scale was clearly an opportunity of a lifetime—and Harlin's enthusiasm for every little element of filmmaking almost gave me a newfound respect for him...almost.

Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2:03)

Teaser Trailer (SD, 1:21)

Cutthroat Island Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It may have been one of the biggest box office bombs ever, and it may not have the highest-caliber performances, but Cutthroat Island is a sometimes charming, occasionally funny, and always exciting adventure that crams every conceivable pirate trope into a two-hour film. On Blu- ray, the film is more enjoyable than ever, with excellent picture quality and an explosive audio track that features one of the best scores of the 1990s. Those that passed this one up in theaters may want to give it a look. Recommended.