Cutthroat Island (1995)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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.

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.

i never that this movie had flopped in the theaters,, i was reading someone's comments and i was like wow it shouldn't have,, ig guess the times back then wasn't really ready for a swashbuckling female captain,, geena davis did do a decent job,, matthew modine was alright,, probably cud have used someone a little better to compliment geena. the premise wasn't bad,, makes you wander if pirates of the Caribbean took some of this and made it their own,, o well food for thought ,, overall this isn't a bad movie,, it has it's decent moment,, but it's not a great movie either, it's like right in the middle of the road so that's why i rated it a 5.

I remember this as one of my childhoods greatest action/adventure movies. Being a great fan of any good pirate story, I just had to re-watch it as an adult.What I found was a movie almost as good as I remember it. As an adult, I would of course smirk a bit at plot holes and some of the cheesy choreography (by which I mean such things as a bunch of Carolinians standing still in the middle of a battle, almost 'waiting' for the coming bomb to go of, or the 'good guys' appearing out of nowhere right behind the said Carolinians). But never mind that! Let's focus on the good things instead.It starts in the middle of a scene in which we are introduced to two of the main characters, the protagonist and the antagonist. The incident makes us understand that the protagonist (the pirate captain) is a well known pirate with a reputation, and the antagonist (a highly reputable politician) has got a taste for pirate flesh (on several levels, I might add). We quickly get into the story, and along the story goes on, we are introduced to more and more details about the persons and what has happened "before the movie". A plus is that it's not like thrown in your face at the end. Another mark on the good side is all the playing around with details typical for the pirate genre (by which I mean both books and movies, of course). But it never really gets cliché! Sometimes the movie is on the edge to get so, but never quite takes that final step over. We got a treasure island (Cutthroat Island), a bunch of hilarious/funny/goofy/kick ass pirates fighting each other and the 1600s government, some clever lines, a few bottles of rum and the Caribbean landscape. What else can you ask for in a pirate movie? The stunts, effects, acting and editing are never less than so-so, sometimes really good. Bare in mind that it was made almost twenty years ago, and the conditions as we have today wasn't really the same (which makes it easier for me to watch ... I know films from today that are far worse made). On the hole: if you would like to watch a good ol' pirate movie, with all the necessary ingredients, this is the one for you. I you are not a fan of pirate movies, but would like to change your mind, this is definitely the one for you!