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.

Gina Davis and crew overact so much it makes me cringe. The humor is so simple that you can virtually finish everyone's lines before they do. Everyone overacts with such drama and gusto, that if someone had said they were going to make a sandwich, it'd be said as if they were going to do something that may sink the ship, and would take 10 minutes of sandwich making/dramatic discussion. Boring, overacted, over dramatized and childish writing. I've walked out of other movies not because they were awful, but simply because they weren't my style. I can't honestly figure out who would get into this movie. Perhaps people who've never seen a movie? I love Gina Davis, but the director and script steered her toward a performance that any first year drama student could have pulled of just as well.

It was love at first sight, I like everything in this film.... the action is great and non stop, the settings is awesome, the ships are beautiful and the final battle and explosions is 'Die hard' worth. Even the love story never becomes schmalzy because the whole film is permeated by good sense of humour. It's a pity that it was a flop when it came out, perhaps it was too ahead of it's time with a female pirate doing all the action on her own. I read another comment saying that everything is amazing but there is "too much action" and strangely it is the same comment I heard about Salt with Angelina Jolie (another of my favourites). I don't understand... a number of franchises built their fortune on non-stop action - Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Bourne Trilogy to name the top ones - and this is a pirate movie for god sake, but there is "too much action"....

Cutthroat Island is directed by Renny Harlin and written by Robert King and Marc Norman. It stars Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, Frank Langella, Maury Chaykin, Patrick Malahide, Stan Shaw and Rex Linn. Music is scored by John Debney and cinematography by Peter Levy.A film of many flaws, with a reputation akin to it being the devil of big budget failures, it is, however, a wonderful piece of piratical entertainment if you are prepared to see past the monetary excess. Famously cited as the film that bankrupted Caroloco Pictures, the truth is that Carolco was going under anyway, the studio had filed for bankruptcy before Cutthroat Island had even been released, the box office performance was irrelevant, it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. And while no amount of hard sell marketing could have gotten the film to make back the $98 million spent making it, it received no support from distributor MGM who were in the process of being sold, so finances for marketing were not available.Harlin's movie has all the pirate movie ingredients crammed in to the plot, though it is a standard plot that sees Davis as female pirate Morgan Adams who leads her charges on a quest to find the ultimate treasure hoard. Problem is that the map is in three parts, each part held by separate people, one of which is Morgan's vicious Uncle Dawg (Langella). The hunt and race is on, and Harlin doesn't pause for breath, he's a kid in a sweet shop armed with wads of cash, but the money, as gargantuan as it is, is there on the screen; well except for the hiring of better actors that is. Two magnificent ships were built for the production and they are magnificent, the costumes, the sets, pyrotechnics, exotic locations (Malta and Thailand standing in for 1668 Jamaica), stunning sound editing and visual thrills, all high on value and all cloaked by a tremendously robust score from Debney.Action junkies are well served here, with wild horse drawn carriage chases, sword fights aplenty, ships in side by side explosive battle, mucho perilous situations, bodies falling from heights or thrown in the sea, and we even get a comic relief simian! Who, as it turns out, is one of the best actors on show. It's hard to believe that a pirate action film such as this would not be better appreciated had it been released in the last ten years, and I say that not just because of the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but more so that the blunderbuss popcorn movie has greater support these days. There's a good portion of the movie loving faithful who just want to be entertained, where rapid thrills are a requisite, not well drawn characterisations and thespian class. Judged on those terms then Cutthroat Island is a winner for sure.Main problems are the clunky script and the three pronged miscast errors in the lead roles. Davis (erm, wife of Harlin) is full of guts, really attacking the material with gusto, but she never convinces, it always feels like a caricature and she's uncomfortable delivering key lines. She would prove herself a fine action actress a year later with The Long Kiss Goodnight (also with Harlin directing), but she's woefully out of place here. With Davis demanding more and more screen time for her character, the role of Shaw began to thin out, which was too much to bear for Michael Douglas who bowed out late in the day. In came Matthew Modine, zero chemistry with Davis, a bland acting style and as far removed from the period setting as you could get. Langella just isn't menacing as the main villain of the piece, a very good actor in the right role, but not here and some of his attempts at nastiness feel like panto season has started early.Problems for sure, but wade through some of the misconceptions and poisonous press and you will find a film desperately aiming to please you, with much on offer for the pirate movie fan to savour. 7/10