Were it really that bad?

It was fairly entertaining at parts, too cheesy for the most part, but nothing to scream foul about.

I caught this last night on television.

After having watched most of it, I think its reputation as an awful film was well deserved. It was a poorly written and badly acted mess.

I wouldn't call it an Awful Film. Just a Mediocre Movie. Some people don't know the difference. Manos the Hands of Fate is an awful film. This can at least be enjoyed for the cheese it is. Frankly i think if this came out at the same time as the POTC movies were coming out. It would have done better.

The bad:

1. Casting/acting

Geena Davis can handle the physical ascpects of the role and she looks good as Morgan. But her line-delivery? Oh my God ...

Plus, like a lot of other players in this, she suffers from "American-itis". Is it that much to ask to use a more appropriate accent than your own, 20th Century American one? British actors use US-accents all the time when the role requires it.

Other casting mishaps:

The fat dude playing the chronicler of piracy

Matthew Modine - whom I like as an actor and who does have the looks (like a poor man's Errol Flynn). And at least he seems to be trying. But I guess having Geena in "I don't give a fugg"-mode at his side made it impossible for him to play off of her.


2. Story

A bit too convoluted for a straight up pirate-flick. Worse than that, it's full of holes and WTF?-moments. Like Trotter switching sides for *some* reason. Or the governor deciding to ride along with Dawg in the third act. Or him and the fat dude just getting blasted by cannon-fire. At least the governor would've deserved a better death-scene *and* he should've been fleshed out more as a villain. That role, with Balon Greyjoy playing it, had a lot more potential.

3. Bad CGI/FX (partially)

Some of the greenscreen/CG (was it CG?) stuff was pretty bad, even by 1995-standards. Like the scene where Morgan falls off the balcony during the tavern-fight.

The good:

1. It's an old-fashioned Pirate-film - nothing more, nothing less.

No silly Zombie/magic-crap, no hyper-unrealistic stuff like a governor's daughter dreaming of becoming a pirate, etc.

2. Gorgeous scenery/photography

I know it wasn't shot in the Caribbean, but this flick was one of the reasons why I wanted to go there and see it for myself.

3. Lack of CGI-crap
A lot of the stuff we see was done for real. The ships were real, the battles, the stunts, etc.

4. Doesn't attempt to be ultra-kiddie-friendly

Considering the period portrayed, the amount of violence/gore could've been dialed up a notch, but at least it's still more realistic in that regard than POTC.

5. Kick-ass soundtrack

The music is just perfect for this sort of film.


I'm sure I could come up with more points, but I've been rambling on for too long already.

Bottom line for me:

It's certainly not a perfect film (far from it, actually), but if you want to see a modern pirate film, there are only so many alternatives. I'd call it a guilty pleasure on my part, but I still don't understand why it bombed *this* big. My guess is that if they had had *one* big name star in it, it would've been a success.


S.

i didn't think it was bad. but then i like pirate films, apart from the pirqtes of the caribean ones which i think are lame.