CUTTHROAT ISLAND
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1996 Ben Hoffman
In the "good old days" we had Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Senior and later Errol Flynn. They did the swashbuckling, the fencing, the leaping from balconies. We are now in the mid-nineties and Renny Harlin is directing CUTTHROAT ISLAND with his wife, Geena Davis as the prancing, leaping, fencing lead in the film. In addition to the above, a new bit has been added which, to put it politely could be called "kick them in groin." And Geena does just that at least 20 times, with her feet or with her knees and the men fall like, well, flies.
Geena is aided by Matthew Modine while Frank Langella plays her uncle, the villain. All in vain. The story is as old as movie making with a bit of RLS' Treasure Island thrown in. There is a map that tells of buried treasure but, sad to relate, Morgan (Geena Davis) only has part of the map. And, what's more, it's in Latin. Luckily, at a slave auction of prisoners, Morgan spots William Shaw (Modine) handsome and educated, so she buys him. That is not all; his education includes the ability to read Latin.
Dawg (Langella), with shaven head and constant snarl, has the other part of the map, so we are in for some great battle scenes as "hand to hand" the frigates fire cannon at each other while everyone leaps and waves swords (and do not forget the "kneeing".) When the battle is over, Morgan has a slight smudge on one cheek but her clothes look newly laundered. And so on.
I almost forgot to mention that this great story took 4 persons to write (Michael Frost Beckner & James Gorman and Bruce A Evans & Raynold Gideon.) Screenplay by Robert King and Marc Norman.
Directed by Renny Harlin.
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Ben Hoffman
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