Cutthroat Island (1995)

An underrated epic pirate movie that failed at box office , set in 17th century and stars a female pirate searching for a valuable treasure. She is Morgan Adams : Geena Davis (then Mrs Harlin) who attempts to free a polish , rogue crook : Matthew Modine from slavery and save the life of her father : Harris Yulin at the hands of his brother Henry Morgan : Frank Langella . Her main problem is the map revealing the location has been divided into three pieces . Se only has the first , etched oh her daddy's scalp. Along the way she persuades the educated slave/thief Mathew Modine who has lots of charm , no morals to assist her . The Course has been set. There is no Turning Back. Prepare Your Weapons . Summon Your Courage . Discover the Adventure of a Lifetime¡

Lavish swashbuckling with great production design in which almost everything from entire sea ports -actually set in Malta- are destroyed along the way in a series of impressive stunts that will have your breath away, as well as spectacular sea battles in which entire ships to Jamaica were bombed , though really shot in Thailand . Small children will be entranced and amused by the frolics and antics of a pet monkey . Long on action and short on studio character and plot . Well starred by Geena Davis, she gives exuberance enough for her pirate queen role . Her despicable uncle is nicely played by Frank Langella as the scurvy veteran pirate who wants to take the treasure at whatever cost and he won't stop at nothing . They are finely accompanied by a good support cast , such as : Harris Yulin, Maury Chaykin, Patrick Malahide, Stan Shaw, Rex Linn , Paul Dillon, Angus Wright, Christopher Masterson , among others.

Special mention for the rousing and thrilling musical score by John Debney . As well as colorful and sunny cinematography by Peter Levy , shot on wonderful locations in Malta and Thailand. Filmmaker Renny Harlin likes lots of blowing up and frenetic action when he does not know what else to do, resulting in an overlong and a little tiring movie . It was a commercial flop that bankrupted the powerful production company Carolco/Mario Kassar . The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard , Cliffhanger, Hercules, Cleaner , Exorcist the beginning , Mindhunters, Deep Blue sea , Long Kiss goodnight , Driven , 12 Rounds , 5 days of War) . Rating : 6/10 . An amusing and fun pirate movie though kiddies may be frightened by some gory and bloody action scenes . Well worth watching .