Popular reviews

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★ 1

  Kind of astonishing that Renny Harlin brought his clear skills for analog FX work and explosive, stunt-heavy action to a Pirates of the Caribbean movie (nearly beat-for-beat, sequence-for-sequence) a decade before it would become one of the most popular things in the world and everyone rejected and hated him for it. There's an alternate universe where this was a smash hit and he and then-wife Geena Davis were another PWSA + Milla situation.

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  Review by Tentin Quarantino ☭ ★★★½ 5

  Rated PG-13 for some strong pirate action...

  You're god damn right I'm watching any movie that contains strong pirate action.

  This is famous for losing more money than most films make, and I'm pretty sure it can be narrowed down to two reasons.

  The first is Geena Davis. Whoever cast her needs to be shot in the face on national TV. Super Bowl halftime show, perhaps. I don't care if it happened two decades ago; there's no statute of limitations on crimes this severe. Seriously, what the fuck. Not only is her performance horrible, but she is horrible for the role. And it's a good role. That's the sad thing. I'm sure it was great on the page, and I…

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  Review by Josh Gillam ★★ 3

  Geena Davis and Matthew Modine star in Renny Harlin’s adventure swashbuckler following the daughter of a famous pirate who attempts to find the pieces of a map that will lead to fabled riches, her villainous uncle (Frank Langella) in hot pursuit.

  On release this became one of the biggest box office bombs in history, barely making back a tenth of its ever-inflating near $100 million budget, but as one of the most expensive films of its day the high production values really do show. It’s incredibly well made, filled with loads of exotic locations and ambitious setpieces to enliven the proceedings, but there’s just something off about the execution that holds the film back from living up to its potential.…

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  Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★★ 10

  Absolutely everyone has at least one guilty pleasure that they enjoy much more than anyone expects them to. I have several, from the likes of Hudson Hawk to So I Married An Axe Murderer, but this one from a director who's cv just oozes shit is ranked among the biggest money-losing films of all time, and I just can't help myself in revelling at it's awfulness.

  Cutthroat Island was released in 1995 to reviews so bad they almost called for a public hanging of director Renny Harlin. Some critics and executives of Carolco Pictures wished that Harlin had been marooned on Cutthroat Island, alongside all the reels of film he shot, because this pretty much bankrupted the studio. A pirate…

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  Review by Joe ★★★★½ 3

  The most beautiful explosions I've ever seen. Possibly tacking on an extra half star for spite.

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  Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★★

  not sure who was crazier: Carolco for spending 100 million on this or Renny Harlin for actually making it — whichever it may be, this (along with Waterworld) feels like a swan song for a specific type of studio distributed practical adventure film, full of epic set pieces, a grand scale and some of the best explosions to ever grace movie screens — it doesn’t hurt that it’s also two hours of Geena Davis just beating the shit out of surly men (who very much deserve it); everyone who slept on this, or dismissed it, in 1995 (or since) should be ashamed

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  Review by gregs1999 ★★½

  They really called the main villain Dawg, just so the big punch line could be “bad Dawg”. It definitely more comedy and better action, but then it would end up being a PoTC film. Dude really made such a blunder in the box office that it took Disney to revive pirate films.

  Renny Harlin ranked

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  Review by {Todd} ★

  Wow. This is bad. Like really bad. I'm a little surprised by how bad this is. That's how bad it is. This is a Renny Harlin speed bump.

  Matthew Modine and Geena Davis are so low energy and horrible in a movie where they play charismatic leaders and schemers. This is two hours, the time it took Gideon to assemble the League of Evil Exes...TWO HOURS!

  This convoluted plot includes no stakes as the PG-13 rating means that you see no one really die or get bloodied in any way.

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  Review by Rob Hill ★★ 9

  You really just can't overcome bad writing. It leeches the fun, robs the chemistry, and maroons the cast on a proverbial island.

  Anyway, read this review from Josh Gillam, as I have little or nothing to add beyond his points. Full endorsement and agreement.

  A ★★ review of Cutthroat Island by Josh Gillam on Letterboxd

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  Review by Middle-Aged Hate Eternal Enthusiast ★★★½ 20

  The Beau Travail of mid-90’s, studio ending, financial flop, pirate blockbusters. 

  Despite being well aware at the time what a boondoggle this production was and of course eventually of its record setting box office failure (a $10 million worldwide return on its reported $115 million budget), I had never bothered watching this until last night. Surprise, surprise, it’s just dandy, bordering on rather good. 

  Sure, Geena Davis and Modine present as anachronistic both in their physical bearing and line readings, but they’re winning enough leads, and not lacking in onscreen chemistry. Langella makes for a delightfully imposing and deliciously hammy big bad. The practical action, locations, sets and ships are all jaw dropping, and it features a romantically swooning score…

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  Review by Sudhakar Kumar ★★★★ 1

  A swashbuckling great time.

  I liked the sheer scale of the thing and how it was just a goofy action spectacular that just happened to feature a female in the lead role.

  John Debney’s superlative swashbuckling score works perfectly with a movie such as this creating a wonderful sense of adventure.

  Cutthroat Island manages to be hands-down one of the most fun experiences watching a film I've had in a long while.

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  Review by Dale Nauertz ★★★ 3

  So this is it: the movie that bankrupted Carolco (the Sly and Arnold powerhouse from the 1980s), that derailed Geena Davis's acting career, that made Renny Harlin a joke. "Cutthroat Island" cost a then-staggering $98 million dollars, which now feels like the cost of catering for the average Marvel movie. It's kind of quaint to think about an era where a $100 million dollar movie was considered insanely expensive.

  But every dollar of that budget is right there on the screen. I hold this movie in fond regard, despite its obvious flaws, and I think a lot of that has to do with just how lush and gorgeously realized this movie is. The locations are exotic and beautiful, which of…