Customer Reviews

Pirates of Treasure Island

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"Pirates of Treasure Island" is almost a straight remake of any given Treasure Island movie. With giant bugs. And Anne Bonny. The last half of the movie skews wildy off-course in the Asylum tradition. And it is more fun that way.

Convincing sets, good costuming, some fair to good acting, numerous 'orrible accents.

Yes, "Pirates of Treasure Island" is not a first-rate, high-budget movie. It is a fun movie that looks good and entertains. Four stars.

Fit for the trashcan. That's precisely where it went after exactly 3 minutes of pain. Period.

Audiences familiar with big budget pirate films will scoff at this production that features community theater like performances and a script that is too talky to be entertaining to children. Sets look too new and the pirates are too clean. Computer imaged ship used on night and distance shots is different from ship used in close ups.

I paid a buck at a flea market for this movie. I paid too much.

PIRATES OF TREASURE ISLAND

Yet another Asylum film that Lance Henriksen has chosen to be apart of and once again I had to buy it, this one at least is better than the last by a long shot. The last being that Da Vinci film this one at least is entertaining through out, well for the most part. This is well you guess it one of many films based on the Treasure Island book, and it was also released when a famous Depp film was released. I am certain you know what movie I am talking about.

This film is about what you would already expect from a movie with its name, and island with treasure on it. There are a group of pirates who are after the treasure and are looking to return to the island and then a group of travelers who are on their way there as well, only a few of them know the real reason why they are going. Of course both groups are on the ship together not knowing about each other or their motives. That is until our lead character hears John Silver discussing his plans with his fellow pirates, and that leads to an interesting deal being made.

Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novel writers Carlos de los Rios, David Michael Latt [also producer], and Leigh Scott [also director] did a good job especially compared to other Asylum films. Don't get me wrong this is far from an academy award but hey at least it is full of b fun, know what I mean. Acting wise it is pretty much the same, bad but on a good level. Tom Nagel is our lead as Jim Hawkins and he was ok in this film and Rebekah Kochan was good as Anne Bonney. Lance Henriksen is good as Long John Silver but you can tell he was just having fun with the character, in fact the same can be said about the whole cast.

The film is full of bad effects such as the creatures on the island but that is part of the film's charm I guess. The sets look bad but once again that is part of the appeal I think of this film, I don't know maybe I am being to nice to the film but we all liked it. If you have to have a good looking film with excellent sets, and effects, and whatever then this one is very much not for you. But if you don't mind so called "b" films and all the things most lack then this one is for you.

Treasure Island must rank among the most frequently adapted novels for movies and TV .The list of movies based on it is a long one and some pretty decent actors have gotten involved in earlier versions -Charlton Heston ,Orson Welles and Robert Newton amongst others have all played Long John Silver ,for example.There is even a Disney animation which sets the tale in Outer Space

This version must be the among the worst ever made ,maybe even the worst actually.For one thing it takes the bare bones of the book and adds extraneous elenents which detract from the tale rather than improves on it.Thus -presumably for the Pirates of the Caribbean generation -it adds (badly animated)giant bugs to the scenery of Skeleton Island and we get a number of women in the cast .

Long John Silver is played by Lance Henrikson who -within the confines of the dire script -does a decent job .He takes over The Hispaniola which is on a mission to recover treasure from Skeleton Island .Jim Hawkins -older here than in the book leads the opposition aided by castaway Ben Gunn

Its not exciting .Its not well acted and it follows the trend of recent classic novel adaptations of not trusting the source novel .While early versions of the book did stick quite closely to Stevenson this and other recent versions opts to pander to modern susceptibilities and gives us women pirates ,monsters and a dash of sex .It might be trashy fun but it is not Stevenson and serves only to emphasise a slight sense of desperation hanging over the whole venture

Avoid.

Classic adventure tale of Robert Louis Stevenson has been filmed so many times and the original novel is so famous that we don't need a plot summery here. This version from The Asylum, American independent film studio known for its low-budget direct-to video films, is clearly trying to capitalizes on the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" as its title suggests, but Asylum's adaptation is surprisingly faithful to Stevenson's book except for several minor changes such as additional female characters on the ship. However, the entertainment value of "Pirates of Treasure Island" is quite another thing, and sadly thrills, suspense and excitement is all nil here.

In fact, the film, which runs barely 75 minutes, is extremely boring. If you are looking for swashbuckling adventures, sorry, you don't have one here because there is no swashbuckling fights in this film. Actually, there are some, but as every sword (and gun) fight is so poorly shot and choreographed, you just don't care what is going on there anyway.

Top-billed Lance Henriksen plays Long John Silver. Henriksen, who was so brilliant in "Aliens" and TV's "Millennium," is not only miscast; his acting is also disappointingly weak, Young daredevil hero Jim Hawkins (Tom Nagel) is bland and other supporting characters just pop up and go away without making much sense. Terrible editing, costumes, and very small amount of effects don't help.

That does not mean that Johnny Depp's effects-ridden two "Pirates" sequels are great, but at least they are not dull like this one, which seems going eternally with talk, talk, talk.

This movie elevates Cutthroat Island to the level of Citizen Kane. It is an insult to the Treasure Island name and every aspect of its production is awful. It is not entertaining in any way. I don't understand why its even commercially available. There are so many actual versions of Treasure Island that are so good. Disney's version with Robert Newton comes to mind. The there is a version with Charlton Heston. And that version is not available on DVD, but this abomination is?

PIRATES OF TREASURE ISLAND
Starring: Lance Henricksen, Tom Nagel and Rebekah Kochan.
Long John Silver has some treasure, Not his, and he has to hide it and get it at a later date. That's the plot, Now executed by Lance Henricksen and Theasylum regulars. The cast stood out with great accents and commitment. Tom Nagel had the thankless role as the hero. Rebekah Kochan looked the best I've seen her, She can fight too-Sometimes just with her blouse .Lance Henricksen seems an odd choice for LJS(What a tasty franchise),But he was great and so into Villian-mode. Okay, final score,The ship looked great, Island scenes rocked and The occasional creature was welcome.

I thought this movie had something going for it. I never watched the entire thing (Thank GOD I DOwnloaded instead). I did watch the first thirty minutes, and it was very confusing, not to mention the terrible acting which will make you wish you had a leading role in that movie, because regardless of your acting experience it would have made it much better.

I don't even recommend getting this movie if you have time to burn. (listening to Opera might be more interesting).