Product Details

• Actors: Ken Bones, Carl Chase, Maury Chaykin, Lucinda Clare, Geena Davis
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: September 10, 1996
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (144 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303990444
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,045 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #50 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Swashbucklers
  #65 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Sea Adventure

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Geena Davis (THELMA & LOUISE, BEETLEJUICE) and Matthew Modine (MARRIED TO THE MOB, FULL METAL JACKET) deliver a tidal wave of nonstop action and adventure in this swashbuckling saga of ruthless pirates, buried treasure and bloodthirsty betrayal.

From The New Yorker

Director Renny Harlin's high-seas adventure has some good things going for it: Geena Davis makes a swashbucklingly alluring pirate, and the megabudget provides huge explosions. But this plot-heavy rollick is as badly constructed and overwhelmingly inflated as Spielberg's "Hook." Harlin's earlier films, "Die Hard 2" and "Cliffhanger," had their fair share of muscular action, and he doesn't disappoint here: his winds blow and his seas roil. Matthew Modine, though-with whom Davis is teamed in a race for hidden treasure-is less than inspired. The movie gamely attempts to capture the fire of the old Errol Flynn pictures, but it's harsh and imposing, and there's no romance to it. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swashbuckling fun at its best!, October 22, 2000

By	Mr Vess (Cracow) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cutthroat Island (DVD)

Pure joy for fans of old fashioned sea adventure and entertaining, if stereotypical, peg-legged, eye-patched pirates shouting "Arr!", this movie does not pretend to be anything else than it is - great fun based on popular legends and beliefs rather than the facts on pirate lives. And so much the better! Non-stop action, fantastic score, breathtaking sceneries and props, adequately fun script, and, yes, even good acting (to my surprise, Geena Davis actually managed to deliver a good performance!). Frank Langella is almost as good a pirate as Walter Matthau was in Roman Polanski's equally underrated pirate classic. Hearing various bad comments about the movie, I had low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that the bad reviews and comments were simply unfair. Apparently, critics these days follow one another in "their" opinions rather than actually watching the movies, and people are looking for violence and blood of "Dobermann" kind rather than simply entertaining if unrealistic movies like "Cutthroat Island" (actually, the movie seems to have been researched quite nicely - it's the first time I've seen Hollywood use actual "squad" wine bottles in a pirate movie instead of modern-shaped ones!)

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great swashbuckling fun!, September 14, 2001

By	D. Roberts "Hadrian12" (Battle Creek, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cutthroat Island (DVD)

This film features everything a good pirate flick should: stormy seas, a spectacular naval battle, a sexy pirate captain (Geena Davis) and buried treasure complete with a treasure map written in latin (the preferred language of pirates).

This is one of the few times I've seen Davis in a leading role; normally, she is a supporting actress. She pulls it off quite well, although in a couple of scenes her acting is a bit wooden. Frank Langella stands out as an old-salt, ruthless pirate while Matthew Modine is great as the movie's comic relief.

What really makes this movie worth buying, tho, is just how well done it is. The 17th century sets are lavish - you feel as tho you are back in the period in which the movie takes place. The soundtrack is riveting, and I found the sound of the DVD quite excellent. Not sure if they did anything different than they do with other DVDs, but it sure seemed like the audio was a notch above most DVDs - esp in the storm sequence.

This is the kind of movie that critics make a living off of by slamming. What does this mean for the rest of us? Why, it means that it's a fun time to be had by all! And may the movie critics goto Davy Jones locker...

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fun for a rather mediocre movie, January 8, 2002

By	Matthew S. Schweitzer "zohoe" (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cutthroat Island (DVD)

Cutthroat Island is not a great movie by any means. But it is a lot of fun if you enjoy pirate treasure, sea battles, sword fighting, a great soundtrack, and wonderful period costumes. The script is pretty weak and much of the acting is wooden. Worse yet, it seems that no one learned anything from Errol Flynn's The Sea Hawk because they once again include a rather annoying monkey as comedy relief. But what they do right is what makes this movie worth watching. The film wonderfully recreates the 17th century Caribbean world of the pirates and is probably the most realistic looking realization of this time and place to date. The actual portrayal of the pirates themselves owes more to "Treasure Island" and "Peter Pan" than "The American Sea Rovers", but there is definately something compelling in the romantic myth of the golden age of piracy. The pirate movie has suffered in recent years and Cutthroat will probably do nothing to revive it, which is really a shame as they, like the western and sci-fi adventure, are the best incarnations of modern myth to be found today.

The story revolves around the quest of Captain Morgan Adams, the sexy yet honorable pirate queen, to avenge her father's murder and outwit her evil pirate nemesis and fratricidal uncle, Captain "Dawg" (who makes these names up?). Taking command of her late father's ship and now in possession of part of a map to locate her father's lost treasure, Morgan sets out to win the vast riches for her and her hardy crew. On the way she engages the services of the roguish "Doctor" Shaw, manages to obtain the remaining pieces of the map, then goes on to brave mutinies, betrayals, storms at sea, exploding cannonballs, bad dialogue, and cliched bad guys in a worthwhle romp through an era gone by, when men and women sailed tall wooden ships, killed many people for profit, and drank themselves into oblivion on the high seas.

I gave Cutthroat Island one more star than it probably really deserves simply for being a really guilty pleasure. So grab your bottle of rum and cold steel cutlass and check it out!