Fast paced, thrilling joyride about a female pirate(Davis), daughter of an age old pirate who is given a task before her father dies: to find a great treasure which her grandfather left behind on an expedition. However there is a catch: Her Uncle Dawg(Langella) is after the treasure too, and will stop at nothing to steal it from his niece, with swashbuckling adventurous results. This film is a great gem of a movie, and what a pirate film should be. Now a days you have films like "Pirates of the Caribbean" that take all the money at the box office, and get nominated for Academy Awards, but this film is all that one would hope for in a pirate movie. Geena Davis turns is a very credible performance as Morgan Adams, the female pirate with an attitude and a look that could kill. She creates a character that the audience can root for, as she kicks butt through the movie and delivers one liners that, while some might consider lame("You like to was things? Start with your mouth!") Are effective in the end due to honest portrayal. Real sex appeal too. Some of the scenes involving water are really satisfying to the male audience. One great thing for money making, but it is done artistically as well. Matthew Modine is fun as the slave Shaw, whom is hired to translate a map founded by Davis. He plays his role out as annoying but with a little wit and charm. The best part of this film can be said to be Patrick Malahide as the canning Gov. Ainslee. This is a real funny character, while not much in the film, steals every scene he is in. Langella is a treat as the villain of the film, Captain Dawg. Very vile and reptilish, something that heroin Davis can play off of. The direction is superb. Renny Harlin had done his fair share of action films prior to this film so he really knew what he was doing. With a budget like the one this film has how can an action director go wrong! I really enjoyed his style. Especially in the first chase scene. The music is the heart of the film, as composer John Debney created an all too wonderful score to play with Morgan and her mates as they sail to victory, to the battles of the evil Dawg, to the beautiful opening credits which photograph Malta all too beautifully. Possibly one of the ten best scores of the nineties, this soundtrack soars with beauty and swashbuckling adventure and not a song is to be missed! The cinematography is to be mentioned too, as the cliffs of Malta and wherever else this film was shot are brought out to aesthetic ebullience!
All in all, this film has all that a film goer can want in an action film: It has action, sex appeal, excitement, danger, widescreen, and a great ending! It's really too bad this film flopped, as I adore it and would have liked to see it win some awards of some sort! What an awesome film!
All in all, this film has all that a film goer can want in an action film: It has action, sex appeal, excitement, danger, widescreen, and a great ending! It's really too bad this film flopped, as I adore it and would have liked to see it win some awards of some sort! What an awesome film!