Movie Review: Cutthroat Island
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that the Geena Davis heroine here
behaves every bit the way a roguish male action-hero would
(think of James Bond especially). That means she's not only
strong and assertive, resourceful and unyielding in
hand-to-hand combat against villains, but also sexually active,
non-monogamous, and able to drink any man under the table. She
also gets bloodied quite a bit in fights (but recovers pretty
quickly). At one point she disguises herself as a
cleavage-baring prostitute.
Families can talk about the gender-switch in the character of Morgan. Do you think this swaggering pirate woman makes an effective heroine or not? If much the movie had been done with a male lead instead (picture a favorite like Jackie Chan or Tom Cruise) how would that have changed the storyline? Would audiences have accepted the movie more? You could discuss sexual equality (and double standards) in real-life situations, such as jobs and sports, and even the few historical records of actual lady pirates.
Common Sense Media Review
What does it take to destroy
the
Terminator
? Try CUTTHROAT ISLAND, which was such a ruinously
expensive production that it bankrupted its company, the same
one that has made a fortune off the
killer-robot-from-the-future series. On video the spectacle of
Cutthroat Island loses some of its scope. You should
really watch this on widescreen DVD to appreciate all the loot
this cost when it sank at the box office. It took the success
of Disney's
Pirates
of the Caribbean series to redeem swashbuckler
films.
With massive sailing-ships and port cities built in Malta and Thailand, Cutthroat Island is a giddy swashbuckling pirate adventure that never stops moving with the action-cliffhangers. Aside from size and cost, Cutthroat Island's major difference from most other Hollywood pirate swashbucklers is that it's a lass wielding the cutlass, not a macho male star, although much of roguish behavior is exactly the same.
The heroine is Morgan, played by Geena Davis -- who was married to director Renny Harlin at the time. Morgan is the wanted-outlaw daughter and niece in a 17th-century Caribbean pirate family, pirate-ship captain brothers who have turned against each other (this in itself sounds like a more interesting movie).
Ambitious and greedy Uncle Dawg ( Frank Langella) covets the fabulous treasure of plundered Spanish gold hidden on uncharted Cutthroat Island. He mortally wounds Morgan's father over part of a coded map that would help to reveal the island's location. Dying, Morgan's father bequeaths her his ship and crew, plus the hidden map, which turns out to be tattooed on his head (fortunately, there's no scene showing Morgan skinning her dead dad's cranium).
The rest is rather routine chase from points A to B between Morgan and her nasty uncle over the treasure, with the slight complication that Morgan at one point thinks she needs a literate scholar to read the map, so she buys one at a (white) slave auction of colonial prisoners. He's Shaw ( Matthew Modine), a con-artist thief who becomes Morgan's love interest. Commendably, even with this hunk on board, the woman still remains the take-charge central figure. When trouble arises, it's Shaw who needs rescuing by Morgan, rather then the other way around.
Still, Geena Davis doesn't seem to know whether to play any of this straight or comedic (and can you blame her?), even though she throws her all physically into the demanding role. None of it is very believable. One anachronistic character is a sort of tell-all reporter who hangs out with pirates and publishes bestsellers about them, a very unlikely chap to encounter in the 1600s.
Kid viewers might especially like Morgan's expressive pet monkey. Parents might not favor her lifestyle, with its glorified drinking and (non-explicit) action-hero sex. But you can astonish children by telling them that, yes, there are indeed historical accounts of female pirates, the most famous being Anne Bonny and Mary Read. And there was a 1951 girl-power swashbuckler called Anne of the Indies (not an easy find on video).
Before their marriage ended, Geena Davis made one more action film with Renny Harlin, The Long Kiss Goodnight, which plays like the female version of The Bourne Identity . To see Geena Davis actually exercising acting muscles in a role of authority, she played a U.S. president in the TV series Commander in Chief .
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
