Cutthroat Island (1995)

Geena Davis as a pirate queen?  Why not?  `Tis the season for 
curious casting and at least Ms. Davis appears to be having fun.  
With her sword in tow, she gets to brawl like the big boys.  She 
even gets to head-butt.  Behind the camera is her hubby, Renny 
Harlin, who takes great pains to ensure that every set has been 
exploded by the end of the film.  And who says that there are no 
good roles for women?  Spectacle is the operative word here.  The 
director of CLIFFHANGER and DIE HARDER knows how to keep the fuse 
lit, even as he sails dangerously close to the shores of San 
Fiasco.  

For all its accomplished action, CUTTHROAT ISLAND is a remarkably 
unremarkable movie.  Both Davis and leading-man Matthew Modine-- a 
last-minute replacement for Michael Douglas, no less!-- are hor-
ribly miscast.  (Daffy Duck does a better Errol Flynn than these 
two, matey.)  They do do their own stunts, though, which is cool 
and which probably goes a long way to explain the look of aston-
ishment that Geena Davis wears in every other scene.  Hardly a 
treasure.  (Rated "PG-13"/ 124 min.)
 
Grade: C- 

Copyright 1995 by Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies