Cutthroat Island
Before Potc, there was Cutthroat Island. It tanked horribly at the box office but has gotten to be a sort of cult classic on home video, especially among pirate aficionados.
I'd seen it many years ago but had forgotten most of it. I just remembered that it rocked.
I got it from the library (actually had to have it sent from another library in the consortium, as only one in this part of the state actually had it) and watched it tonight. It's cheesy in places but overall it's really quite good.
Strong female pirate captain in the lead, which is always fun. Aside from the advantage of being able to disguise herself as a high society lady and as a whore (two different scenes, lol) her gender really isn't an issue. I like that a lot, since the whole "ZOMG it's a woman doing all this stuff!!!1" gets old really fast. She's just a kick-ass pirate. ^_^
Overall, PotC is way better, but both are enjoyable.
A few things about CI that I noticed, especially in relation to PotC...
Port Royal is a major setting. Yay for historical research. ;)
Captain Morgan--Adams, that is--has a pet monkey. It's not undead, though. You can't beat an undead monkey. ;)
When she's walking around dressed in fancy clothes like a society lady, with the monkey on her shoulder, she reminds me of Marisa Coulter from the His Dark Materials series. Heh.
One of the main male characters is named William Shaw. He's got brownish-blonde hair. He is not, however, anywhere near as handsome as Orlando Bloom. ;) He did claim, "I've a natural pitch for music." Hmm...eunuch? ;)
The acting isn't always the greatest, and there are American accents mixed in with the more authentic ones.
There's a Kraken in a mural in a tavern. No actual magic or supernatural stuff in this one, though. Just some moves and coincidences in fight scenes that push willing suspension of disbelief to the extreme. ;)
The bad guy, Captain Dawg, is a badass. A little on the old side for me to be fangirling too much, but he's got a nice body. ;) He's so unabashedly ZOMG TEH EVIL that he reminds me of a Brian Jacques villain.
In the final battle with two pirate ships blasting the heck out of each other while major swordfighting goes on all over both decks, was exciting and all, but...wow, those are some calm seas. The rigging barely moves, the decks never sway, and there's really nothing to tell you that they're on a ship on the ocean. Couldn't they have gotten the camera to sway or something to make them seem like they were floating? The masts and everything were just totally still. I guess we're supposed to be paying attention to the people with swords and exploding cannons instead of pesky details like that. ;)
Overall, I grade it as a B. Not spectacular, but very enjoyable.
I'd seen it many years ago but had forgotten most of it. I just remembered that it rocked.
I got it from the library (actually had to have it sent from another library in the consortium, as only one in this part of the state actually had it) and watched it tonight. It's cheesy in places but overall it's really quite good.
Strong female pirate captain in the lead, which is always fun. Aside from the advantage of being able to disguise herself as a high society lady and as a whore (two different scenes, lol) her gender really isn't an issue. I like that a lot, since the whole "ZOMG it's a woman doing all this stuff!!!1" gets old really fast. She's just a kick-ass pirate. ^_^
Overall, PotC is way better, but both are enjoyable.
A few things about CI that I noticed, especially in relation to PotC...
Port Royal is a major setting. Yay for historical research. ;)
Captain Morgan--Adams, that is--has a pet monkey. It's not undead, though. You can't beat an undead monkey. ;)
When she's walking around dressed in fancy clothes like a society lady, with the monkey on her shoulder, she reminds me of Marisa Coulter from the His Dark Materials series. Heh.
One of the main male characters is named William Shaw. He's got brownish-blonde hair. He is not, however, anywhere near as handsome as Orlando Bloom. ;) He did claim, "I've a natural pitch for music." Hmm...eunuch? ;)
The acting isn't always the greatest, and there are American accents mixed in with the more authentic ones.
There's a Kraken in a mural in a tavern. No actual magic or supernatural stuff in this one, though. Just some moves and coincidences in fight scenes that push willing suspension of disbelief to the extreme. ;)
The bad guy, Captain Dawg, is a badass. A little on the old side for me to be fangirling too much, but he's got a nice body. ;) He's so unabashedly ZOMG TEH EVIL that he reminds me of a Brian Jacques villain.
In the final battle with two pirate ships blasting the heck out of each other while major swordfighting goes on all over both decks, was exciting and all, but...wow, those are some calm seas. The rigging barely moves, the decks never sway, and there's really nothing to tell you that they're on a ship on the ocean. Couldn't they have gotten the camera to sway or something to make them seem like they were floating? The masts and everything were just totally still. I guess we're supposed to be paying attention to the people with swords and exploding cannons instead of pesky details like that. ;)
Overall, I grade it as a B. Not spectacular, but very enjoyable.