Cutthroat Island - Story of Romanticized Age of Piracy

Cutthroat Island is a 1995 Hollywood action adventure film with a large dose of romantic comedy that was directed by Renny Harlin and starred by Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, and Frank Langella. Even though this film had very expensive production for the time when it was filled, the end product was not welcomed warmly by film critics and audiences, leading it to become one of the biggest box office flops of all time. After movie was released, Guiness World Records recognized it as the movie was the largest box office loss in the history.

Set in a highly romanticized age of piracy, story of Cutthroat Island pits two main heroes of a film Captain Morgan Adams (Davis) and her slave William Shaw (Modine) on a big quest to find vast pirate treasure. Sadly they quickly find out that the last and crucial part of lost treasure map is in the possession of Morgan’s evil uncle, Dawg. With the pirate crew on the verge of mutiny, and almost unsolvable obstacles in front of them, Captain Morgan Adams goes on an adventure where she has to fight not only her uncle, but also officials of the British crown who are on the hunt to stop her pirate activity in the Caribbean. The film is full of action and high-octane set pieces, clocking little over 2 hours of airtime.

The performance of the leading role played by Geena Davis received relative praise, but overall pace and resolution of the movie plot and relationship gathered mostly negative attention from people who saw the film. Today the film remains remembered not as a cult classic, but either as a forgettable film that has few redeeming qualities in it (mostly performance of Davis), or as a fun action flick that does not seek to challenge its viewers with complicated plot.