Review of Cutthroat Island (1995) by Jonathan Y — 03 Aug 2008

Years before 'Pirates of the Caribbean', Renny Harlin and then-wife Geena Davis attempted to bring the defunct pirate genre back to life with this grossly over-produced, unintentionally hilarious campfest.

Designed by committee to be a blockbuster hit, this lavish but empty-headed spectacle instead torpedoed Carolco Pictures and sank Davis's career. It doesn't help that the silly storyline dishes up a wooden Matthew Modine as a swashbuckling romantic lead, a role he's quite ill-equipped to tackle.

The spectacular production value and elaborate set design stand as the only real plusses here, but between the ham-handed direction, the campy performances and the head-scratchingly odd plot, you'd be better off just watching an old episode of 'Popeye the Sailor'.