Cutthroat Island (1995)

44% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
41% of users liked it
(21,132 ratings)

Geena Davis stars in this adventure saga as the most swashbuckling female pirate to ever lay waste to the seven seas. Morgan Adams (Davis) is the daughter of a pirate who has followed in her father's footsteps. When he dies, he passes along his ship, a crew of bandits, and one third of a treasure… More Geena Davis stars in this adventure saga as the most swashbuckling female pirate to ever lay waste to the seven seas. Morgan Adams (Davis) is the daughter of a pirate who has followed in her father's footsteps. When he dies, he passes along his ship, a crew of bandits, and one third of a treasure map (which happens to be tattooed on his skull). Morgan is eager to search out the rest of the map and retrieve the riches, but the fragment she holds is in Latin. Morgan then buys a well-educated slave, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), who can read the ancient language and already has a taste for the criminal life. However, Morgan and William are not long into their search when they discover that someone else is following the same trail for the rest of the treasure map: Dawg Brown (Frank Langella), Morgan's uncle and as black-hearted a scurvy dog as ever boarded a ship. As Morgan and Dawg battle each other over the fragments of the map, a British journalist (Maury Chaykin) covers their feud for the penny press. William Shaw was originally to have been played by Michael Douglas, who dropped out in the early stages of this troubled production. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr. 3 min.
Directed By: Renny Harlin
Genres: Action & Adventure, Kids & Family

In Theaters: Dec 22, 1995 Wide
On DVD: Jul 25, 2000
Studio: Live Home Video

Critic Reviews

Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today
If the sight of half-naked, tattooed sailors firing cannons at each other shivers your timbers, climb aboard. Even passable pirate movies don't sail by every day.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Poorly written, acted, and executed advanture tale of pirates.
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media
Geena Davis brings girl power to the pirate ship.
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews
Hey, are you looking for an exciting movie about pirates of the, well, um, Caribbean? [Blu-ray]
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
Island is a one-of-a-kind, full-steam-ahead practical pirate event, and while it's bolted together with minimal attention to thespian proficiency, it sustains a special rhythm of eye candy and fortitude that makes it an enduring curiosity.
Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk.com
So yeah, it's kind of fun. Even if it's not very good.
Chuck O'Leary, Fantastica Daily
A fun popcorn movie.
Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal
This pirate movie wannabe should walk the plank.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Strangely devoid of any genuine fun or excitement.
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser
The drama is shallow and superficial, but there is a coherent, forward-moving plot, enjoyable characters, numerous, elaborately staged action scenes and wall-to-wall sound. What's not to like? The film never slows down, leaping from one set of perils to
Blake Davis, KFOR Channel 4 News
A big, cheesy guilty pleasure full of beautiful landscapes and true swashbuckling.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Actually one of Renny Harlin's better efforts.

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

moon r

Renny Harlin updates the Flynn classic swashbucklers by a) casting a female, Geena Davis, as the lead, and b) injecting more "boom!" into the mix with a lot of pyrotechnics. It almost works. Its a brash, brawling pirate film alright and sorta fun alright but it somehow… More
Renny Harlin updates the Flynn classic swashbucklers by a) casting a female, Geena Davis, as the lead, and b) injecting more "boom!" into the mix with a lot of pyrotechnics. It almost works. Its a brash, brawling pirate film alright and sorta fun alright but it somehow fails to connect. Matt Modine plays the Flynn part okay, Flynn in the supporting position instead of as the lead, which is disconcerting, but maybe what's missing more in the film is the objective: the Flynn pirates took the gold too, but were actually "fighting for England!" or "freedom!" or some such and not simply the booty ...
Lucas M

Entertaining, but not the best film of Genna Davis.
Jeff "

Cutthroat Island is a very fun pirate film with lots of action, humorous and witty dialogue and good acting. I cannot understand why this film flopped, it has everything that is required to be a box office hit. I think it's quite a shame. Renny Harlin delivers quite possibly the… More
Cutthroat Island is a very fun pirate film with lots of action, humorous and witty dialogue and good acting. I cannot understand why this film flopped, it has everything that is required to be a box office hit. I think it's quite a shame. Renny Harlin delivers quite possibly the best film of his career This is a bare bones pirate film with a simple, yet effective story. The film doesn't include all the magic and sorcery of The Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy; its a pirate film about pirates looking for hidden treasure. Simple and classic, some may enjoy this film more than the POTC films. I enjoyed both films. This film is action packed and once it starts, it doesn't give you enough time for a breather. This film should only be viewed by pirate film enthusiasts or action film fans. If you're expecting a Pirates Of The Caribbean style film, you'll be greatly disappointed and if you do expect something of the sort by watching this film, then you should pass up on it. This resembles more the pirate films of old and doesn't include magical curses or mythical creatures with multiple tentacles. Geena Davis is very good here, and so is Matthew Modine. Also a key performance worth mentioning is Frank Langella as Dawg, he's definitely one of the strongest character on screen. Cutthroat Island is one fun, thrilling action packed swahbuckling adventure. A seriously underrated film.
Manu G

It was good and with some action similar to Pirates of the Carribean but never the same. Really a movie to watch when you have nothing else to do, it makes time pass faster at least that was my experience. Female pirate Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) and her learned slave, William Shaw… More
It was good and with some action similar to Pirates of the Carribean but never the same. Really a movie to watch when you have nothing else to do, it makes time pass faster at least that was my experience. Female pirate Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) and her learned slave, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), are on a quest to recover the three portions of a treasure map. The treasure is hidden on a mysterious Cutthroat Island. Unfortunately, the final portion is held by her villainous uncle, Douglas ('Dawg') Brown (Frank Langella). Her crew is skeptical of her leadership abilities, so she must complete her quest before they mutiny against her. This is made more difficult by the efforts of the Royal Navy from Jamaica under the command of the self-serving Governor Ainslee (Patrick Malahide) to end her piratical career. On her ship, Morning Star, Morgan starts the voyage to Cutthroat Island.
Dean M

The film's slow-motion effects are overdone and its humour is often too cute, but this sprawling swashbuskler develops a sportive seediness and rich, atmospheric funk.
xGary X

Geena Davis did the Pirates of the Caribbean thing a decade before Mr. Depp. And did it a hell of a lot worse. Basically Renny Harlin failed to take into account the fact that it's supposed to be a period pirate film, and directed it in exactly the same way as he did Die Hard 2,… More
Geena Davis did the Pirates of the Caribbean thing a decade before Mr. Depp. And did it a hell of a lot worse. Basically Renny Harlin failed to take into account the fact that it's supposed to be a period pirate film, and directed it in exactly the same way as he did Die Hard 2, explosions and all. Although everyone is dressed as 17th century pirates it has zero sense of period and therefore it's frankly laughable.
Mike S

A predecessor to Pirates of the Caribbean that unlike those movies became a big flop in the box-office. The critics showed no mercy back then and yes, it is partially very cheesy and suffers from bad cinematography and directing. But nonetheless it is, suprisingly enough, a very… More
A predecessor to Pirates of the Caribbean that unlike those movies became a big flop in the box-office. The critics showed no mercy back then and yes, it is partially very cheesy and suffers from bad cinematography and directing. But nonetheless it is, suprisingly enough, a very entertaining film without a dull moment. It's easy to see where PotC got its inspiration from :-)
Aaron N

Before 'Pirates' brought back the pirate movie, there was this movie, which turned out to be a disaster, but I like it. It's a standard 'buried pirate booty' movie, full of grand swashbuckling, ships and cannons, moving along by way of a treasure map. Fun for… More
Before 'Pirates' brought back the pirate movie, there was this movie, which turned out to be a disaster, but I like it. It's a standard 'buried pirate booty' movie, full of grand swashbuckling, ships and cannons, moving along by way of a treasure map. Fun for me.
Burger S

I'm a sucker for pirate movies.
Bill C

Don't be haters. allot of bad reviews for a good popcorn movie. Reny Harlin gives the movie good action and flow. Gena Davis, like in "The Long good kiss goodnight", offsets her mediocre acting skills with her attractiveness. Mathew Modine is totally out of place. Its… More
Don't be haters. allot of bad reviews for a good popcorn movie. Reny Harlin gives the movie good action and flow. Gena Davis, like in "The Long good kiss goodnight", offsets her mediocre acting skills with her attractiveness. Mathew Modine is totally out of place. Its like the casted him as Jim Hawkins and then decided he should be Captain Jack Sparrow (which he is not.) Although a excellent journey-man director Harlin's career is full of picking the wrong actors for movies.
Brett W

Seeing as how there aren't much more than a handful of swashbuckler films made in the "modern" film era I feel a certain need to give this a relatively free pass. Sure, Geena Davis is a cardboard cutout and the story unfolds like molasses, but hey, it's got a… More
Seeing as how there aren't much more than a handful of swashbuckler films made in the "modern" film era I feel a certain need to give this a relatively free pass. Sure, Geena Davis is a cardboard cutout and the story unfolds like molasses, but hey, it's got a budget. It's got stuff to look at and there's enough piratey adventurey-ness to satisfy even the jaded kid in everyone. Maybe the emergence of the Pirates of the Caribbean films have made this irrelevant, but really, besides Hook what else was there in the 90's? Exactly. Plus it has a young Chris Masterson in a supporting role. That's something, I guess.
Marion R

This is pretty bad and silly as movies get. It's suppose to be a fun adventure, but it manages to to a dull splash in the pool.
Jim W

The Johny Depp Pirate movies of course made a whole lot more than Cutthroat Island did. However, this is a pretty decent movie as well.
Sarah B

An entertaining disaster with fantastic sets.