Cutthroat Island is notorious for bankrupting Carolco Pictures, the production company responsible for the success of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. With a production budget of $98 million (some sources cite up to $114 million), the film only grossed $10 million upon its theatrical release in 1995. To date, Cutthroat Island remains one of the biggest financial failures in cinematic history. But does the film truly deserve its negative reputation?
Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) is in pursuit of her uncle, Dawg Brown (Frank Langella), who murdered her father and is also seeking the three pieces of a treasure map. Her journey leads her to the con man William Shaw (Matthew Modine), and together they embark on an unforgettable adventure.
Cutthroat Island was directed by Finnish director Renny Harlin, known for films like Die Hard 2 – Die Harder and The Long Kiss Goodnight (released the year after Cutthroat Island). It’s clear that the film benefits from solid production values. Cutthroat Island is a well-executed film, featuring several impressive stunt sequences. One standout scene involves Geena Davis jumping from a window onto a moving cart. Some attribute the film’s failure to Matthew Modine‘s performance. The role was initially intended for Michael Douglas, who withdrew upon learning that the script prioritized Geena Davis’s character (who was, at the time, married to the director). Modine was a late replacement, and his portrayal of Shaw, while previously successful in a lead role in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, feels somewhat awkward and unconvincing. However, his performance is not the sole reason for the film’s box office disappointment.
The true reason for the film’s failure remains somewhat elusive. Cutthroat Island possesses many of the elements expected of a pirate movie: humor, action, and impressive sea battles achieved through practical effects. It may simply have been a case of exceptionally bad timing, with the film’s release coinciding with a period of disinterest in the pirate genre. It’s unlikely that Geena Davis’s leading role, and perceived lack of “star-power,” was to blame, considering her subsequent success in The Long Kiss Goodnight the following year, which became a major hit of the nineties.
Behind-the-scenes disagreements and Harlin’s divided attention may have contributed to overlooked script and structural flaws. Cutthroat Island is not without its imperfections, but it certainly doesn’t warrant its reputation as one of the biggest flops in cinema history.
Swedish Studio S deserves recognition for its commitment to releasing older films (it is somewhat jarring to refer to a film from 1995 as “older”) on Blu-ray, and for including substantial behind-the-scenes content on the disc. The release features a variety of extras and an engaging commentary track. However, the technical execution of the release has some issues. Upon starting the film, the audio options are Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio. As is my custom, I selected DTS… but the amplifier decodes the sound as DTS 2.0. Switching to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track yields the same result: 2.0. Initially suspecting an issue with my amplifier configuration, I consulted the case, which correctly specifies DTS-HD 2.0 and Dolby Digital 2.0. The case information is accurate, but the menus are misleading, which is a notable oversight.
The release is advertised as Digitally Restored, and while the picture quality is generally sharp and well-defined, the colors and lighting exhibit some anomalies. This is particularly noticeable during the final battle scene between Morgan and Dawg, where the lighting on Dawg’s forehead appears excessively overexposed, suggesting that the levels may have been incorrectly adjusted. Based on my experience with color correction, it appears that settings intended for a darker image may have been inadvertently applied.
Despite the minor flaws in the Blu-ray release and the film’s distance from Oscar-caliber material, I still recommend Cutthroat Island. It is a film that is considerably better than its reputation suggests.
