There isn't much flamboyant heroics here ladies and gentlemen, more like backstabbing with every man for himself, more genuine.
This isn't a silly fantasy flick nor is it a historically accurate flick, but it does bring a more down to earth approach to the genre. There is very little of interest going on plot wise, the film is way too long and there isn't that much swashbuckling going on surprisingly. Yep its all visually stunning with good performances but unfortunately that's about it. Fully realised to scale with a working motor so it can sail, completely detailed from top to bottom with everything you'd expect to see on a 17th Century Spanish vessel. Did I mention the ship yet? no? well lemme tell you, it looks awesome. You can truly see the disgust and contempt in his face for the wretched pirate scum, I really enjoyed his peacock-like display of regal superiority.Īll the characters and extras look great and are accompanied by some luscious tropical locations and some nice olde worlde period ports (real locations). At the same time Damien Thomas as the preening perfume smelling 'Don Alfonso' is by far the stand out performance. He genuinely does a sterling job with it and comes across not American that's for sure.
I was also very impressed with Matthau's cockney English accent. The wigs sell the whole look if you ask me, really authentic looking. On the flip side the Spanish look perfectly rich, aristocratic, pompous, snooty and dignified in their very impressive duds. I was quite intrigued with the wooden leg Matthau's Captain has, it really looks like he has a real wooden peg leg! and this is before CGI folks, impressed. All the pirates, especially Matthau, look as they should do, covered in dirty rag-like attire, greasy facial hair, deep tans, golden teeth.every bit the stereotypical swashbuckling sea dog. I think this film is very similar to 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' in the fact that its actually kinda dull but looks beautiful. At the same time there is of course a love interest for the young dashing French sailor, mutinies, plenty of galleon boarding from both sides and lots of skullduggery on land and at sea. The story is naturally a typically salty one involving Walter Matthau's 'Captain Red' and his young French sidekick trying to pinch a golden throne from some fancy pant Spaniards. Roman Polanski doing what he does best which is creating lavish productions that tend to not be overly successful at first but gain cult status. Back before Johnny Depp revolutionised the pirate movie with his camp ways there were the odd rum fuelled flicks such as this.
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