It’s been almost a decade since the last “Pirates of the Caribbean” film graced the silver screen in 2017.
Since then, I’ve been eagerly awaiting a pirate film or miniseries that was more than halfway decent.
When I caught the first trailer for “The Bluff” a few weeks ago, I had high hopes the minute the main cast filled the screen!
Temuera Morrison and Karl Urban play off each other so well and it’s great seeing Priyanka Chopra Jonas holding her own against them.
Even better, it was released to stream on Amazon Prime last week, so I was able to fully indulge in the film without having to leave the house.
Between the gorgeous scenery, intriguing booby traps and bloody battles in a Caribbean island paradise – it’s hard to not get sucked into the film.
The Bluff is a swashbuckler action thriller film directed by Frank E. Flowers, written by Flowers and Joe Ballarini.
It stars Priyanka Chopra, Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Safia Oakley-Green, David Field, and Temuera Morrison.
It is produced by AGBO, Cinestar Pictures, and Purple Pebble Pictures.
The film is 101 minutes long and rated R for strong bloody violence.
The age of pirates has ended and only the deadliest are left roaming the seas while facing extinction.
One night, pirates overtake a merchant vessel and come across several marked gold bars.
Those bars happen to belong to Captain Connor (Urban) and he claimed to be searching for them for years while telling the merchant captain that he wants the rest.
After checking the ship’s log, the pirates set a course for Cayman Brac – the vessel’s origin and home port.
Merchant Captain T.H. Bodden (Cordova) has put his home in Connor’s sights and is held hostage while his crew is slaughtered.
On Cayman Brac, former pirate Ercell Bodden (Jonas) lives a quiet life on the island with her disabled son Isaac (Naidoo) and sister-in-law Elizabeth (Oakley) – both of them are unaware of her past.
Ercell waits for her husband T.H. to return and keeps checking the sky since his ship overdue by 59 days.
The family celebrates Isaac’s birthday with quiet fanfare while the boy uses his birthday wish to bring his father home.
Unbeknownst to them, Connor has arrived at Cayman Brac in search of Ercell and has laid siege to the tiny port.
Originally, Ercell had been captured by Connor as a teenager and in order to survive joined his crew and became the notorious pirate Bloody Mary.
In the end, she exacts her escape from piracy by betraying him, stabbing him and stealing a cache of gold – the same marked gold that T.H was traveling with.
Connor’s men kill most of the island’s defenders including Elizabeth’s fiancée Weston (Morris) and try to subdue Ercell, but get more than they bargained for when she fights back and frees herself.
After gathering her family together, Ercell manages to escape into the jungle with Isaac, Pastor Bradley (Field) and Elizabeth.
Even Caiman alligators aren’t enough to deter Connor and when he runs into Ercell he tells her that they have her husband in custody.
Connor outlines a trade – the gold for her husband’s life and sets the terms to make the trade at her home at dusk.
But neither Ercell nor Connor trusts the other and their twisted love story plays out with a few flashbacks and it doesn’t really help the story along much in my book.
However, it helps the story limp along and makes for an interesting component that keeps the movie form being totally boring.
Then again, I’m an avid pirate fan, so, feel free to make your own choice on the flick.
