History YMMV / CutthroatIsland

* CompleteMonster: Douglas "Dawg" Brown is the BlackSheep of the Adams pirate brothers and the captain of the ship ''Reaper''. Each of the four brothers has a piece of a map to a fabulous treasure and Dawg wants it all to himself. The first thing we learn about him is he murdered one brother and has another hostage to murder after he gets his piece of the map. When his brother gives his map to his daughter Morgan, Dawg stops at nothing to kill his niece. He attacks his last brother Mordecai and threatens to run him through if Mordecai doesn't give up the map. When a luckless mook accidentally falls into Mordecai and impales him on Dawg's knife, Dawg kills the man growling [[HypocriticalHumor that he killed Dawg's brother]], though he's only angry Mordecai died ''before'' Dawg got the map. He tries to torture Morgan by trying to let an eel eat her face, guns down a crewman when the man complains they're running out of food and stops at no crime short of trying to steal the treasure from Cutthroat Island.

* MisBlamed:
** It's been argued that ''Cutthroat Island'' didn't actually kill pirate films per se, as the genre was basically dead to begin with at the time of its production: very few pirate movies had been produced in many years due to the cost of building sets (particularly life-size boats), and none of them had been especially relevant (the only one that could come to mind in the decade prior to this one is Creator/RomanPolanski's ''Film/{{Pirates}}'', which already tanked badly). The claim could be more correctly rephrased as that the film buried pirate films deeper, as its spectacular failure ended up causing the incidental impression that the genre had really stopped being popular and wasn't simply worthy to try to refloat it. Furthermore, given that ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is the only franchise that represented it decades later, it could even be entertained that this impression was actually right.
** Creator/CarolcoPictures was popularly believed to have gone bankrupt with the sinking of ''Cutthroat Island'', but Renny Harlin has denied this, pointing to the fact that it filled for bankruptcy a whole month before its release. According to him, the studio was already in ruin when the film began production, and they only bothered to do the film anyways because all the foreign investors' money had been already spent.
** Some modern reviewers speculated one of the reasons of the film's little box office interest was because it was starred by an ActionGirl in midst of TheNineties. However, while Geena Davis's previous career might have certainly undermined the perception of her as an action heroine (up to that point, outside ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'', Davis had mostly worked in comedic films, and it tells that she never really left that niche again afterwards), action girls at leading roles was hardly a new thing in 90s Hollywood, as the cultural importance of [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Ellen Ripley]] and [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]] can attest. If anything, a more likely reason might have been that Davis precisely failed at living up to those figures, and as a result, it only felt like a lame attempt to capitalize on them to relaunch her career.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Naturally, the film received an equally bad tie in video game, made by Acclaim in their heyday of creating such licensed swill. While it does have some admittedly nice sprite animation (particularly for the handheld versions), overall the games are a boring slog of fighting waves after waves of enemies, broken up with mine cart levels that require pixel perfect memorization lest one wrong move send you to the start of the level. And then it has the gall to "reward" you with nothing but a AWinnerIsYou congratulations screen.

* VindicatedByHistory: To a degree. While definitely not a CultClassic, the movie has its fans today, and a lot of people looking for other {{swashbuckler}} films about {{pirate}}s than ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' has come to defend it as a better product than its chaotic production and reputation might lead to believe.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: General consensus on the movie is that there's a good story in there ''somewhere'', behind all the messy rewrites, awful dialogue, and giant explodey setpieces. The characters of Morgan Adams and William Shaw could have been delightful if handled by a more talented crew, and the idea of a movie about a [[ActionGirl female pirate]] could have been amazing and genre-changing had it been done more competently (and with more luck). Sadly, the movie's massive financial failure yet talented cast stand mostly as a monument to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen things that could have been better.]]

* VindicatedByHistory: To a degree. While definitely not a CultClassic, the movie has its fans today, and a lot of people looking for other {{swasjbuckler}} films about {{pirate}}s than ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' has come to defend it as a better product than its chaotic production and reputation might lead to believe.

* VindicatedByHistory: To a degree. While definitely not a CultClassic, the movie has its fans today, and a lot of people has come to defend it as a better product than its chaotic production and reputation might lead to believe.

* VindicatedByHistory: To a degree. While definitely not a CultClassic, the movie has its fans today, and a lot of people has come to defend it as a better product than their production might lead to believe.

* TheProblemWithLicensedgames: Naturally, the film received an equally bad tie in video game, made by Acclaim in their heyday of creating such licensed swill. While it does have some admittedly nice sprite animation (particularly for the handheld versions), overall the games are a boring slog of fighting waves after waves of enemies, broken up with mine cart levels that require pixel perfect memorization lest one wrong move send you to the start of the level. And then it has the gall to "reward" you with nothing but a AWinnerIsYou congratulations screen.

* {{Narm}}:
** Before blowing away her uncle, Morgan lets out a cringeworthy PreMortemOneLiner.
--->'''Morgan:''' Bad Dawg.
** "Dawg" in itself is a pretty stupid name for a bad guy anyway. You could get away with it for a random henchman, maybe, but for the BigBad? Not so much.
** The overly glorious and over-the-top music, especially those moments featuring OminousLatinChanting or some variant thereof, makes the comparatively mundane onscreen events seem almost parodic. [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]], in particular, [[http://spoonyexperiment.com/cutthroat-island/ argued it]].
** Creator/GeenaDavis's performance. As [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick Lindsey Ellis]] puts it, she comes across less as "bloodthirsty pirate queen", more as "CoolAunt taking some kids to an R-rated movie."
** During the final battle, one of the pirates is ''actually providing background music using a violin''.
--->'''[[WebVideo/CinematicExcrement Captain Long John Thomas]]:''' Bloody hell, this movie has become a self-parody at this point!
* NarmCharm: Even at its worst, the film is not difficult to enjoy. Its corny and sometimes weird dialogue, its magnificent and almost literally too good soundtrack, and the mix of gleeful hamming and spirited incompetence by the cast all together can be rather endearing.

** It's been argued that ''Cutthroat Island'' didn't actually kill pirate films per se, as the genre was basically dead to begin with at the time of its production: very few pirate movies had been produced in many years, and none of them had been especially relevant (the only one that could come to mind in the decade prior to this one is Creator/RomanPolanski's ''Film/{{Pirates}}'', which tanked badly). The claim could be more correctly rephrased as that the film buried pirate films deeper, as its spectacular failure ended up causing the incidental impression that the genre had really stopped being popular and wasn't simply worthy to try to refloat it. Furthermore, given that ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is the only franchise that represented it decades later, it could even be entertained that this impression was actually right.

** It's been argued that ''Cutthroat Island'' didn't actually kill pirate films per se, as the genre was basically dead to begin with at the time of its production: very few pirate movies had been produced in many years, and none of them had been especially relevant. The claim could be more correctly rephrased as that the film buried pirate films deeper, as its spectacular failure ended up causing the incidental impression that the genre had really stopped being popular and wasn't simply worthy to try to refloat it. Furthermore, given that ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is the only franchise that still stands out on it two decades later, it could even be entertained that this impression was actually right.
** Studio Carolco was popularly believed to have gone bankrupt with the sinking of ''Cutthroat Island'', but Renny Harlin has denied this, pointing to the fact that it filled for bankruptcy a whole month before its release. According to him, the studio was already in ruin when the film began production, and they only bothered to do the film anyways because all the foreign investors' money had been already spent.
** Some modern reviewers speculated one of the reasons of the film's little box office interest was because it was starred by an ActionGirl in midst of TheNineties. However, while Geena Davis's previous career might have certainly undermined the perception of her as an action heroine (up to that point, Davis had mostly worked in comedic films, and it tells that she never really left that niche again afterwards), action girls at leading roles was hardly a new thing in 90s Hollywood, as the cultural importance of [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Ellen Ripley]] and [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]] can attest. If anything, a more likely reason might have been that Davis precisely failed at living up to those figures, and as a result, it only felt like a lame attempt to capitalize on them to relaunch her career.

* CriticalBacklash: ''Cutthroat Island'' was one of the biggest box office bombs ever, as well as the film credited with the sinking of the entire pirate flick genre, so it is just natural that many people who have watched it consider it (at least) not as bad as such a dishonor might suggest. In fact, there are quite a few who have come to believe it is actually a genuinely good movie regardless of all the economic mismanagement and production troubles that led to its failure. Creator/RogerEbert was among those; at the very time of the film's release, while most professional critics were panning it, he gave it three out of four stars, the same number he would give years later to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''.

** It's been argued that ''Cutthroat Island'' didn't actually kill pirate films per se, as the genre was basically dead to begin with at the time of its production: very few pirate movies had been produced in many years, and none of them had been especially relevant. The claim could be more correctly rephrased as that the film buried pirate films deeper, as its spectacular failure ended up causing the incidental impression that the genre had really stopped being popular and wasn't simply worthy to try to refloat it. Given that ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is the only franchise that still stands out on it two decades later, it could be even entertained that this impression was mostly ''right''.

** Some modern reviewers speculated one of the reasons of the film's little box office interest was because it was starred by an ActionGirl in midst of TheNineties. However, while Geena Davis's previous career might have certainly undermined the perception of her as an action heroine (up to that point Davis had mostly worked in comedic films, and it tells that she never really left that niche afterwards), action girls at leading roles was hardly a new thing in 90s Hollywood, as the cultural importance of [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Ellen Ripley]] and [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]] can attest. If anything, a more likely reason might have been that Davis precisely failed at living up to those figures, and as a result, it only felt like a lame attempt to capitalize on them to relaunch her career.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Watching the film without any of its historical background in mind can easily give the impression that it is just a small step away from being a legitimately great movie. Everything -- the action, the humour, the dialogue, the romance, the characters -- is generally okay, sometimes even good, but it carries ''something'' that makes it seem just a bit... off. It might be the on-set climate of its TroubledProduction, the inexperience of some cast members, or simply that the genre ''Cutthroat Island'' buried was really dying by itself and it didn't translate well to the cinema style of TheNineties. The only thing that totally works is John Debney's score, which is ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic phenomenal]]'' - in fact, some people have said it's actually '''too''' good, as in so epic that the movie can't live up to it and draws attention to how mediocre everything else is.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: General consensus on the movie is that there's a good story in there ''somewhere'', behind all the messy rewrites, awful dialogue, and giant explodey setpieces. The characters of Morgan Adams and William Shaw could have been delightful if handled by a more talented crew, and the idea of a movie about a [[ActionGirl female pirate]] could have been amazing and genre-changing had it been done more competently. Sadly, the movie's massive financial failure yet talented cast stand mostly as a monument to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen things that could have been better.]]

* CriticalBacklash: ''Cutthroat Island'' is one of the biggest box office bombs ever, as well as the film credited with the sinking of the pirate flick genre, so it is just natural that many people who have watched it consider it at least not as bad as such a dishonor suggests. In fact, there are quite a few who have come to believe it's actually a genuinely good movie regardless of the economic mismanagement and production troubles that led to its failure. Creator/RogerEbert of all people was among those; at the very time of the film, while most professional critics were panning it, he gave it three out of four stars, the same number he would give years later to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''.

** Some reviewers modern reviewers speculated one of the reasons the film failed was because it was starred by an ActionGirl in midst of TheNineties. However, while Geena Davis's previous career might have certainly undermined the perception of her as an action heroine (up to that point Davis had mostly worked in comedic films, and it tells that she never really left that niche afterwards even despite diversifying her work), action girls at the front of movies was hardly a new thing in 90s Hollywood, as the cultural importance of [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Ellen Ripley]] and [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]] can attest. If anything, a more realistic reason might have been that Davis failed at living up to those figures and only felt like a lame attempt to capitalize on them to relaunch her career.
** It's been argued that ''Cutthroat Island'' didn't actually kill pirate films per se, as said genre was basically dead to begin with at the time of its production: very few pirate movies had been produced in many years, and none of them had been specially relevant. The claim could be more correctly rephrased as that the film buried pirate films deeper, as its spectacular bombing and critical failure ended up giving the incidental impression that the genre had definitely stopped being popular and wasn't simply worthy to try to refloat it in any capacity. Given that ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is the only franchise that still stands out on it three decades later, it could be said this impression was even mostly right.

* NarmCharm: Even at its worst, the film is not difficult to enjoy. Its corny and sometimes weird dialogue, its magnificent and almost literally too good soundtrack, and the mix of acting glee and spirited incompetence by the cast all together can be rather endearing.
* SoOkayItsAverage: Watching the film without any of its historical background in mind can easily give the impression that it's just a small step away from being a legitimately good movie. Everything -- the action, the humour, the dialogue, the romance, the characters -- is generally okay, sometimes even good, but it carries something that makes it seem just a bit... off. It might be the on-set subtext of its TroubledProduction, the inexperience of some cast members, or simply that the genre ''Cutthroat Island'' buried was certainly dying by itself and it didn't translate well to the cinema style of TheNineties. The only thing that totally works is John Debney's score, which is ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic phenomenal]]'' - in fact, some people have said it's actually '''too''' good, as in so epic that the movie can't live up to it and draws attention to how mediocre everything else is.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: General consensus on the movie is that there's a good story in there ''somewhere'', behind all the messy rewrites, awful dialogue, and giant explodey setpieces. The characters of Morgan Adams and William Shaw could have been delightful if handled by a more talented crew, and the idea of a movie about a [[ActionGirl female pirate]] could have been amazing and genre-changing if it had been done more competently. Sadly, the movie's massive financial failure and talented cast stand mostly as a monument to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen things that could have been better.]]
* VindicatedByHistory: To a degree. While definitely not a CultClassic, the movie has its fans today.

** Some reviewers modern reviewers speculated one of the reasons the film failed was because it was starred by an ActionGirl in midst of TheNineties. However, while Geena Davis's previous career might have certainly undermined the perception of her as an action heroine (up to that point Davis had mostly worked in comedic films, and it tells that she never really left that niche afterwards even despite diversifying her work), action girls at the front of movies was hardly a new thing in the 90's Hollywood, as the cultural importance of [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Ellen Ripley]] and [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]] can attest. If anything, a more realistic reason might have been that Davis failed at living up to those figures and only felt like a lame attempt to capitalize on them to relaunch her career.

** It's have been argumented that ''Cutthroat Island'' didn't actually killed pirate films per se, as said genre was basically dead to begin with at the time of its production: very few pirate movies had been produced in many years, and none of them had been specially relevant. The claim could be more correctly rephrased as that the film buried pirate films deeper, as its spectacular bombing and critical failure ended up giving the incidental impression that the genre had definitely stopped being popular and wasn't simply worthy to try to refloat it in any capacity. Given that ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is the only franchise that still stands out on it three decades later, it could be said this impression was even mostly right.

* CriticalBacklash: The film is one of the biggest box office bombs ever and the film credited with the sinking of the pirate flick genre, so it is natural that many people who have watched the film consider it at least not as bad as to deserve such a dishonor. In fact, there are quite a few who have come to believe it's actually a genuinely good movie regardless of the economic mismanagement and production troubles that led to its failure. Creator/RogerEbert of all people was among those; at the very time of the film, while most professional critics were panning it, he gave it three out of four stars, the same number he would give years later to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Watching the film without any of its historical background in mind can easily give the impression that it's just a small step away from being a legitimately decent movie. Everything -- the action, the humour, the dialogue, the romance, the characters -- is generally okay, sometimes even good, but they carry something that make them seem just a bit... off. It might be the subtext of its TroubledProduction, the inexperience of some cast members, or simply that the genre ''Cutthroat Island'' buried was certainly dying by itself and it didn't translate well to the cinema style of TheNineties. The only thing that totally works is John Debney's score, which is ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic phenomenal]]'' - in fact, some people have said it's actually '''too''' good, as in so epic that the movie can't live up to it, and draws attention to how mediocre everything else is.
* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Both the [[Creator/NathanRabin My Year Of Flops]] [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/my-year-of-flops-extrapiratey-case-file-114-cutthr,2391/ review]] and WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick [[http://blip.tv/nostalgia-chick/nostalgia-chick-cutthroat-island-6361360 review]] credit Creator/FrankLangella for trying his best to save the movie despite a conspicuous lack of effort from ''everyone else''. Of course, to hear Langella tell it, he wasn't trying to save the movie... he was just [[HamAndCheese having a fantastic time playing pirates]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: General consensus on the movie is that there's a good story in there ''somewhere'', behind all the messy rewrites, awful dialogue, and giant explodey setpieces. The characters of Morgan Adams and William Shaw could have been delightful if handled by a more talented crew, and the idea of a movie about a [[ActionGirl female pirate]] could have been amazing and genre-changing if it had been done competently. Sadly, the movie's massive financial failure and talented cast stand mostly as a monument to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen things that could have been better.]]

-->'''Morgan:''' Bad Dawg.

* VindicatedByHistory: To a degree. While definitely not a CultClassic, the movie has its fans today, and it's believed that it might have failed precisely because the audience of the time wasn't willing to accept a strong female action AntiHero.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The ''entire'' soundtrack is probably John Debney's best as well as one of the top modern swashbuckling film scores - or just top film scores, period. A number of veteran film score collectors consider it even superior to the music from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''. To note how those notions translated to objective success, Debney was just about the only participant in the film whose career actually ''benefitted'' from working on it - he remains a prolific, in-demand composer to this day.

* CriticalBacklash: ''Cutthroat Island'' is one of the biggest box office bombs ever and the film credited with the sinking of the pirate flick genre, so it is natural that many people who have watched the film consider it at least not as bad as to deserve such a dishonor. In fact, there are quite a few who have come to believe it's actually a genuinely good movie regardless of the economic mismanagement and production troubles that led to its failure. Creator/RogerEbert of all people was among those; at the very time of the film, while most professional critics were panning it, he gave it three out of four stars, the same number he would give years later to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''.

** Creator/GeenaDavis's performance. As [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick Lindsey Ellis]] puts it, she comes across less as "bloodthirsty pirate queen", more as "cool aunt taking some kids to an R-rated movie."

* VindicatedByHistory: To a degree. While definitely not a CultClassic, the movie has its fans today, and it's believed that it might have failed precisely because the audience of the time wasn't willing to accept a strong female action AntiHero.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Watching the film without any of its historical background in mind can easily give the impression that it's just a small step away from being a legitimately decent movie. Everything -- the action, the humour, the dialogue, the romance, the characters -- is generally okay, sometimes even good, but they carry something that make them seem just a bit... off. It might be the subtext of its TroubledProduction, the inexperience of some cast members, or simply that the genre ''Cutthroat Island'' buried was certainly dying by itself and it didn't translate well to the cinema style of TheNineties. The only thing that totally works is John Debney's score, which is ''[[CrowningMusicOfAwesome phenomenal]]'' - in fact, some people have said it's actually '''too''' good, as in so epic that the movie can't live up to it, and draws attention to how mediocre everything else is.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: General consensus on the movie is that there's a good story in there ''somewhere'', behind all the messy rewrites, hammy dialogue, and giant explodey setpieces, and the characters of Morgan Adams and William Shaw could have been delightful if handled by a more talented crew, and the idea of a movie about a [[ActionGirl female pirate]] could have been amazing and genre-changing. Sadly, the movie's massive financial failure and talented cast stand mostly as a monument to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen things that could have been better.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: General consensus on the movie is that there's a good story in there ''somewhere'', behind all the messy rewrites, hammy dialogue, and giant explodey setpieces, and the characters of Morgan Adams and William Shaw could have been delightful if handled by a more talented crew. Sadly, the movie's massive financial failure and talented cast stand mostly as a monument to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen things that could have been better.]]

* SoOkayItsAverage: Watching the film without any of its historical background in mind can easily give the impression that it's just a small step away from being a legitimately decent movie. Everything -- the action, the humour, the dialogue, the romance, the characters -- are generally okay, sometimes even good, but they carry something that make them seem just a bit... off. It might be the subtext of its TroubledProduction, the inexperience of some cast members, or simply that the genre ''Cutthroat Island'' buried was certainly dying by itself and it didn't translate well to the cinema style of TheNineties.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The ''entire'' soundtrack is probably John Debney's best as well as one of the top modern swashbuckling film scores - or just top film scores, period. The majority of veteran film score collectors consider it far superior to the music from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', but YMMV, of course.
** However, it could also be argued that the overly glorious and over-the-top music, especially those (many) moments featuring OminousLatinChanting or some variant thereof, makes the comparatively mundane onscreen events seem almost parodic. [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]], in particular, [[http://spoonyexperiment.com/cutthroat-island/ argued it]].
** What can't be argued is that Debney is just about the only participant in the film whose career actually ''benefitted'' from working on it - he remains a prolific, in-demand composer to this day.

* CriticalBacklash: This is one of the biggest box office bombs ever and the film credited with sinking of the pirate flick genre, so it is a given that many people who have watched the film consider it at least not as bad as to deserve such a dishonor. There are quite a few who have come to believe it's actually a genuinely good movie regardless of the economic mismanagement and production troubles which led to its failure. Among those it was Creator/RogerEbert of all people, who at its very day (while most professional critics were panning it) he gave it three out of four stars, the same number he would give years later to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''.
* {{Narm}}: Before blowing away her uncle, Morgan lets out a cringeworthy PreMortemOneLiner.

* NarmCharm: Watching the film can give you the impression that it's just a small step away from actually being a legitimately decent movie. Everything -- the action, the humour, the dialogue, the romance, the characters -- seem just off, enough to make it more than a bit ridiculous, but it's hard to find it impossible to enjoy.

* CriticalBacklash: This is one of the biggest bomb office ever and the film credited with sinking of the pirate flick genre, so it is a given that many people who have watched the film consider it at least not as bad as to deserve such a dishonor. There are quite a few who have come to believe it's actually a genuinely good movie regardless of the economic mismanagement and production troubles which led to its failure. Among those it was Creator/RogerEbert of all people, who at its very day (while most professional critics were panning it) he gave it three out of four stars, the same number he would give years later to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''.