The Bluff Review
It feels like there’s only so much that can be explored with the topic of pirates, especially when there have been countless movies. Whether they be the Pirates of the Caribbean films or something more child-friendly like the many Peter Pan adaptations, pirate movies can show so much potential. There have been some in recent years (if you count The SpongeBob Movie: The Search for Squarepants), but they cover themes that many films have done before. For Prime Video, they attempt to try to do something new with The Bluff, which promises a no-holds barred, stunt-filled experience. Although it succeeds with the action, it nearly feels like that’s what Frank E. Flowers’ film is.
The Bluff, at its core, is a classic case of mandatory unretirement driven by an important necessity. It follows Ercell Boden (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), a former captain who’s living a peaceful island life with her own family. However, when her husband, simply known as T.H. (Frank E. Flowers) is captured by Ercell’s rival, Captain Connor (Karl Urban), Ercell must take it upon herself to fight for everything she’s got. Her mission to keep her family safe and defeat Connor has its own challenges as hidden secrets are unburied, for better or worse.
In terms of The Bluff’s story, it does feel like Flowers and the creative team want to bring more out of Ercell’s development. It’s clear that she has this hesitancy to let her son, Isaac, and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth (Safia Oakley-Green), know her past. However, it has a need of doing more explaining than showing even though it does provide flashbacks to the past. Even then, those flashbacks are very brief and don’t fully allow the emotional torture that Ercell has to face to simmer in with the audience. This is particularly felt in the second act, where Elizabeth tries to get answers out of Elizabeth once they escape into the caves.
Furthermore, all of the character development in The Bluff, from Ercell to Connor, is relegated to that first half of the film. This means that the film has only so much time to build up each important character before the action really kicks off. In the first act, Elizabeth is given something to do, that being to run off with her boyfriend to live a new life. Some might expect that to lead into a conflict on the high seas, but that gets cut off when Connor decides to come to shore instead. It does feel like there was potential to explore that as a motivation for Ercell, but instead, the opposite is done.
As for Isaac, he does get some proactive involvement in the form of using an honorary knife and how his disability is handled. The few beginning scenes with Ercell and Isaac do have some character-driven moments that make the audience feel sympathetic for the mother-son duo. There’s one particular second act scene where it seems like Isaac might be done for, which does drive up the tension a bit. However, given that The Bluff is supposed to be an heroic, winnable story, one can already presume that he’ll be okay by the end of things.
Meanwhile, Connor and his crewmates are pretty much the stereotypical bad guys, but they also have some foundational motivations. Captain Connor’s main motivation is that he needs to get his blood money (in the form of marked gold) back, but there’s also something about him wanting to reunite with Ercell that has a bit of complexity. It’s as if he has an inner urge to not kill her, but rather keep her alive for his own extreme pleasures. As for his quartermaster, Lee (Temuera Morrison), he’s got some morals, though enough to make an allegiance-changing turn, underneath his pessimistic viewpoint of life. Lee has a few philosophical moments with the crew that are somewhat interesting, but those moments are also kept brief to keep the focus on Ercell.
Stunt-wise, it should come to no surprise that The Bluff goes all out with its action sequences. From that first brawl Ercell has with a couple of bounty hunters to the dimly-lit cave shoot-out between Ercell and Connor, these fight scenes will certainly keep viewers hooked with tight close-ups, guts going everywhere, and unexpected kills. One of these brutal scenes is already seen in the first act, which might be one of the nastiest kills with a cannon that I’ve seen in any pirate movie. However, I also wish that some of these scenes weren’t necessarily off-camera as it would’ve left fans shocked to see the result.
All this said, The Bluff promises to entertain viewers with savage swashbuckling swordfights and wild action sequences as Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Karl Urban bring their edge to the pirate film genre. While its story may tread in familiar territory and its characters bear the usual hero-villain tropes, it doesn’t disappoint to keep its sails high for action movie lovers.
The Bluff is now streaming on Prime Video.
Rating: ★★★
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.