The island is not a treasure “Island” – the 1980 film directed by Michael Ritchie – a vivid example of how NOT to make an adventure movie.
The film follows a journalist who is called upon to investigate the strange disappearances of ships near Florida. He takes his son Justin with him. What already tells the viewer about his incompetence as a parent is quite reckless to take a child with you on a dangerous task.
The whole movie revolves around missing yachts. I want to guess about the missing ships and their crews. But! We are not shown mysterious disappearances inside the Bermuda Triangle, but attacks on the yachts of some wild fishermen. And then the events develop even more interesting.
Having reached the desired island, the heroes meet a certain professor (Frank Middlemess) from whom they take a boat and swim to fish and study the waters. And then they get attacked. Unfortunately for the journalist, his name is Blair Maynard. And with such a name, he will have a hard time, because the reason for the disappearance of yachts is not the Bermuda Triangle, and wild sea fishermen-robbers are a real gang of pirates who know nothing about civilization and live according to their pirate laws of the 17th century. In the distant 18th century, the same name of our hero, Lieutenant Robert Maynard, defeated the legendary pirate Blackbeard. And this gang of time-stuck thugs will not forgive the reporter, because he, in their opinion, is a direct descendant of the lieutenant.
Perhaps the only reason to watch this movie is Michael Caine. Mr. Kane is without a doubt the most talented actor, and here he literally drags the whole film on his charisma. Although the role of a reporter did not require Kane to play a special actor, he played convincingly.
The hostage of the delusional script “Island” was another wonderful actor – David Warner, who played the leader of the pirate gang. And the young actor Jeffrey Frank, who played Justin, after the release of the film can be seen only in one small role in the little-known series of 1982.
Purely male "company" on the skeleton is diluted by the female character of Angela Punch McGregor - Beth. The character of this heroine clearly did not think through to the end. Beth prevents a journalist from trying to escape, then helps him.
The delusional scenario is half the trouble. Michael Ritchie deservedly received the Golden Raspberry for his creation as "the worst director." Thanks to him, a real thrash occurs on the screen. Looking at it is ridiculously painful.
After watching the film leaves a lot of questions to the creators, primarily to the writers. How did a pirate gang survive to the end of the twentieth century without ever discovering itself? Why haven’t governments whose citizens have gone missing in the Caribbean sent military personnel to investigate the disappearances? The scene of the rescue of the main characters of the film is also outrageous.
From the first shots, the film does not claim to be a masterpiece, it does not even look in this direction. If you look at the official poster for the film, you can immediately understand that this tape is extremely dubious quality. Watch this tape is only for the sake of playing leading actors who clearly tried to save this sinking “ship” called “Island”.
5 out of 10