An Exercise In Nonsense

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Michael Caine plays a reporter who runs afoul of modern day pirates when investigating a rash of ship disappearances in the Caribbean. His son tags along with him and the pirates attempt to make him one of them. This film came with high commercial hopes since it's an adaptation of a Peter Benchley novel, but it tanked, mostly because it's not a very good film. The biggest problem is the pirates who largely come off as more goofy than threatening. A lot of great actors, lead by David Warner, fail to menace Caine convincingly or do much of anything interesting. Michael Ritchie is a really odd choice to direct this, and I'm sure some of the bizarrely unsuccessful tone can be credited to this choice.

I haven't seen the whole film BUT...I saw David Warner a few years back talking to a bunch of people and he ABSOLUTELY REFUSED- very strongly!- to talk about THE ISLAND! Does anybody know what went wrong on this film? I wonder what Michael Caine thinks about it?I saw about five minutes on TV once and it looked somewhere between awful (considering the talents involved) or intentionally humorous + engagingly bizarre.I've always thought that Michael Ritchie was a criminally underrated director of comedies that were both unique and reliably funny (Survivors, Couch Trip). He seemed to have a track record for working well with great actors. Again, what went wrong?-Dr. Paybaragon

Probably one of Michael Caine's worst movies, if not his worst.. Could have been an interesting and gritty movie, but some of the direction is plain bizarre. Basic plot was good, and the initial set-up was quite gritty, however, from a point it becomes rather frivolous. One moment the pirates are the bad guys, killing people in cold blood, next moment we're almost expected to like them and sympathise with them. From that point, every time the pirates attack a ship, a rather jaunty soundtrack is playing in the background, as if this is a kid's movie, or a comedy! But then they go and kill people, rather graphically.Plot does become rather random towards the end, too.Caine's performance is OK, especially considering what little he had to work with. Some of the pirates are a bit over-the-top though.

I watched this movie many, many years ago, and like all good movies it left an impression on me. I think about this movie from time to time and remember it bringing out many emotions in me, mostly fear. I would love to watch it again if I can ever find it available. I don't remember to much about it, but loved Michael Caine and felt he did an excellent job in his role. This is a modern day pirate story, that seems to be probably fairly close to reality. I did not read the book so I can't compare the two. I figure that the fact that the movie has left such an impact on me all these years later, gives the movie a positive rating. I wonder if I watched it now if I would still enjoy it?