‘Cutthroat Island: Steelbook Edition’ 4K Ultra HD movie review

Director Renny Harlin’s 1995 swashbuckling box office bomb debuts in the 4K disc format and a shiny package for American audiences in Cutthroat Island: Steelbook Edition (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 125 minutes, 2.35:1 aspect ratio, $34.96).

Despite a production plagued by accidents, recasting, script rewrites and excessive budgeting woes, the film made it to theaters to chronicle the adventures of tougher-than-nails female pirate Morgan Adams (Geena Davis).

As Morgan tends to her mortally wounded father, he reveals a piece of a treasure map before dying. Morgan takes his scalp and his ship, called the Morning Star, on a journey to recover the rest of the map pieces and find a massive bounty within the hidden Cutthroat Island.

She gets help from her new slave, the thieving con man William Shaw (Matthew Modine, with a bit of Errol Flynn charm) but must battle for the riches against her uncle pirate Dawg Brown (a scene-munching Frank Langella), corrupt Governor Ainslee (Patrick Malahide) and even some of her own crew.

Uncharacteristically, accomplished actress Ms. Davis delivers her lines like in a high school play, not quite verbally committed to the role despite pulling off plenty of her own combat and stunt work.

The movie shines through its lavish set design; massive outdoor set pieces; harrowing escapes; plenty of sword fighting; and a sweeping John Williams-style musical score. Some explosive action scenes include a ship unloading cannon fire on a horse carriage rampaging through a town and an epic final battle between vessels at sea.

Let’s call “Cutthroat Island” a bloated but enjoyable action flick struck by bad luck and timing, especially when considering that a mere eight years later, Captain Jack Sparrow would take the world by storm in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

4K in action: Lionsgate ported over European media company StudioCanal’s previous restoration that involved a 4K 16-bit scan using the 35mm original negative.

The new level of clarity and enhanced high dynamic range spotlight the handmade period costuming and weaponry, nighttime stormy high seas panoramas, tropical greenery and details of ornate interior locations.

Highlights include Dawg walking out from a flaming background like a Terminator; a dimly lit cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites; a shipwrecked crew clinging to life in greenish water; and the finely sculpted details on the bow of the Reaper vessel and statuary on the Morning Star.

Best extras: Lionsgate grabs all of the content from StudioCanal’s 2023 4K release to offer a treasure chest’s worth of digital segments, the majority were new to home entertainment viewers.

It begins with a vintage commentary from 2009 featuring a solo track from the director and is well worth a listen.

He pulls no punches in detailing the difficulties in bringing the film to theaters, such as finishing the screenplay on time (writing on the set); the lead actor (Michael Douglas) leaving the film; the cinematographer breaking his ankle; and it kept getting worse with bad weather, stifling temperatures and location challenges.

However, Mr. Harlin happily dives into many production details, including using waterslides and water cannons to create storms attacking the ships, and also remembers much of the fun associated with the project and how much he loved creating a pirate movie.

It’s one of the better commentary tracks I’ve listened to over the years.

All of the other extras reside on the included Blu-ray version of the film and include a 33-minute retrospective on the film anchored by historian C. Courtney Joyner.

He briefly discusses the history of the pirate film and “Cutthroat Island” before Mr. Modine and the director pop in to explain highlights of the production and why the movie was doomed due to studio shenanigans.

Next, a 24-minute discussion with “Cutthroat Island” stars screenwriters James Gorman and Michael Frost Beckner, recorded separately, but both filled with information on the writing process and how they made big money for their scripts. The pair also explain researching, crafting and selling a pirate movie, and compare specifics from their original script, including the origins of Morgan Adams.

Equally worthwhile is a 17-minute overview by co-editor Danny Retz (“Rambo 2,” “RoboCop” and “Total Recall”) on the editing process with a brief education on skills as he reminds us a team of editors was tasked with cutting more than 1 million feet of film (a typical movie has about normally 300,000 feet). He touches on the mysterious cutting room, some of the editing tricks used to pull off the stunts and how he watched old pirate movies to understand the editing structure.

As interesting, musical composer John Debney offers 30 joyous minutes mentioning his thrill to work with the London Symphony Orchestra and remembering nuggets such as Ms. Davis actual singing with the choir for a bit (much to their delight), Mr. Harlin’s appreciation of drums and Mr. Debney using a super ball on a gong to create musical textures.

This Walmart exclusive really beckons to collectors, thanks to a theme-illustrated metal case and translucent plastic sleeve.

The front part of the sleeve offers an eye patch and a head scarf covering a skull and the case’s crossbones design, and the back of the sleeve contains the release’s credits and a small Jolly Roger symbol.

Remove the sleeve to find the orangish-and-yellowish-colored metallic case showing the full skull revealed, surrounded by swords and hanging by chains from a ship covered by the skin scalp and strands of hair representing part of the treasure map.

The rear of the steelbook continues the theme with full-bodied skeletal remains hanging, with some in cages, above a ships’ mast with Cutthroat Island in the faraway background.

Open the case and remove the discs to view a Morgan Adams’ wanted poster laying on a table with pirate goodies such as a sword, pistol, skull, candle and doubloons all presented in a yellowish, monochromatic illustration.