oscar@utcsrgv.UUCP (Oscar M. Nierstrasz) (05/09/84)
Bounty, The (Donaldson, Roger; GB; 1984; 130m)
As a straightforward adventure film "The Bounty" isn't bad. It has
sex, violence, laffs, excitement and even pretty good acting. There
are lots of breath-taking sea-shots, impressive scenes of Tahiti
(played by French Polynesia), and many tolerable (though not always
convincing) special effects. Lots of money (a good chunk of the $25 M)
was spent on `authentic' props and sets -- the ship, for example, was
based very closely on the original. But, I hear you ask, is it a
*good* movie?
Well, much has been said about the more human and humane Bligh that
Anthony Hopkins turns in; and of the less-than-righteous Fletcher
Christian that Mel Gibson gives us. Frankly, that's about all that's
really novel about this new version of Mutiny on the Bounty. [Brief
plot summary: Bligh wants to make a name for himself by completing a
`grocery errand' -- taking breadfruit plants to Jamaica to provide
cheap food for slaves -- and circumnavigating the globe in the
process. Catch is that it's very hard to get around Cape Horn because
of the perpetually bad weather. They get to Tahiti the long way
('round Africa) and the crew really settles in to Tahiti. Bligh starts
to get tough when it's time to go. The crew is not too pleased ...]
Despite Hopkins' efforts to make Bligh more human, he starts to go a
little silly when they leave Tahiti. We spend so much time with
beautiful scenery and subplots that we never get to really understand
what Bligh is all about -- his transformation into a neurotic ogre thus
seems a bit out of place. Christian we never get to know at all -- the
gist of the film seems to be that he was a pouting beefcake who rebelled
when he couldn't get what he wanted (Christian is so self-centred that
*another* officer has to point out that the crew is ripe for mutiny).
All of this wouldn't matter if `The Bounty' was merely to be taken as
an adventure yarn; but it has pretensions to more than that.
Unfortunately it doesn't deliver. We are given little more than a
predictable re-telling of an old story. No surprises here. As for
nit-picking, well ... The entire film is told as a flashback at
Bligh's subsequent court-martial for losing the Bounty. Unfortunately
the `flashback' contains much that Bligh could never have known,
especially Christian's ultimate fate. Less a technical error than an
artistic one, the trial itself is dull and pointless. Lawrence Olivier
as the judge and Edward Fox as the prosecutor add nothing of interest
to the film. (Getting *really* nitpicky, the `king' of the Tahitian
natives looked more like Dino Dilaurentis -- the producer -- than like
a real native king; who knows, maybe it *was* him.)
The director, Donaldson, is an Australian who made his first splash
with `Smash Palace', an novel and off-beat low-budget film about a
race-car driver (he owns a wrecked-car lot called `Smash Palace') who
kidnaps his own son after his wife leaves him. Donaldson is obviously
a talented director -- it seems `The Bounty' was just too big a project
for him to do anything really exceptional with it. One remarkable
scene stands out, however: the mutiny itself is incredibly confused --
Christian barely keeps the crew from murdering Bligh, which is odd,
since he is an hysterical, screaming lunatic at this point. It felt
very realistic.
Entertaining. Just don't believe too much of the hoo-hah about this
film, however, or you'll be disappointed.
Oscar Nierstrasz
[Waddya *mean*, "Don't see Spinal Tap"? It's great!]