I even put my karate uniform on (that's a gi to you non-martial arts folks) after I got home from work and was fully prepared to go train. But then my wife suggested I stay home and watch a movie with her. What was I to do?
I'm so weak...
When I was fairly young I watched a movie with my family called 'The Bounty'. It was this neat boat movie (sorry, ship) about a really mean Captain who flogs his men and eventually convinces them to mutiny against him. I don't know if I enjoyed the movie so much because of how evil the Captain was, or if I just really enjoyed watching movies with my family. Certainly the latter is true, but I think I was also fascinated by Captain William Bligh and his obsession with discipline.Watching the movie again more than 15 years later it's interesting to see how perspectice can change. After finishing the movie last night, neither my wife nor I could easily determine who the bad guy really was, or if there even was one.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, or the story, you can probably contact a certain teacher-friend of mine who is a fanatic for history and tall ships. If you're not able to contact him, allow me to fill you in.
True story. In 1787, The Bounty set sail for Tahiti to pick up some breadfruit plants to bring to Jamaica. In charge was Lt. William Bligh (Anthony Hopkins), a Royal officer looking to make a name for himself. In 1789, after picking up said plants and setting sail for England, via the deadly Cape Horn, Master's Mate Fletcher Christian (Mel Gibson) and three other men, armed with cutlasses, bayonets and a musket, took the ship. They set Bligh and 18 officers and crewmen adrift in a small boat.
The Bounty is actually a remake of a 1962 film 'Mutiny on the Bounty', which is actually a remake of the 1935 film 'Mutiny on the Bounty', which is a remake of the 1933 film 'In the Wake of the Bounty', which is based on the 1932 novel 'Mutiny on the Bounty', which is based on the first novel, written in 1879 by Jules Verne titled 'Les Revoltes de la Bounty', which was based on historical events as described in Lt. William Bligh's actual travel logs, published in 1791. Phew...
Suffice it to say that there are many opinions on what actually happened on board that caused the crew to mutiny. Many sources seem to agree that 'The Bounty' is probably the most accurate depiction of what really took place. Regardless, the movie itself is very entertaining and very interesting. Shauna and I both agreed that the movie would make a great school assignment; have the kids watch the film and then write an essay on who they thought was in the right, and why. I found this personally intriguing since I had always remembered Bligh as being the obvious bad-guy. Now I'm not so sure.
I won't give away many of the details of the film itself. You'll just have to come over and watch it. :) However, I will comment on the soundtrack.
Comment: Ugh.
Raise your hand if you've seen LadyHawke. Now keep your hand raised if you felt that the music for LadyHawke just didn't match the film at all. Everyone else, raise your hand again if you think that corny synthesized drums and almost techno-beat music is not a good idea for a period piece like medieval LadyHawke or naval Bounty. The music is really the only bad thing I have to say about this film, but it's pretty bad. And too bad, because several tense moments in the film were almost ruined by the cheesy music. Note: watching this film with a musician will highlight these moments even more.
Gibson gives a great performance, but Anthony Hopkins steals the show. This is one of those early movies that lets us go back and see the beginnings of great actors. It's easy to see how both actors went on to such bigger and better things. When Fletcher exclaims "I am in hell!" you believe him and you feel for him. I remember mentioning to Shauna how you could really feel his torment and anguish with the situation and with his own struggle. Really great acting.
Keeping in mind that the movie is over 20 years old, the video and audio were still pretty good. There were a few artifacts (debris on the film itself) in some scenes and the colors are a little faded, but overall the transfer to DVD seems pretty good. The movie is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital which works really nicely for the sound effects on the ship, but makes the horrible soundtrack hard to avoid. The video is an Anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio transfer. I'll blog about all that technical stuff another day.
If you like movies that make you think and you can look past the age of this film, you'll probably enjoy The Bounty. If you like Anthony Hopkins or movies about ships, you'll probably enjoy The Bounty. If your name is Dave and you're a history teacher, you'll almost certainly enjoy The Bounty.
The Bounty gets 7 anchors (out of 10).
Interesting Triva for 'The Bounty'
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