The Bluff, directed by Frank E. Flowers, sets sail in well-trodden pirate waters but discovers its own best wind in the authoritative performance of Priyanka Chopra as Ercell, a retired pirate queen who must return to her violent ways when her past comes back to haunt her.
In the gritty, 19th-century seafaring world, survival, revenge, and home become intertwined in this action-adventure drama. While it is impossible to ignore the Pirates of the Caribbean parallels, The Bluff chooses to go for blood rather than magic, exploring the psychological wounds and personal agendas of its characters.
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Priyanka Chopra stars as Ercell, alias “Bloody Mary,” who has retired from her pirate life to a peaceful life with her husband, T.H. Bodden (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and her son, Isaac (Vedanten Naidoo), in Cayman Brac. However, her quiet life is turned upside down when Captain Connor (Karl Urban), a bitter pirate foe from her past, finally finds her after all these years.
Action over depth, but Chopra delivers
The movie spans one hour and 40 minutes, switching between the past and present of Ercell. While Connor avenges betrayal and gold, Ercell is forced to revert to the hard-hearted character she had abandoned in the past.
The story is action-packed, with sequences of sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and fighting in the midst of a storm. Chopra, who is said to have done her own stunts, pulls off the action sequences with conviction. Her character of a battle-hardened pirate, torn between her maternal feelings and the need to be ruthless, is refreshing in a genre that is otherwise dominated by male protagonists.
Karl Urban’s Connor makes for a decent antagonist, especially in the final showdown. Nevertheless, while the action sequences are intense, the script is stuck in a rut in terms of the treasure hunt storyline, with very little emotional depth. The psychological stakes are introduced but not fully explored, and the ending arrives abruptly.
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Visually, the colonial-era settings and rough seas give the film a gritty realism. However, the premise of the film is quite simple: a woman who will stop at nothing to protect her family from a violent past.
The Bluff has been rated 3 out of 5. While it may not do anything new for the pirate film genre, it does feature Priyanka Chopra in one of her most challenging roles in Hollywood yet.
