The Bluff: An Unremarkably Average Action Thriller (Early Review)

The Bluff is a new swashbuckling action thriller releasing soon on Prime Video starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Karl Urban. The story follows Ercell “Bloody Mary” Bodden (Jonas), a woman whose quiet and tranquil life, sequestered in the Cayman Islands, with her loving husband T.H. (Cordova), her son Isaac (Vedanten Naidoo), and her sister-in-law Elizabeth (Safia Oakley-Green). That life, however, is quickly shattered when her vengeful former Captain Connor (Urban) returns and locks down the island in search of her and his stolen gold. A skilled ex-pirate, Ercell must confront her bloody past and unleash her deadly talents in order to save her family and community from a ruthless siege by the bloodthirsty pirates before its too late. While there isn’t anything that particularly stands out about the film, it barely scrapes by, striving to be no more than just decent.

Leading the way, Jonas is solid as Bodden, a role that is finally worthy of her talents. Here, she absolutely crushes the action sequences and the level of physicality they require. Meanwhile, Urban isn’t given much to work with as Captain Connor but in spite of this, he is a joy to watch, and was clearly having fun playing such an intimidating and ruthless pirate who takes no prisoners. But far and away, the best thing about The Bluff is its action sequences. Not only a ton of fun to watch, it is also brutal at times with its kills, making the most of its R-rating. Offering up a nice variety, featuring sword play, gun fights, and hand to hand combat, it is all well shot as it ratchets up in intensity the further it goes on, culminating in an explosive third act. Not wasting any time getting going, making for a runtime that, for the most part, flies by.

While the film is sure to be a hit with a large swath of streaming audiences, that being said, there is little to nothing about the film that makes it stand out in neither a positive or negative light. Though its period backdrop, and pirate characters, help to distinguish it albeit slightly from other films of the genre, there is still no denying its familiar story and that virtually everything the film brings to table has been done both much better and much worse before. Made from the greatest hits of tropes and cliches from the revenge action subgenre, from there, most audiences can essentially predict the overall arc of the film from the very start without issue. Similarly, the film makes very little effort to develop or flesh out its characters aside from Bodden, failing to offer audiences any reason to care about them. All things considered, there may not be anything necessarily bad about the film, but the entire experience is likely to leaves audiences feeling empty once the end credits roll. Lacking any sort of dramatic weight, it leaves them with anything to truly latch on to, other than the action.

The Bluff will probably find some decent success upon release, but it is also one that fails to move the needle and is destined to be quickly forgotten for being painstakingly average in every conceivable way. Above all else, for action junkies who like their action more brutal, it is worth a watch. Otherwise, its leads will inevitably be a big draw, but Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Karl Urban have both appeared in countless better projects than this one. For those looking to kill time, the film will surely hit the right spot. Other than that, there is not a lot else to be had.

still courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/