Blackbeard

Blackbeard Review

This is a lower budget Hallmark movie, but once you have gotten used to that fact this is a fairly engaging movie that runs 3 hours. The actors are all good, and the battle scenes are okay. The ships are pretty cool and they are probably shinier and better looking that a real ship would have been in the 1800's. While the events in the plot are mostly fictional, the historical background is fairly close to the truth as described in recent books like "Empire of Blue Water", an account of Henry Morgan the pirate. In this movie a distinction is made between pirates and privateers, which usually never happens in pirate movies. (A privateer holds a letter of marque, which gives him permission to legally attack ships of an enemy nation. A pirate acts on his own, with or without permission) Some men became pirates or privateers simply because there was no other way they could make a living. They spent their ill-gotten gains at places like Port Royal in Jamaica. In this film there is no Port Royal but there is a New Providence. I enjoyed this film a lot more than the CGI mess that was Pirates of the Carribean III. Pirates and privateers are an important part of our history. For example, English privateers weakened the Spanish Main, setting the stage for Britain to eventually rule North America. Someday there may be a movie made about Sir Henry Morgan, who probably did more than Francis Drake to take North America from Spain. Until then, there is only this modest film to recreate what life may have been like for real pirates.

Blackbeard Overview

IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY, AT THE DAWN OF THE 18TH CENTURY, BLACKBEAR STOOD OUT AMONG THE LAWLESS ROGUES AS THE MOST FEARSOME & NOTORIOUS SEAFARER OF THEM ALL. HE KILLED FOR THE REPUTATION & HIS REPUTATION HAS BECOME LEGEND. NOW, COMES THE TRUE STORY OF THE PIRATE EDWARD TEACH, BLACKBEARD.

Blackbeard Specifications

Broken into two parts, the epic Blackbeard tells the tale of this famed pirate's travails through the South Seas, beginning in 1717. Blackbeard begins with Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard (Mark Umbers) vowing to capture Blackbeard (Angus McFayden), captain of the Queen Anne, in order to make the South Seas safer. Maynard goes undercover to get hired as Queen Anne's navigator, but not before falling in love with Charlotte (Jessica Chastain), the daughter of corrupt governor of West Indies' New Providence, Charles Eden (Richard Chamberlain). As Blackbeard's crew embark on a treasure hunt, Charles Eden is exposed as being a pirate in his own right, as he heads the campaign to purchase stolen booty from various villains. He also plots to kill Charlotte, whose 21st birthday will qualify her for an inheritance that Eden has selfishly hoarded. All the while, Maynard works towards busting Blackbeard, exposing himself to multiple life-threatening situations. Accurately rendered, this dramatized biography of a world-famous pirate feels darker than other pirate films, due to its inclusion of violent pirate clichés such as people walking planks, and rum-drunk pirates torturing each other. Blackbeard's melodramatic romance between Maynard and Charlotte detracts from the film's depiction of hard-edged pirate life, but there is enough piracy here to please. --Trinie Dalton