To say this is Polanski's worst movie isn't to say it's the worst movie ever. But it IS pretty bad. First off, Walter Matthau is badly miscast in a role that would seem perfect for him: a crotchety old Cockney pirate. Actually, the Cockney part is the biggest failure of Matthau's performance; his accent is terrible. And Cris Campion, who looks a little like FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS-era Polanski, and even does a reasonable job of mimicking Polanski's performance in that film, he just can't hold his own next to Matthau. And since Matthau's performance is nothing outstanding (and again, that horrible Cockney accent... ugh!), there's nothing exciting to look at. Polanski gives us beautiful scenery, filling every frame with his well-known eye for minute details, and of course there is plenty of his absurd humor to go around. But Polanski forgets to tell a story. There is almost no plot, and while the film is amusing enough in spots, it simply rambles for far too long; it should be about 30 minutes shorter. All in all, I think Polanski is an under-appreciated director. Even those films of his that are generally considered misfires or even out-and-out failures, I tend to admire greatly. Something about his vision speaks to me, and that is something I find even in this film. But unfortunately there may be a little too much of that here, and not enough plot. In my favorite of his films -- THE TENANT, CUL-DE-SAC, THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, and ROSEMARY'S BABY -- he was able to balance his penchant for bizarre (often verging on scatological) humor and absurdist worldview with a strong, entertaining story (as in ROSEMARY'S BABY, where the story is of the utmost importance in terms of impact), and/or compelling performances (as in CUL-DE-SAC, where the cast is about 80% of the film's impact). Polanski's casting isn't as inspired here, and the frankly dull series of events that try to pass themselves off as a plot here are too haphazardly interesting to be totally convincing. Polanski's attempt to recapture the spirit of THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS is unfortunately uninspired. Think how much better it might have been if Polanski had made the film in 1976 as he'd intended, with Jack Nicholson in the lead and himself in the Cris Campion role. But then I guess we wouldn't have THE TENANT, which is one of my favorite movies.
Review of Pirates
