The Bluff (dir. Frank E. Flowers)

by Jack Martin | Feb 25, 2026

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 103 mins

UK Distributor: Prime Video

UK Release Date: 25 February 2026

WHO’S IN THE BLUFF?

Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Safia Oakley-Green, Vedanten Naidoo, Temuera Morrison, Zack Morris, David Field, Pacharo Mzembe, Gideon Mzembe, Ronnie James Hughes, Max McVeigh, Harry Reid, Liam Bunting

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Frank E. Flowers (director, writer), Joe Ballarini (writer), Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Michael Disco, Angela Russo-Otstot, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Cisely Saldana and Mariel Saldana (producers), Henry Jackman (composer), Greg Baldi (cinematographer), Lisa Lassek (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A former pirate (Chopra Jonas) must protect her family from a vengeful captain (Urban)…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE BLUFF?

The Bluff is the best pirate movie in years. However, that isn’t because the movie is any good, but rather it’s due to the fact that there haven’t actually been any pirate movies in years, let alone ones that have made it to cinemas. With the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise currently frozen in carbonite, the only pirate media we’ve been able to consume so far this decade has been predominantly on streaming platforms, from Netflix’s One Piece series to Disney+ housing the live-action Peter Pan remake – and even then, you can count them all on a single hand.

Therefore, by default, this Prime Video release – directed and co-written by Frank E. Flowers, and you know that you’re in for a truly tough and gritty action movie when it’s directed by a guy with the last name “Flowers” – is the current pinnacle of swashbuckling pirate cinema. But aside from some decent bloody action, there’s really not much to The Bluff that’s truly outstanding. In fact, it’s all surprisingly a bit dull, working from a paint-by-numbers script that doesn’t offer a whole lot of suspense since it’s clear almost from the very beginning where everything is going to lead.

Speaking of the very beginning, we open with the ship of 19th century sea captain T.H. Bodden (Ismael Cruz Córdova) being boarded and ransacked by pirates, led by their own fearsome Captain Connor (Karl Urban) who takes Bodden hostage as they set sail for his home on a Caribbean island. There, Bodden’s wife Ercell (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) waits patiently for her husband to return, while attending to her disabled son Isaac (Vedanten Naidoo) as well as dealing with the yearning spirit of her teenage sister-in-law Elizabeth (Safia Oakley-Green). But when Connor and his crew eventually arrive, eager to find a stolen loot of gold, Ercell springs into action – for you see, Ercell was once a pirate herself, who along with Connor terrorised the seas with their dastardly pillaging before leaving that life behind with Connor’s gold in hand. That was then, but right now all Ercell cares about is protecting her family by slaughtering any murderous pirate who threatens to cross them.

The script, by Flowers and Joe Ballarini – again, neither “Flowers” nor a surname that sounds awfully close to “ballerina” exactly cry out “hardcore action flick” – is about as stock as you can imagine for a film like this. From the seemingly dutiful protagonist with a dark past to the often helpless waif that said protagonist must protect at all times, The Bluff touches upon many tropes that you’ve seen done many times before, but not only does it not do anything with them that at least shakes up the formula a little bit, but goes out of its way to be as straightforward with them as it can. Everything you expect to happen in this film plays out exactly like you would have pictured in your mind, with the only few surprises being so heavily telegraphed it almost feels insulting to even call them a surprise, while the characters are largely just blank renditions of familiar archetypes that don’t carry much weight to them other than their designated backstories. Because there’s little variety in the way these tropes are presented, the film always feels like you’re watching a run-through of certain conventions rather than an actual movie, and it gets more and more uninteresting very quickly.

In its favour, though, The Bluff does at least know when to give the viewer a helping of strong action-movie violence. There are some fine sequences, sometimes undertaken in what appears to be one long continuous take, where throats are slashed, bodies are set on fire and blown up, crocodiles turning their river red with victims’ blood, and at one point a character taking an entire cannonball through the chest, all of which certainly come with their fair share of bloodshed but never quite to cartoonish levels. After a while, you start to wonder if this is the pirate movie that should have been called Cutthroat Island instead of the actual film with that designated title.

But while the action is fairly well-handled, including certain choreography which is impressively performed by the stunt team, at times it’ll be hard to even make out what is actually happening since a lot of it is shot during the night with minimal lighting. Furthermore, the cinematography tends to become more handheld with shaking motions that disorient the viewer even further, while the editing is somewhat choppy in how it presents everything, with some shots going by so fast that there’s no time to comprehend what you may have just seen. Some off-putting visual effects here and there, including a climactic duel set in front of some glaringly obvious green-screen, also aren’t especially helpful in presenting a coherent and believable atmosphere.

More concerning, though, is the fact that there’s never really a reason to care. As much as the likes of Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Karl Urban have clear screen presence, they can only do so much with characters whose backstories are as bland as their personalities. The script never makes them especially compelling outside of who’s playing them, while the story they’re in is easy to predict since, once more, you’ve seen this kind of plot done more effectively in other things, leaving this with little else other than a dull set of conventions with occasional decent action. And any suggestion that it contains anything more than that is themselves is in and of itself a bluff.

SO, TO SUM UP…

The Bluff is a largely dull pirate action movie where, despite some decently choreographed and readily violent action, the paint-by-numbers script and bland characters leave it more as a series of familiar tropes than a proper film.