The Bluff Review: Keeping her dangerous past behind her in 19th century Carribean, former pirate Ercell Bodden’s perfectly curated new life turns upside down when the past catches up to her.
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The Bluff Movie Cast
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Safia Oakley-Green, Temuera Morrison, Vedanten Naidoo, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Karl Urban
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The Bluff Prime Video Director
Frank E. Flowers
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The Bluff 2026 Writers
Joe Ballarini, Frank E. Flowers
The swashbuckler action thriller film has a runtime of 101 minutes.
The Bluff Review
When we think of pirate films, there’s always this grandiose adventure afoot that showcases cannon fights between two ships and people falling overboard. However, in Prime Video’s The Bluff, we see a single mother struggling to keep her home together with her children in the absence of her husband when her past comes back to haunt her. The film is gritty and desperate and showcases another side of piracy, away from the romanticised pirate tropes. Instead, we ground ourselves in the brutal and muddled reality of life in the 19th century Carribean setting, giving us a different experience than expected.
The choreography of the action sequences was the highlight for me in the film, and heavy on brutality, the film does a great job of delivering a gritty and action-packed film that doesn’t shy away from realistic and bloody moments. The sword fights and hand-to-hand combat sequences feel visceral and high-stakes, and the way it’s all presented brings a realistic tone to the entire thing. The setting feels textured and lived-in rather than being just another prop, and viewers will find themselves immersed in the story because of it.
Most of the heavy-lifting is done by Chopra Jonas, who is both the action and emotional powerhouse of the film. She’s great, and her screen presence will completely charm you like no other. On the other hand, her emotional moments are also arresting, and you do root for her throughout. I think the weak point of the characters comes from the supporting cast, including Karl Urban’s Captain Connor. Most of these characters’ motivations are also very one-sided and unconvincing, making this revenge thriller lose steam earlier than expected.
The storyline is also quite simple and one-directional, and doesn’t have anything new to it. It’s just one person wanting revenge against another, with a rather random background to the bloodshed. Coupled with the limited character development of literally everyone, it makes the film lose gravitas and tension. You know who is going to come out on the other side before the movie even begins, and the absence of any complexity just makes it all the more uninteresting after a while.
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The Bluff mostly rests on Chopra Jonas’s capable shoulders, as she handles both the action and emotional sequences with ease and command. However, beyond her, everything seems underdeveloped and doesn’t make you look beyond the revenge. Things happen rather conveniently and, before you know it, the film has come to its obvious conclusion. The cinematography and the world-building are well done, but there’s only so much it can do with a simplistic story like this.
Final Thoughts
The Bluff succeeds when it focuses mostly on Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The action is engaging and does the heavy lifting for the film, along with the cinematography. But the story and characters progress very little beyond an average revenge thriller, and you will find yourself expecting something a bit more engaging beyond just people fighting against one another.
What are your thoughts on The Bluff? Let us know in the comments below!
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