Director Frank E. Flowers (Haven) cowrote with Joe Ballarini (A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting) this swashbuckling tale about former female pirate Ercell Bodden (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) now living a quiet and peaceful life on Cayman Brac with her disabled son, Isaac (Vedanten Naidoo), and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth (Safia Oakley-Green), who knows nothing of Ercell’s past. All three await the return of her captain husband, T.H. (Ismael Cruz Cordova), whose ship is overdue. (103 min.)
THE BLUFF
What’s it rated? R
What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee
What’s it worth, Glen? Streaming
Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime
Glen This is a classic “past comes back to haunt you” tale. As it opens, T.H.’s ship is being overtaken and then boarded by pirate Capt. Connor (Karl Urban) and his crew of suitably bloodthirsty buccaneers. When he discovers T.H. has a gold bar from a stash that was stolen from him long ago, he knows he’s finally found a way to avenge the theft and recover his gold by finding the notorious pirate Bloody Mary (now Ercell), who we learn he kidnapped as a teen, forcing her into the pirate’s life. That’s the setup for a protracted action-packed rolling battle as Connor lands on Cayman Brac and sets about wreaking havoc. It’s very violent but not too gory—only one thrown severed head.
Anna Rolling it is; be prepared for a lot of swashbuckling in this one. Ercell is a badass, and a fiercely protective one at that. At the beginning of the film, we’re meant to think her husband is the revered seaman, but we soon learn that her quiet island life hides many secrets of her past as a captain. Urban as Connor is appropriately menacing and rugged—a man on a mission, ready to sacrifice his own band of merry men to find Bloody Mary. His drive is clearly not all about the gold; he’s enamored with the child (now woman) that he once groomed. It’s a tale of a mother’s love, and about a fierce pirate pushed out of hiding whose killer instincts still simmer just below the surface. She’s protecting her teenage sister-in-law, who dreams of a life off the island, and her disabled son who relies on a wheelchair and leg braces for mobility. They wind up being a part of her final plot to end Capt. Connor.
Glen If you’re expecting tongue-in-cheek pirate fare like Cutthroat Island (1995) or Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), this ain’t it. The Bluff is dark and gritty, and characters you care about will die. Like Crank (2006), The Raid: Redemption (2011), and John Wick (2014), once the violence ball starts rolling, it doesn’t stop until the end. I already knew Urban was a credible action star, but I was surprised at how fierce Chopra Jonas came off. But look, this is not a great film. It’s competently put together with a good cast and good acting, including the always welcome Temuera Morrison as the pirate Quartermaster Lee. But as a straight-to-streaming action flick, it’s solid, and the cinematography by Greg Baldi, as well as the Australian and Cayman Islands locations, is beautiful.
Anna It isn’t the kind of film I’d choose to watch, but it holds its own enough, and Chopra Jonas was the strong female lead the film needed. Personally, I get pretty bored when fighting seems to be the main drive of a film, and while The Bluff suffers from that a bit, it does at least give us some people to root for. Watch this when you’re looking for an action-packed flick that doesn’t have very high stakes. ∆
Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Split Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in March 5-12, 2026.