The Bounty

The Bounty in all rights may not be a great movie. From time to time it drags on but what sets it apart from its predecessors is that its portrayal of Bligh has much more depth. The Bounty does not simply show men as good and evil but as more complex figures.

Bligh is played here by Anthony Hopkins and is done so wonderfully. In the movie he is being court-marshaled for the events that took place aboard ship. Unlike the past films here his actions seem to have more logical motivations rather than him being Captain Hitler. Yet for all the depth Hopkins puts in his performance Mel Gibson comes up short in that he is just there. He is supposed to take on the role of a leader but instead fades into the background time after time.

I like the way the movie was directed taking the flashback approach from the view of Hopkins. It gave the movie some sort of originality which is very hard to do with remakes. This film though was strictly carried by the performance of Anthony Hopkins and his complex portrayal of Captain Bligh.