Directed By:Roman Polanski
Written By:John Brownjohn, Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski
Pirates
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
32
User score
Generally Favorable
7.1
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
42% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
58% Negative
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
60
The plot is simple, allowing Polanski great freedom to play with his characters and to give his audience rousing fight scenes. Although the film is a bit slow and talky in spots, it fills the long-ignored gap in Hollywood-style swashbuckling pictures.
50
The director, Roman Polanski, is often at his weakest in the comedy field, and the insipid vulgarities of this picture are poor substitutes for inventive gags. Yet he shows some of his erstwhile ingenuity when he crowds the screen with sumptuously filmed images of richly costumed characters, much in the manner of his underrated ''Dance of the Vampires'' a number of years ago. [25 July 1986, p.23]
User score
Generally Favorable
60% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
30% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
10% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Jul 28, 2024
10
I say watch this movie because you will understand. The music and visuals are beautiful, the actors are really well chosen, and the story is very interesting. You must watch it. I rate it as very good.
40
Roman Polanski's Pirates is a decidedly underwhelming comedy adventure adding up to a major disappointment.
30
Pirates is pure Polanski, but it's unfortunately not good Polanski. Attempting to revamp the swashbuckler genre the way he parodied Dracula movies in "The Fearless Vampire Killers," he's produced an abstract action comedy so emotionally detached it's impossible to stay involved. [28 July 1986, p.70]
30
Pirates hasn't got an ounce of excitement -- or at least it hasn't excited composer Philippe Sarde, whose score is the symphonic equivalent of Muzak and is rarely wedded to what we see on the screen. So what's left is a pricey playpen for Polanski's sense of perversity. [19 July 1986, p.G1]
25
Pirates is tedious round after tedious round of mutiny and rescue. Screen people are hanged and stabbed and garroted with great care, but there's nothing to put the audience out of its misery. [22 July 1986, p.5C]
25
There hasn't been a pirate movie in a long time, and after Roman Polanski's "Pirates," there may not be another one for a very long time. This movie represents some kind of low point for the genre that gave us Captain Blood. It also gives us a new pirate image to ponder.
Jul 31, 2024
7
Everyone loves Pirates of the Caribbean. I love this movie too. I thought it was one of the best movies ever. At that time, this was how pirate movies were made. I thought that it must have been one of the most interesting and beautiful films that caught the attention of the public at that time.
Apr 22, 2021
4
I had a good time watching “Pirates”. The acting, sets, and costumes were terrific and there were plenty of fun moments, but the print I watched looked like it had been sitting in the sun for 40 years and been run over by a truck. Cleaning it up won't make it a better movie, but it would allow the spectacle to shine through better. Not quite a good movie, but it did come really close. I give it a D, just don’t bother.
