Critic Reviews

It’s sophisticated, well-acted television for a warm-weather series.

It is filled with adventure on the high seas and sex and intrigue on dry land. And, yes, above all, it's fun.

An oddity with additional oddness in the form of Malkovich. But as summer diversions go, this looks to be a good one.

The series hits its stride a few episodes in, when Lowe and Blackbeard finally get on a boat together to fight a common enemy, knowing they’re each just waiting for the right moment to kill the other. Their dynamic evokes the tense partnership between Al Swearengen and Sheriff Bullock in "Deadwood."

The plots that spin around the two main characters unfortunately suffer by comparison.... But in all honestly, Crossbones is all about Blackbeard being John Malkovich.

By the time the three episodes available for review end, a plot is thickening suspensefully, Blackbeard is exhibiting still more interesting propensities, and nobody can possibly mind not being able to figure out which woman in the Commodore's court is doing what with whom.

You might not want to sign on for a summerlong journey right away, but Malkovich's theatrical pirate probably deserves an hour or two hosting this after-dinner cruise before you decide if NBC's gone completely overboard.

Crossbones rises and falls on Malkovich’s inspired delivery and is under­cut by the show’s joyless, convoluted plotting, especially in next week’s episode.

As it threads through a maze of sometimes shaky plot turns, you could say the script gets tortured--along with most of the characters. But there is a payoff, in the high-stakes cat-and-mouse game between pirate Blackbeard (John Malkovich) and Tom Lowe (Richard Coyle), a British crown agent who represents law and order.

[John Malkovich] makes this cartoonish romp a lot more fun than Starz's Black Sails--which admittedly isn't saying much.