The Bluff (2026) Movie Review: A By-The-Numbers Pirate Exploitation Thriller Elevated by ‘John Wick’-style Action

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It’s unfortunate that, despite a wealth of potential, the Golden Age of Piracy hasn’t inspired that many great films. While there’s an alternate reality where pirates held the same place in cinematic history as medieval knights or western gunslingers do, the approach to the era has either been far too self-serious or absurdly goofy.

“The Bluff” is a straightforward revenge thriller set within the world of piracy, and it has more in common with contemporary action flicks like “Taken” and “John Wick” than it does with the swashbuckling adventure films of Burt Lancaster and Errol Flynn. It’s not a dull film, but the lack of specificity and routine structure makes “The Bluff” a rather tough sit when considering the promise that its premise foretold.

Set in the Caribbean during the late 19th century, “The Bluff” tells the story of Ercell Bodden (Priyanka Chopra), who has raised her son Isaac (Vedanten Naidoo) and sister-in-law Elizabeth (Safia Oakley-Green) whilst her husband T.H. (Ismael Cruz Córdova) is off on an adventure on the high seas.

After T.H. runs afoul of the ruthless pirate Captain Connor (Karl Urban), Ercell finds herself fending for her family when mercenaries storm her island and ransack her village. Ercell shares a past with Connor that she has kept under wraps, but he doesn’t just desire vengeance upon her. There’s a valuable treasure that Ercell knows the location of, and the remorseless pirates will do everything in their power to find it.

The most exciting aspect of piracy stories, and what made the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series one of the most popular blockbuster franchises of the 21st century, is the notion of trading sides, backstabbing betrayals, and high-octane action in the midst of the open waters. Unfortunately, “The Bluff” is mostly landbound, and the film doesn’t explore the full extent of the island terrain in a way that would have made the action feel more dynamic.

As a result, the hand-to-hand combat and swordplay feel unvarnished and familiar, even if it is well-choreographed. It doesn’t help that the fights share the same shaky, intimate approach that many contemporary action films do. While this occasionally works for filmmakers like Paul Greengrass or Doug Liman, who know how to capture the immediacy of the moment, it feels like too much of a modern approach for a period piece like “The Bluff.” If the intent was to take a more authentic approach to a genre that has become rather sensationalized, “The Bluff” is held back by its overtly digital, CGI-laden approach, which has the same visual banality that has become all-too common for streaming originals.

The Bluff (2026) — A still from “The Bluff” (2026)

Even if “The Bluff” was intended to be a remote, isolated thriller, the extent of the worldbuilding isn’t expansive. There’s plenty of interesting history to delve into during a time when the line between pirates and privateers became blurred, and the ethnic tensions involving a family of islanders hunted by multicultural criminals is also underdeveloped.

At the same time, the modernization doesn’t extend to the relationships between the characters, which feel stuck within outdated tropes. If the driving force of the film’s emotional subtext was intended to be the shared secrecy Ercell shares with her husband, and why she has hidden that from her family, there never seems to be any significant rifts within their relationships.

Chopra is a solid action heroine whose ability to do her own stunts ensures that most of the action scenes are quite engaging. While it does reach a point in which the stunts are so finely crafted that it’s hard to sell them as feeling like anything more than a choreographed routine, Chopra is refreshingly willing to let her character take punches and be vulnerable, a trait that has become far too uncommon for modern action stars.

Whilst there’s a ruthlessness that Chopra finds in Ercell during some of the more brutal moments, the film doesn’t go quite far enough in showing her as legitimately malevolent. Although there are allusions to a chequered past, Ercell never seems to do anything that feels unjustified, making the character feel bland.

The best aspect of “The Bluff” is by far the performance by Urban, who seems to understand what the tone of the film should have been better than anyone else, including director Frank E. Flowers. Urban may be chewing scenery and giving an appropriately larger-than-life performance, but it isn’t a Disney-fied version of a pirate.

He’s a straight-up sociopath who finds sick pleasure in harming others, and breaks enough promises to indicate that no code of ethics would prevent him from harming Ercell and her family. While the nastiness that Urban brings to his role would be far too R-rated for something more family-friendly like “Pirates of the Caribbean,” he does have a cheeky, knowing quality that might have been better utilized in a Jerry Bruckheimer production.

Urban is so good in the film that any scenes that he isn’t present suffer as a result. None of the ancillary villains are all that interesting, and despite the high degree of destruction, the characters rarely feel endangered in unexpected ways. There’s a strange contrast to the brutality of “The Bluff,” which features frequent gore and ear-shattering explosions, and the lack of impact that it has. The intensity is so heightened from the beginning that it’s hard to buy into any ebbs and flows within the narrative progression.

“The Bluff” can be considered more positively when viewed on a curve, when compared to other streaming releases and films about the same subject material. There’s been such a vacancy or pirate-related content that even the film’s adherence to cliches doesn’t feel that derivative. It’s certainly shot for audiences who might be viewing it small screen.

But “The Bluff” is more competently put together than a lot of the other mid-budget genre films that Prime Video has released. However, being “just good enough” to be a mediocre distraction is a low bar to clear, and there’s little in “The Bluff” that warrants deep consideration. Taking advantage of a scarce market is perhaps the only thing that it has in its favor.