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Jan 21, 2019 Web Exclusive By Jason Wilson

The precarious nature of the high seas and humanity’s seeming never-ending desire to push forward at great cost to self and others has long been, and always will be, a ripe topic for narrative. The story of Captain William Bligh and the mutiny jumpstarted by former friend Fletcher Christian aboard HMS Bounty has been made into at least five different films, including The Bounty from 1984.

Robert Donaldson’s The Bounty reaches for these almost universal themes of the folly attached to human ambition and ultimately fails to say anything interesting or unique about them. Donaldson’s version of the story chronicling the famous mutiny is supposedly an attempt to instill more historical accuracy into the legend. The result is a mostly blasé film despite high seas adventures and rising tension and a quest for control and power.

Captain William Bligh, leads a ship to retrieve breadfruit from the Caribbean, specifically Tahiti. During the voyage, he demotes John Fryer and promotes friend Fletcher Christian to his number one. At this point, it would suggest that Fryer in his frustration would be the one to eventually lead the usurping, but it’s actually Christian.

Anthony Hopkins manages well enough with Bligh, but he’s also the personification of a stiff upper lip, so he’s a tough nut to crack. He’s bound by duty but also has an indomitable pride that leads to hubris. On the way to Tahiti, the ship nearly wrecks in a massive squall as they take a path around Cape Horn that perhaps should have been avoided. Leaving Tahiti, Bligh pushes to circumnavigate the globe through Cape Horn again, which ultimately winds up being the last straw and triggers the mutiny. Perhaps ironically, this is apparently one of the story elements with which Donaldson and company took narrative liberties as this didn’t happen.

Bligh, though, is not exactly villainous. He’s presumably blinded by his own frustrations and discomfort dealing with the native Tahitians. One of the great character moments comes after he and his crew meet with King Tyna, and Bligh is eventually offered one of the king’s wives. Bligh puts on airs of accepting, but ultimately asks Christian to fake an excuse after he and the woman go to is chambers to interrupt. The way Hopkins plays it suggests his discomfort is not due to a moral choice connected to family, but that he’s scared, or simply petrified by the idea of sex. Ultimately, the film needs more moments like this that give glimpses into character.

Grounded in Tahiti as his men grow accustomed to island living and the women who populate the area, Bligh grows anxious and it’s upon leaving that he loses the plot and becomes borderline tyrannical. But, the deviation from historical accuracy with his Cape Horn blunder makes him out to be far less competent than he may have actually been even if it, in theory, makes for stronger conflict. There may have been a more logical fix, however.

Mel Gibson may have had more to do as Fletcher Christian if his usurper were portrayed as the agitator as opposed to the conflicted everyman. This also could have done more to distance this version from previous films based on the subject where the likes of Clark Gable and Marlon Brando in heroic or sympathetic lights. Gibson’s Christian is unfortunately bland until he just goes for it in the actual mutiny and cranks up the “ACTING” from zero to sixty.

Then there’s the cuts to and from the courtroom where Bligh is being questioned about the mutiny. Cut it. These bookends and occasional interjections within stall momentum and don’t provide any extra insight to Bligh or the situation on the high seas. It basically feels like an excuse to have a spot for Laurence Olivier.

The Kino-Lorber disc is void of features save for a pair of audio commentaries. The Bounty, for all its faults and missteps, isn’t an especially bad film and it’s often buoyed by its supporting cast. Liam Neeson, in one of his earliest roles, is especially fun as a brutish bruiser who is rather particular about where he sits at mealtime. The same goes for Daniel Day-Lewis (which…not surprising), who serves perfectly in the role of Fryer who gets demoted in favor of Christian. Logically, this should be such a red flag to the viewer as such an illogical decision, which would cast doubt early on Bligh’s grasp of reality, but he’s such a weasel that he earns his comeuppance even if he’s actually the only reasonable person onboard.

The Bounty ultimately tries to do too much. Bligh is shown as both an expert seaman and an incompetent one. He’s portrayed as measured and thoughtful before he’s rash and unreasonable. These changes aren’t impossible, but the transitions aren’t handled well enough on screen and the passage of time on Tahiti is likewise poorly communicated. Overall, it’s a missed opportunity that needs trimming in some areas and extra time in others.

(www.kinolorber.com/product/the-bounty-special-edition-blu-ray)