The Bluff
Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Safia Oakley-Green, Temuera Morrison
Director: Frank E Flowers
Rating: ★★
Very early on in Frank E. Flowers’ The Bluff, there’s an action sequence where Priyanka Chopra transforms into a 19th-century Navy SEAL equivalent, dispatching deadly pirates with relative ease. The film springs into life at that moment, but sadly, dies again the moment PC stops kicking butt. This is pretty much the story of The Bluff, which rests largely on the shoulders of its female lead, and wastes a good premise, a solid cast, and great action on a rather meh action film that is neither bad nor good, just forgettable.
The Bluff is the story of Ercell Borden (Priyanka), a fishwife who lives in an Eden-esque town in the Caribbean with her son and sister-in-law. Her husband, sailor TH Borden (Ismael Cruz Córdova) has been captured by a notorious pirate named Connor (Karl Urban), who now hunts her to settle old scores. Ercell must reconnect with a past she had long left behind and transform into Bloody Mary, a pirate legend, to protect her family.
This almost Die Hard-like film pits Priyanka as both a legend and an underdog. It does the latter on account of her size and frame. She is almost always much smaller than all the male pirates she takes on, including Karl Urban, the formidable antagonist. But the narrative gives her Jason Bourne-like skills to make up for that, turning her into the legend we can root for. That is the film’s USP. It sucks us into this wafer-thin, sanitised world, where only Priyanka holds our attention.
The Bluff is brutal, rated R brutal. Blood flows freely, limbs are torn and strewn around liberally, and the protagonist finds herself carving through opponents with fierce ease, quite like Uma Thurman’s Bride. The one likeable thing about the film is its unabashed, unapologetic approach to violence. It is a by-product of the violent lives the characters have lived. The violence jars you as it takes place in the idyllic setting of the scenic bluff, where people are alien to this intense brutality. It also reminds you of the horrors of the world.
But beyond that brutality is a predictable, formulaic plot that could very well have been a short film. The film does not have enough meat to pack a feature-length without becoming repetitive and packed with tropes. You can see each plot twist and character death from a mile away, and it’s not like the film tries to hide them. It uses the tropey set pieces openly to move the narrative forward. The Bluff hopes to do so in such a slick and shockingly violent manner that one forgets the plot’s inadequacies. To be fair, Tarantino has excelled at that. But Flowers is no Quentin and The Bluff is no Kill Bill. It fails to rise above the mediocrity it imposes on itself, drowning in it throughout its 2-hour runtime.
Priyanka Chopra is the one bright spark amid it all – well, her and the heavy-duty action that erupts on screen every time she is there. Priyanka must be aware of the rise of hyperviolent action films in her homeland over the last few years. It would be far-fetched to call The Bluff an attempt to capitalise on that trend, as the target audience here is truly international. But one does draw parallels with the Marcos and Animals back home. Mary is every bit as brutal and unforgiving as Ranbir’s Ranvijay and Unni’s Marco. But she has the advantage of being played by Priyanka Chopra, who brings sensitivity and softness, an uncharted territory in this domain. She excels at the action and even manages to convince the audience that she can be that brutal. But Priyanka’s real win in The Bluff is retaining her character’s humanity, a rarity in this genre. It’s a shame it happens in a movie that’s otherwise so pedestrian.
The Bluff wastes a rather stellar cast. Karl Urban seems to still be stuck in the Billy Butcher zone. Everything from his mannerisms to his delivery is just a shadow of the character he has been playing in The Boys for the past half-decade. Temuera Morrison’s Lee is never established as the badass he is, or given scope to show that badassery. Ismael Cruz Córdova, a fine performer, is wasted on a two-bit role that gets lost in the mayhem.
The biggest disservice The Bluff does is not to the audience but to its genre, and to action films with female protagonists. They deserve better films. For now, this film deserves to walk the plank for its shoddy execution of a good idea.
The Bluff releases on Amazon Prime Video on February 25.