Pirates: Blood Brothers (1999)

Pretty Good

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Beautifully photographed and well-acted, "Pirates:Blood Brothers" is a pirate saga worthy of Alexandre Dumas or Rafael Sabatini. It took me back to some of the better films of the genre such as "Captain Blood", "Captain from Castile" and "The Corsican Brothers", to name a few. For one who was very disappointed by the three campy Disney CGI pirate films, it was exhilarating to see this thrilling drama in the tradition of genuine historical adventure. It must be said that even though it's a story of two Italian brothers, one of whom becomes a member of the pirate brotherhood and one who becomes a spy in the pay of the French crown, it's a stirring,complex drama of revenge, redemption, twists of fate, and historical change. The film truly belongs mostly to the older, conscience-stricken brother Ippolito, consumed by remorse, masterfully portrayed by the astounding Paolo Seganti. Be warned about the four hour English dubbed version....the bad editing and terrible maladroit dubbing nearly ruins the film. Far better to see a complete Italian or German version with English subs. This is definitely the best film of the genre made since the aforementioned classics and it deserves a wide audience. Bravo to Paolo Seganti for an outstanding, moving portrayal which raised this film far above the pedestrian.

I wasn't expecting much from the movie since it was made for TV, but it really turned out to be the best pirate movie I saw, definitely. The characters are engaging, the setting is believable, the two main actors playing the brothers are simply perfect for the roles, and the soundtrack is really endearing. The only fault might perhaps be the visuals, the underwater scenes looking kind of weak, but the rest, sceneries, costumes and make-up is excellent all around. The original movie is kind of long, but I saw the "Pirates: Blood Brothers" version which was a bit shorter, although you don't actually feel like the movie is long anyways, since it's so captivating that you never want it to end. You get to care for all the characters, and there's always intrigue and action to spice things up.Without a doubt an adventure movie far superior to all the Hollywood ones that every fan of pirates stories should watch.

The first time I watched the mini series I was 17 and absolutely fascinated by how exotic and bright it looked and by the whole twist of fate story. I am crazy about period dramas and wild stories about pirates, and the actors were incredibly beautiful and quite talented. I watched each episode over and over whenever the series was on television, and in time I've come to be less subjective and face its flaws. Many scenes were poorly shot, the dialog and situations were often naive and not too credible, the score, although brilliant, was most of the time redundant and not masterly distributed throughout the movie. However, this is a flick that once captivated the dreamy teen-ager in me, and for this reason it's still very close to my heart, despite its defects. All in all, it's a very enjoyable movie if you don't analyze its technique too much. I'm only sorry because it had great potential to reach perfection in better directorial hands and vision, and certainly with a bigger budget.

An excellent movie, with great landscapes, a simple and complex story at the same time, but with parts of history reality.Malasorte is like Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas), a victim of his society who wants to revenge his (supossed) brother death, his father death, his lost love.It is more realistic than "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)", not a comedy, not an "today action movie", but a real adventure.The producers are well documented about history, clothes, ships, rules, in the area in that period. The language (original Italian) is more suitable for Caribbean Area than English.The 4 parts (360 minutes all) are excellent connected and aren't boring.Unfortunately this movie is an European one and it isn't well known, but, in my opinion, it is better than the American ones.I saw it 3 times and I still believe it is the best movie I have ever seen.I hope you'll enjoy it.