I had hoped that with John Malkovich starring, Crossbones would hold my interest. Alas, not so. This script must have originated in the Ministry of Silly Pirates, without so much as a nod to any kind of historical accuracy.
The Blackbeard character is written for Malkovich to mug as Malkovich. His every move and utterance seems to be designed to persuade us that Blackbeard was some kind of evil philosopher king. (Say, what?) You can literally feel the actor not caring. Worse, the sound editors seem to have processed his voice so as to sound unnatural.
So much craziness, so many other shows.
The rest is dross. A bunch of political correct casting, confused relationships and full on Hollywood banality. You can almost hear the pitch meeting: Okay, Blackbeard's not really dead, okay?
Not okay.
The Blackbeard character is written for Malkovich to mug as Malkovich. His every move and utterance seems to be designed to persuade us that Blackbeard was some kind of evil philosopher king. (Say, what?) You can literally feel the actor not caring. Worse, the sound editors seem to have processed his voice so as to sound unnatural.
So much craziness, so many other shows.
The rest is dross. A bunch of political correct casting, confused relationships and full on Hollywood banality. You can almost hear the pitch meeting: Okay, Blackbeard's not really dead, okay?
Not okay.