Cutthroat Island

This mega-budget action epic flopped at the box office with a resounding thud, and it probably deserved that fate for not living up to its lavish potential. But Cutthroat Island has had a healthy shelf life on video, and digital video disc can only improve the film's potential as a spectacular guilty pleasure. Geena Davis plays Morgan, the swashbuckling daughter of an aging buccaneer who inherits one-third of a map to a secret pirate treasure. But the map is in Latin, and she needs a lowdown thief and scoundrel (and presumably a Latin scholar), played by Matthew Modine, to translate the map when they obtain the other two pieces. That's when the mayhem begins and the dashing duo race for the treasure against Morgan's scheming uncle (Frank Langella) and a hoard of greedy pirates. With wall-to-wall action ably handled by Davis's then-husband Renny Harlin, Cutthroat Island is more fun than its box-office performance would indicate. --Jeff Shannon