Genre: Adventure

Air Date/Time: May 5, 7/6c

Network: Syfy

Writer: Stewart Harcourt

Director: Steve Barron

Cast: Eddie Izzard, Toby Regbo, Rupert Penry-Jones, Daniel Mays, Elijah Wood, Philip Glenister, Donald Sutherland

Synopsis:

In a special, one night only movie event, Syfy will present a fresh, new spin on the classic tale, Treasure Island, featuring an all-star cast led by Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood and Donald Sutherland. Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling adventure story about fantastical treasure, youthful courage and murderous greed will premiere Saturday, May 5 from 7-11PM (ET/PT) on Syfy. Izzard (The Riches, Ocean’s 12 and 13, Mockingbird Lane) stars as Long John Silver, Wood (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit) plays Ben Gunn and Sutherland (Pride and Prejudice, Ordinary People) portrays Flint.

Distributed by RHI Entertainment (Tin Man, Alice, Neverland), the movie also stars Toby Regbo (Young Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) as young Jim Hawkins, who is unexpectedly drawn into the world of piracy when he discovers a treasure map and finds himself battling Silver for the treasure — and his life. Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ursula in Doctor Who “Love and Monsters”) and Nina Sosanya (the mum of the possessed child in Doctor Who “Fear Her”) round out the Treasure Island cast.

This is a beautiful, gritty, striking, brutal, experience of a movie. If you’re looking for something charming or magical like the other RHI productions, you’ll not find that here. Neither is this anything like Pirates of the Caribbean OR the Disney version of Treasure Island (upon which the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was originally based). Eddie Izzard has called it a kick-arse version, and it is, in a way. It’s not bombastic. What makes it kick-arse is how it takes previous pirate movies and slits their throats. Quiet-like, see?

It’s a coming-of-age story for Jim (though he isn’t the only one to mature), and a tale of greed in all its permutations. Which one is the primary story changes back and forth throughout. The length of the movie allows for some really tasty character development along with the story development, and doesn’t feel overlong.

I love this format; just enough time to really develop a story and several characters, time for action as well as dialogue, but still enough time to develop a satisfying ending. Because there aren’t a lot of big and little scenes, you tend to not realize the underlying advancement of the characters; it just keeps going and going, until you find yourself at the end and realize how neatly the whole thing was done. If you do feel that the movie drags at all, stick with it, because by the end you will hopefully join me in feeling that, as I said above, this presentation is an experience.

The cast is outrageously strong. Eddie Izzard is absolutely mesmerizing, from his unique look, to his great lines – “you remind me of myself, and that’s a high compliment coming from me” – to his absolute embodiment of the complexities of the character. In fact each of the primary cast members, though familiar to anyone who watches much BBC America or Masterpiece on PBS, are completely transformed into their characters. Rupert Penry-Jones is terrific as an insufferable toff; Philip Glenister is a wonderful foil as an the essence of a fair-minded, wise, practical, experienced captain. Daniel Mays as the doctor and of course Toby Regbo as Jim are each called upon to transform their characters through the course of the story. They do so in opposite but equally effective ways; the doctor with a gut-wrenching yell, and Jim with his growing maturity. Elijah Wood is unexpected and terrific as Gunn; I never once imagined him reaching for a ring. Donald Sutherland’s appearance is a cameo, regardless of the publicity, but he is excellent as always. Kudos to all the cast.

Treasure Island was shot on location in Ireland, playing the part of Bristol, and in Puerto Rico, playing the part of the island. Both were absolutely perfect. I understand that conditions for each were opposite, but equally brutal; it was so cold in Ireland that in one interior scene you can actually see Eddie Izzard’s breath. Though they of course used some sets for the shipboard scenes, they did use an actual old ship as well, that truly did cross the Atlantic from Ireland to Puerto Rico for this production, which was the source for some of the sailing scenes, including one with enormous, rollicking waves. This search for authenticity really pays off in the spectacular look of the movie.

The look of the cast is really terrific as well, from the wardrobes to the hair (or lack of it) to the variety of ethnicities, to the sunburn that we see on Jim on the deck of the ship, to the sure-to-be-authentic sweat on the ship and on the island.

On the technical side, the camera work is very effective, with a liberal use of unusual camera angles, an abundance of handheld shots, and special filters for those times when things are meant to feel a little out of control. It also appears that they took a page from the Awake color wash book in post production, adding a gray wash on the “Bristol” scenes, and for certain scenes on the island, a yellow and yellow/green wash. The special effects work is equally gorgeous. Yes, many of the shoots were on location, and the ship was real, but it certainly wasn’t in a harbor full of schooners in real life. Well done, effects people.

There were just two areas that fell short, and though those issues don’t sink the production, they do take it down one star-rating level. A portion of the music is, well, kind of awful. The bad parts sound to me like a soundtrack from the 1970s, both in the style and in the quality; smarmy, Hallmark-ish, tinny, and almost like a bad or not-well-preserved recording. As always with such issues, I hope that this is something that is only an issue with my screener, and that broadcast viewers will experience none of that. The pirate songs – sorry, no Pirate’s Life for Me, this is so not that movie – do feel authentic and are effective.

The other issue I have with the production is the sound. The beautiful accents of the actors are something I could listen to all day, but unfortunately I couldn’t always hear them very well. In a production as dialogue-rich as this one, missing out on some great Silver lines is a real loss, and makes it hard to stay quite as invested. Because this is an adventure story, you can certainly figure out what’s going on if you just keep watching, but it’s unfortunate to be missing out, or to interrupt the flow by having to rewind and turn up the volume to catch every word. Again, I hope this is a screener issue and not an issue that broadcast viewers will experience.

Overall, this is an absolutely excellent presentation, full of captivating performances, smart dialogue, and very high production values. It’s a rich and welcome addition to the illustrious list of RHI productions, and is a feather in the cap – or in this case, a tattoo on the face, and that’s a good thing – for Syfy.

I give Treasure Island Four Out of Five Stars.