juneebuggy This is one of those movies that makes me mad because I had to struggle through it and then was left with a non-ending. It's a Romeo & Juliet-ish story following a young fisherman (Orlando Bloom) and the daughter(Zoe Saldana) of a powerful island family, who fall in love much to the displeasure of the girls brother. It's an okay drama that ends up being very frustrating as I have no idea what happened to anyone, it just ends with no resolution. Does Shy get his girl? Does he get caught? Does he die fishing on Friday the 13th? What about Bill Paxton, did he get away with the loot? Did his daughter stay on Cayman?Anyways. I had been curious to see this since it takes place in the Cayman Islands and I lived there for 4 years. This version of CI however is very different to my experiences while there. It was fun to see some familiar sights but I never did see any Caymanians just Jamaicans and other ex-pats playing the part. I also had a hard time believing these characters were in high-school. Red Sail sports is transformed into a fishing charter. 09.13

MOSSBIE After reading the great praise for this incredibly horrendous film by most of the members here, I got so freaked thinking I had a brain tumor or something worse, that I went back and read 42 film critiques take on this piece of junk, and not ONE disagreed with me.Most of them dug a deeper hole and those who didn't, missed a few of the errors which all of the naysayers here had included...I have never done this and was so grateful for the opportunity to stick to my guns and remind myself that most people have absolutely no idea about the film-making process,and to add to that, no taste. Set in what should be a fascinating locale, the Cayman Islands, whose main industry or purpose is supposed to be a place where billions of dollars are secreted away for all kinds of reasons by all kinds and types of moneymakers and, to my recollection, has never been used as a location for a film before. The story line is a pretty basic one which starts out as Bill Paxton is making a hasty departure for not all too clear reasons. There then follows a collection of sub plots which are intermingled and even have nothing to do with Paxton's dilemma. There are children of crooks, and children of locals who cause havoc and trouble within the story as we follow a young man named "Shy" who works doing simple tasks at the local yacht harbor, and makes the mistake of having a tryst with a powerful man's daughter whose brother punishes with the old acid in the face retribution. From there, all of the artsy editing and time jumping back and forth becomes so irritating that you do not know what line of crime is the one which is supposed to grab you. Not one got to me and the one thing I am really curious about; what are the Cayman Islands like geographically and culturally? It could easily have been filmed in Beverly Hills and Malibu, or for my tastes, not at all. Orlando Bloom is not strong enough to carry a film and for those who think he is astonishingly handsome and dashing, must be teens or fans left over from his luck being cast in "Pirates" and that other series of blockbusters.Altogether,this film is a contrived and artless mess.Also, it seems that there were a lot of people here who were at the same screening in Toronto and ALL seemed to love it including a brother in law of the director.

JWJanneck A truly remarkable movie in any number of ways. The cast does a great job---Bloom delivers one of his best performances so far, but there really is not a single weak act that would stand out. The writing is tight and complex---the movie introduces a fair number of very different characters that we need to care about in order for it to work, but they do pull it off, and that is quite a considerable achievement in itself.The story is told in a nonlinear way, and in fact there is a phase of the movie during which you might wonder how this whole thing fits together. But then the threads are pulled together nicely and artfully, with a lot of attention to detail that a viewer will be delighted to discover, sometimes perhaps on repeated viewing. Things fall into place, are seen to have a meaning with respect to other parts of the narrative, and quickly the film becomes complete and whole.Finally, the photography is beautiful in those places where it should be, and gritty in others.With great acts, an excellent script, and beautiful pictures, there is really not much wrong with this movie. I have never been to the Caymans, so I cannot comment on the authenticity, but judging from other comments here, they even got that one right, too.

rowmorg The director somehow forgot to TELL A STORY, and he overlooked to DEVELOP CHARACTERS. Incredibly, the action got all mixed up in the editing suite and no one was straight enough to sort it out. That's my guess. What else happens when a bunch of stoned young men get together to make a movie on Grand Cayman? The leading lady was set up to have turned sixteen that very day, when Orlando Mister-Twickenham Bloom pops over to make love with her. Trouble is, she looks about twenty-five. Bloom gets acid thrown in his face by her charming brother, and oh-so-luckily his face is wrinkled up, but both his eyes survive perfectly! The movie started like an international James-Bond-type suspenser, but later turned into a lackadaisical picaresque tale about an ordinary boat-polisher and his burning passion. Yawn. Couldn't be bothered to find out what happened, there was no end for it to happen in.