rowan_h Really, Its hard to find words for how bad this was. I lasted half an hour and then I just couldn't stand any more. Its not just that the acting and script were bad, and they were, the setting, costumes and general atmosphere were so wrong that a bad film failed even to transport you to the world it was meant to portray which might at least have made me watch a bit more of it.I was put off right at the beginning by Edward Teach (Blackbeard) having a Scottish accent when of course he was English. Angus MacFadyen can act English why didn't he? Stacy Keach looked embarrassed as well he should and Richard Chamberlain tried to rise above it but his costume prevented him. Thailand does not look like the West Indies and the Thais don't look like African slaves.the acting was truly awful and the script sounded like a teenager had written it after watching a few old movies. The costumes were particularly awful. Richard Chamberlain's looked like a High School pantomime costume and the wigs looked as if someone had once seen a picture of an English lawyer and tried to reproduce it from memory with cotton wool. About the only decent thing in it was the ships and the at sea sequences where at least they'd spent a bit of money.I know it was Hallmark but they can do an reasonable enough job, Moby Dick was OK, this was bad, bad, bad. So bad I felt insulted and bitterly resented the rental fee. If you're thinking about watching it don't, just look out the window for an hour its bound to be more entertaining.

Jer Sockbat A few nights ago I was flipping through the channels and I came upon a treasure chest full of sh**(Blackbeard), but being the generous soul I am I decided to give this movie a chance: That was my first mistake. I hated this movie from start to finish, because I quickly learned that Blackbeard was a Captain Jack Sparrow wannabe. He dressed like Sparrow; walked, talked and acted like Sparrow and just might be the "next best thing" but not quite Sparrow! Sorry I lied Blackbeard isn't "the next best" at anything, the pirate that was at my third birthday party was more of man then Blackbeard. It doesn't end there, this movie wouldn't be complete without Zoroish Bandits, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Governor Swann, and Bad-Acting Pirates. Note this people I wasn't expecting much when I started watching this "film" and I use the term loosely, I just expected at least a history channel esq documentary at best, but instead I got a Pirates of the Caribbean rip off. I would rather play in a radioactive waste dump then endure another 160 minutes of this piece of trash. So, I hope this film rots at the bottom of Davey Jones' Locker with the rest of the Pirates of the Caribbean rip offs.

mjdwill Living in Bristol where Blackbeard lived and drank in a pub that still stands today, I thought I would give this a try. I was left disappointed, at what potentially could of been very good. The acting is poor to say the least, and the story line was never something that had you gripped from the start. The story trickled along at a pace that never threatened to speed up, which left me Un-exited throughout.Although I don't know too many of the historical facts about Blackbeard, I was always led to believe Blackbeard to be the most feared pirate in his day. I never got that impression during the film,which again left me disappointed. If you're going to make a film about Blackbeard, at least give him an edge, make us dislike him. Although I can't say i'm an expert on dental hygiene from the 1700's, I was amazed at how many pirates had white teeth, just something else that didn't make it feel like a true pirate film.

MagicStarfire You might need the help of a bottle of rum to make it through this overwrought, overly long, sanitized pirate saga.This film should have been and could have been exciting with some major tweaking. Bad casting was a large part of it's problem.For starters, I would have made Blackbeard the central male character of the film, and he would have had a romance with the heroine.I would have had Blackbeard played by a young, exciting actor - such as Naveen Andrews. Instead, Blackbeard, whose beard by the way, was rather odd looking, being so long and narrow, was played by Angus Macfadyen.Mr. Macfadyen is a middle-aged man who is fighting a middle-age spread and who looked as if he belonged in an recliner chair in front of a TV set far more than he belonged on a pirate ship.The male lead, Robert Maynard, was played by Mark Umbers. He was all right, but not handsome or exciting enough.And while I greatly admired the heroine, Charlotte's spunk (Jessica Chastain),she was no shrinking violet - the woman didn't hesitate to use a gun or a knife - she was so homely, she could have stopped a clock at midnight on a moonless night.There was scenery chewing aplenty, along with a lot of action on the high seas, and no doubt quite a bit of historical inaccuracy. Certainly more than a bit of unrealistic happenings.They go in search of Captain Kidd's treasure - find it - and then I'll be darned if they don't go in search of it again. That part was completely murky. Did Captain Kidd have more than one hidden treasure? Was the first one Captain Kidd's and the second one some other treasure? I don't know and I didn't even care enough to try to figure it out.4 stars out of 10.