Priyanka Chopra Jonas in ‘The Bluff’
| Photo Credit: Prime Video
We are told right at the beginning of The Bluff that the reign of the pirates of the Caribbean has come to an end — not the movies, though that is also true, but the real pirates. The surviving buccaneers are hard, ruthless men fighting for their existence.
The Bluff (English)
Director: Frank E. Flowers
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Safia Oakley-Green, Temuera Morrison
Storyline: A woman confronts her past when her family is threatened
Runtime: 101 minutes
It is 1846 in the breathtakingly beautiful island of Cayman Brac in the Caribbean. Everyone is going about their business. There is Pastor Bradley (David Field) welcoming his congregation, a ship is ready to be launched, and Custode Drayton (Gary Beadle) looks over the island with a benign eye.
On the high seas, pirates led by the enigmatic Captain Connor (Karl Urban) board a merchant ship. They kill everyone on board except the captain, T.H. Bodden (Ismael Cruz Córdova).
Connor wants to know where the gold Bodden is carrying came from. He recognises the gold and when he learns that Bodden is from Cayman Brac, he orders his villainous band to head for the island with Bodden as a hostage.
A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video
On the island, Bodden’s wife Ercell (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and 13-year-old son, Isaac (Vedanten Naidoo) wait anxiously for him. Isaac, who needs medical care, is hoping his father will come for his birthday as he promised while Ercell makes a coconut cake. Meanwhile, Bodden’s sister, Elizabeth (Safia Oakley-Green), wishing to see wider horizons, plans to elope with a local lad.
Into this bejeweled paradise comes danger in the form of Connor and his bloodthirsty gang. When they go to Bodden’s house expecting little resistance from a household of women, they are in for a surprise as Ercell shows exceptional fighting skills.
As the movie progresses, we learn that Ercell was a fearsome pirate earlier. And before he became Pastor Bradley, he was Blackheart Bradley. Ercell was bloody Mary ruling the waves with Connor till she betrayed him and decamped with the gold.
A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video
The action sequences are quite thrilling, the history holds up, and Chopra Jonas dazzles in her action hero avatar. She is a fierce mum in the tradition of all those hard-hitting screen mothers from JLo (The Mother) and Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) to Jodie Foster (Panic Room, Flightplan) and Sigourney Weaver (Aliens).
Urban is all glowering swagger as the wicked Connor while Temuera Morrison as Connor’s quartermaster and second in command makes an impression in the short screen time available to him.
The Bluff is not path breaking but its predictable fun is harmless. Well shot with a beautiful island vibe, blazing guns and slashing swords, the lack of parley and pirate speak is made up for with a grinning crocodile and a tattoo in Malayalam which appears in a book about Ercell’s past, and on Connor’s chest. Savvy?
The Bluff is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Published – February 27, 2026 12:06 pm IST
