Although this mega-budget action epic flopped at the box office with a resounding thud, Cutthroat Island has had a healthy shelf life on home video, where the film can be savoured in private 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. However, the map is in Latin, and she needs a lowdown thief and scoundrel (and presumably 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' then-husband Renny Harlin, Cutthroat Island is more fun than its box-office performance would indicate. --Jeff Shannon,