Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Rhys Darby, Taika Waititi, Con O’Neill, Joel Fry, Samson Kayo, Nathan Foad, Matthew Maher, Kristian Nairn, Samba Schutte, Ewen Bremner, Vico Ortiz, Nat Faxon, Rory Kinnear, Guz Khan, David Fane, Eden Grace Redfield, William Barber-Holler, Leslie Jones, Connor Barrett, Boris McGiver, Fred Armisen, Michael Crane, Theo Darby, Angus Sampson, Nick Kroll, Simone Kessell, Kristen Schaal, Kristen Johnston, Mateo Gallegos, Damien Gerard, Carlos Areliano, Ashna Sharan, Christian Lagadec, Jeff Lorch, Cornelius Peter.
History is but a consecutive set of lies passed off as fact and written down in accordance by historians to dispute at leisure.
Pirates are a source of fear and respect in equal measure, we have all surely played one as a child, read stories of the more celebrated, or at least infamous, scourges of the oceans and seas, and we are thrilled and entertained when we come across them in films and depictions on television.
History remembers some more than others, and for the rest there is always the chance that in the 21st Century writers and studios can work together to offer an established version of events that suit the narrative sought; and why should an unknown tale of a person’s life not be given the chance to shine with a set of extraordinary circumstances and a juiced up comedic observation.
So, it falls to 18th Century British/Barbadian Stede Bonnet to fulfil the challenge of adapting a little known (by modern standards) pirate and give him the kind of back story that would give him hero status, even in the face of what is not known about his life, he still has the decency to shine.
This is not only down to the superb Rhys Darby as Bonnet, but it certainly helps, nor is it down to his love for the notorious Edward Teach, the infamous and the celebrated Blackbeard, but down to the sharp and incisive writing over the series, the setting of history and the given warm embrace to LGBT+ representation amongst the cast.
To have the excellent and dominant personalities of Taika Waititi, the foremost artistic vision of Con O’Neill, Rory Kinnear, Vico Ortiz, and Joel Fry all within the line up, portraying the sense of adventure, the secrets, the damage and the often overriding sense of boredom that any potential pirate must encounter when the seas hold no adventure…that takes a special kind of performance, and it is one to enjoy across the entire ten episode run of the first series.
A yarn tightly woven, history may recall a different story, but as with most events they are always open to interpretation and given the beauty of the tale it has been worth confounding the odd historian as Our Flag Means Death sets sail across the television landscape and roaring seas.
Ian D. Hall