I loved it - Treasure Island (2012) Discussion

[–] compel_bast 12 years ago

I've never actually read treasure island and pretty much only had vague memories of the muppets version when I was 8.

And, I've got to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, though perhaps part 1 would have been a bit too scary for kids at the start.

I really did like it, and I enjoyed that Silver was portrayed more roundedly than a card carrying villain I would have expected.

Afterwards, I looked at the books wikipedia entry and it turned out I preferred the ending of this. It seemed to have a little more meaning to it than 'they all divided up the treasure and went home rich.' Even Trelawneys changes seemed more intriguing than his (albeit brief) wikipedia page.

Yeah, you can burn me at the stake for being a heretic now. Or, you know, maroon me on a desert island.

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[–] bardock_sayian 12 years ago

I like it as well this rendition had me feeling sorry for Long John silver and i think the ending made more sense for what that all went through.

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[–] martin_66 12 years ago

I thoroughly enjoyed this version. I have never read the book so only have other filmed versions to compare it to, but I thought this was excellent.

It appeared to be fairly low-budget (apart, maybe, from some of the special effects - the sea, the ships in Bristol port for example) and it felt a bit more "real" for that, if that makes sense.

There were only two things about this production that I would question - Where was Keith Allen? (his name was in the opening credits of both episodes but I don't recall seeing him at all). And secondly, the black pirate who was effectively Silver's right-hand man (Shaun Parkes I think) - he was an excellent actor but a black man in that era with a London accent - just didn't sound right.

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[–] peggygeordie 12 years ago

If you grow up in London, you have a London accent, black or white. There were certainly blacks in London much earlier than this.

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[–] martin_66 12 years ago

You haven't met many people from the various Asian, Arabic, West Indian (Jamaican) and Middle Eastern communities in London if you believe that. I have and they have a remarkable ability to retain their own culture's accents.

I find it very hard indeed to believe that a black man in London in the era that Treasure Island was set would have spent his life among white Londoners and therefore ended up speaking like them.

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[–] laura1-07 12 years ago

There are some negative comments on this board, but I loved it.

Dogs have owners, Cats have staff!

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[–] Mike_severed_my_spine 12 years ago

I really enjoyed it but the side bit with Jim's mother loseing the house, bored the arse off me. But i can't stand the actress playing her so that wont have helped. Plus Ellijah Wood didn't seem to know what accent he was doing. To the poster who was wondering, Keith Allen was Blind Pew.

Often adressed as "Oh god no! Please stop, i dont want to die!!!!!!

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[–] martin_66 12 years ago

That was me asking about Keith Allen. I saw in the credits that he was Blind Pew, but where on earth was Blind Pew in this production - I am very familiar with Keith Allen and what he looks and sounds like, I just don't understand why the producer/director would so under-use such an excellent actor, a man who could definitely have pulled off the pirate act particularly well.

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[–] abepaulx 12 years ago

I liked this. I don't know why people are bashing it so much, just the nature of the net I suppose.

Only one thing spoiled it for me and that was at the very end where Jim did what he did to the treasure. Even if so many had died for it, doing what he did makes the whole trip pointless, don't you think? Otherwise, I had a good time watching.

I thought Izzard did very good.

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[–] morgan-659-312842 11 years ago

A terrific film and probably the best pirate film I've seen. Certainly a lot better than the Caribbean series of nonsense. Excellent acting and a very good script. The changes to the original story are not important and the few inaccuracies can be overlooked as you can criticise most films on that basis. As for a black man having a London accent there would not have been ethnic communities living in London to the same extent as now which would help them retain their own language and accents so it is more likely an individual would pick up the local accent. Overall a superb film despite all the criticism.

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