After losing the HMS Bounty, Commanding Lieutenant William Bligh (Anthony Hopkins) recounts the events of the voyage to the tribunal in an effort to prove his own innocence and regain his standing in the Royal Navy.  Based on true events, The Bounty is the third Hollywood retelling of Bligh’s fateful trip to Tahiti where, upon return, first mate Fletcher Christian (Mel Gibson) organizes a mutiny on board and sets Bligh and his loyalists to sea. 

Directed by Roger Donaldson for release by Orion Pictures in 1984, The Bounty takes full use of the star power, storytelling style, and technology at the time to tell its high seas and high stakes story.  With cinematography by Arthur Ibbetson, the film looks great and captures the beautiful ocean seascapes as well as the lush island paradise where the crew later docks.  He shoots the interiors with a warm light so that we can see the action clearly as tensions slowly bubble and boil. 

Donaldson’s cast is also full of talent boasting not only Hopkins and Gibson, but also roles for Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Liam Neeson.  Across the board, they all deliver solid performances, and no one is acting out of turn from another.  The ensemble management at play here is key as if we cannot find connection to the characters, it would be a long and laborious 132-minute ordeal.  Donaldson, with a script by Robert Bolt, introduces us to all the crew and continues to touch back on the supporting cast throughout the duration of the film. 

The hardest thing the film has to overcome is that it really does not have anything new to say about the story.  As a first introduction to the infamous voyage, it works well as it is a competently made film, so it is not entirely fair criticism, but when up against Frank Lloyd’s 1935 version and especially Lewis Milestone’s 1962 iteration, Donaldson is not bringing anything truly new to the table.  There is an argument that can be made in the framing of his version which builds much more sympathy towards Hopkins’ Bligh than his predecessors, but as he is still treated as the clear villain of the film it is a questionable choice.  The script also makes moves to show a preexisting companionship between Fletcher and Bligh, but it does not expand on that dynamic as patience wears thin between the two on their journey.   

While Donaldson and Bolt do not reinvent this story, they draw from the previous two versions and piece together everything that works to create their entry.  It finds time to expand on the crew members whereas in 1935 much of the voyage comprised of the terror inflicted by Bligh to varying degrees of historical accuracy.  Donaldson is not as self-indulgent as Milestone’s 178-minute epic, but he matches many of the shots, angles, and colors in his film.  Both of the films look great, though the coloring in ‘84 has the slightest edge by being just a little more vibrant. 

When the ship meets the island and is greeted by the natives, it is one of the harder transitions to make for all three films.  It shifts gears from an exciting action film at sea finding the crew surviving the wrath of nature and their own captain to a more personal, dramatic one once on the island.  Despite the matching runtimes, Lloyd seemed a bit more economical here only giving us the bare minimum time on land needed to complete the arc.  In the versions that followed, we find Fletcher much more fleshed out as he falls for Mauatua (Tevaite Vernette), one of the native women.  Gibson sells the relationship well, and the entire cast are all seen to enjoy the simple pleasures of island living which makes them all the more resistant to returning to Bligh’s command. 

On their return is when the mutiny finally occurs.  Had the script supported this notion of Fletcher’s previous friendship with Bligh, it could have been an incredibly taught and agonizing sequence of betrayal, but it lands rather flat in its anti-climactic delivery and framing.  The script does not push hard enough and despite what it is trying to do, it still paints Fletcher as the morally correct hero of the story.  By committing from the opening scene to tell this story through Bligh’s point of view, Bolt had the opportunity to make truly transgressive version of this film, but the script never quite goes far enough to make it effective.  It is true that Bligh may never be seen as a saint, but Fletcher is certainly not without sin, either.   

Somewhere adrift at sea is Bligh and his loyalists navigating the open waters with skill, but also a lot of luck, too.  Compared to Fletcher who, at the same time, struggles to maintain order over the rowdy crew, Bligh maintains control over his lifeboat and creates nice juxtaposition between the two leading men.  Much like transitioning to the island in Act 2, the third act is another tough feat for this story across the decades as we lose all sense of entry point into the film.  It is always a little confusing as they are recounting the events of Bligh’s logbook, but we spend much of the third act following Fletcher even though the two are separated.         

The Bounty is a film with so many factors working against it, but it still manages to be an exciting and thrilling piece of cinema.  There is clear talent at work here both on and off screen and though it is not one of the iconic films of the period, there is something to be gleaned from it and is well worth the watch.  While some of the visual effects – and certainly the synth-score by Vangelis – show its age, it is a timeless tale that endures much like Bligh himself.