"Black Sails" is a dramatic television series produced in the USA, created in the genre of thriller, a kind of prequel to the novel by R. L. Stevenson "Treasure Island".
Treasure Island for Adults
From the well-known children's franchise about the adventures of Caribbean pirates, in which the heroes, elegantly fencing, managed to exchange modest jokes, Black Sails is distinguished by an abundance of truly brutal episodes. The rating of the show, according to IMDb, is quite high - 8.20. In addition, the series "Black Sails" reviews from the audience is mostly laudatory.
Starting from the pilot episode, the beholder is immersed in the thick of events, he is as if transferred to the ship, which will soon be captured by pirates. The team is led by Captain Flint, who is known to everyone as a literary character in Stevenson’s novel. In general, the events shown in the television movie take place about twenty years before those described in the book.
Smart and exciting prequel
The first season consists of 8 hourly episodes. The first and third series were directed by the famous British director Neil Marshall, known to the audience for his impressive thrillers Descent, Doomsday and the equally brilliant project Game of Thrones. Michael Bay acted as a producer, so even before the premiere of the series Black Sails, the reviews deserved encouraging, because, according to the resonators, Bay definitely would not want to have a relationship.
During the preparatory process, massive decorations were erected. Pilot director Neil Marshall reassured the thirsty audience for details and promised that the project would not be a clone of Pirates of the Caribbean. According to him, the show is like a mixture of Deadwood and Game of Thrones. The story is on behalf of the pirates.
Clear accents
The series "Black Sails" (season 1) was shot in the open sea, washing the coast of South Africa. The visualization is excellent, the picture looks impressive, there are no annoying sagging scenarios. The story with a light hand of the creators turned out to be bloody and gloomy, and the characters - bright, memorable, understandable to the viewer. The only drawback that critics pointed out when analyzing the television movie and posting reviews: the series “Black Sails” made Flint an overly positive character. While watching, the viewer will definitely empathize with him, as the scriptwriters have identified the accents in such a way that the viewer simply does not have other options. This current situation is similar to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, where the main "positive" hero is also a daring pirate. Along with this, “Black Sails” is the best series for the action buff: during the narration, there are a lot of battles both at sea and on land, fights with fists and cold weapons, gun firing and endless pursuits.
Successful scenario mix
As already mentioned, the Black Sails storyline precedes the events of Stevenson’s novel. In the center of the story are the heroes who hunt for Spanish gold: Captain Flint (in the unsurpassed performance of Toby Stevens), John Silver (actor Luke Arnold) and Eleanor Guthrie (luxurious Hannah New).
By the way, Stevenson’s corsairs are mostly represented by real bastards or legendary shadows, while in “Sails” they appear in a completely different light before the viewer. During the viewing, it becomes clear that the scriptwriters were guided not only by the literary source, but also by the romantic pirate canons declared in the Captain Blood Odyssey by R. Sabatini and the Black Corsair by E. Salgari. In these works, filibusters were presented as reflecting heroes, periodically displaying the remnants of decent education and nobility.
Notable Character Gallery
Black Sails is a series whose reviews, in addition to genre refinements, marked a remarkable gallery of characters, most of which deserve a separate branch of history or even a spin-off. In general, the characters can be conditionally divided into two guilds:
- Stevenson's literary heroes: in addition to Flint, these are John Silver, Billy Bones (Tom Hopper from Game of Thrones), Ben Gunn (Chris Fisher), and Israel Hands (David Wilmot, a friend of the Tudors and the Vikings) added to them in the fourth season ");
- real corsairs: Anne Bonnie (Clara Paget, shining in Fast and the Furious 6), Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz), Edward Teach Blackbeard (Ray Stevenson), Charles Wayne (Zack McGowan, who lit in Shameless).
This combination of fictional and real-life pirates is indicative of serial ideology as a whole. The creators of the show intentionally combined fiction with history, creating a reality that exists parallel to ours.
The series “Black Sails” (all series) was shot in a format in which historical reality and author's fiction compete, and therefore it was dubbed the new pirate myth, in which there is no place for the Disney gloss of “Pirates of the Caribbean”, the romance of sailing fluttering from the wind and amusing courage during the division of prey.
One of the main treasures of modern TV
Showrunners Robert Levin and Jonathan E. Steinberg had to make a lot of efforts to surprise the viewer second after the end of the first season. The audience, somewhat weary of the inexorable action, was losing interest in the project, and then the “Sails” in the second season sharply changed the vector of movement and raised rates. The authors of the project flatly refused shock dramaturgy, giving priority to the complication of the characters and their plot stories. The narration of the second season began rapidly, the creators did not spend precious time on the buildup, but immediately rushed into battle.
The well-known actor Ray Stevenson (Divergent, Thor) joined the cast of the second season, who turned into a pirate nicknamed Blackbeard. The second season has 10 episodes. However, in the series "Black Sails" all seasons, except the first, consist of ten episodes.
Almost antique tragedy
If the second season of the show became frankly dramatic, then the third turned into a real film tragedy, in which the guns rattled for another reason. The dream of a key character is in serious danger in the person of Woods Rogers (Luke Roberts), who intended to put an end to the craft of gentlemen of fortune in the Bahamas. His like-minded advocate is Eleanor Guthrie and all the corsairs who received an amnesty, but the final battle is yet to come (the fourth season of the show "Black Sails").
The series was called the audience’s reviews almost an antique tragedy, because the valiant brave men have already laid down their heads (mainly because of women), others will have to go into another world in the fourth season, and the few who managed to survive will head for twenty years Treasure Island.
The end of the triumphal voyage
In early January 2017, a large army of fans of the project was waiting for exciting news: the 4th season of the series “Black Sails” was announced as the final channel by Starz. One of the creators of the television movie and part-time executive producer - Jonathan E. Steinberg - in an interview with the media claimed that few television people have the chance to have as much freedom for creativity as the authors of the project had for four years. He acknowledged that the decision to complete the filming process was not easy for the entire creative group, but there is no better option for ending the story, which led to the Treasure Island more harmoniously.
Recommend to watch this exciting and very clever series is definitely worth it. The background action hides a secret meaning: “Sails” is a story about a spiritual trail, strong power and subtle connection that can transform into one person’s power over another, and after one idea, over all members of a pirate free-rein. According to the audience’s reviews, apart from the philosophical background, the project’s merits include a complex, combined, rich and with unpredictable branches, twists and climaxes plot, driven by beautifully designed characters. All the actions in the series add up to a huge mosaic, from which a single incredible picture gradually emerges.