Prime Video’s latest straight to streaming effort The Bluff comes in the form of a pirate film set in the Caribbean. Sound familiar? Well, unlike Pirates of the Caribbean, if you go into The Bluff expecting some family fun you can stream at your heart’s content you will be very disappointed, because it is without a doubt one of the bloodiest and most gruesome streaming films I have seen in an awfully long time.

To its credit, The Bluff does not try to be something it is not. The story is extremely basic. Captain Connor (Karl Urban), a weathered leader of some of the last remaining pirates, is hunting down Ercell Bodden (Priyanka Chopra) who on the surface is an ordinary housewife, but Connor knows her secret. She is in fact a former feared pirate leader herself. Connor believes she still has a hidden stash of treasure, including an abundance of gold, which he and his crew must get their hands on.

It is a very simple premise brought to life by director Frank E. Flowers, who also wrote the film alongside Joe Ballarini, and perhaps that is where some of The Bluff feels like a let-down. There is only surface level exploration of the characters, with audiences not really given much to go on in terms of backstory, so outside of the good versus bad set up viewers may struggle to really care about anyone on screen.

Instead, the set up feels like an appetiser before the main course, which is the swashbuckling action sequences, of which there are plenty. They are fierce, well choreographed and for the most part extremely entertaining. There are no real restraints, with the film fully committed from the outset to its brutal nature and that ultimately becomes the biggest selling point.

To its credit, The Bluff, despite its simplicity, is never visually repetitive, using the beautiful practical locations of the Caribbean island where it is set to keep changing the environment and maintain interest. There are also simple but effective set designs that help immerse the audience in the time period. Although it has to be said, having a pirate film of this nature set almost exclusively on land and not the high seas is a little disappointing. The one sequence we do get at sea is plagued by the usual poor Amazon visuals, particularly the CGI, so it may have been for the best.

Priyanka Chopra and Karl Urban are strong leads. They carry the weight of a fairly basic script and make it largely enjoyable, which is a huge credit to both of them, showing they have the capability to headline action films and feel natural doing it. They do have patchy Caribbean accents at times, particularly in the case of Urban, but that is more a minor gripe you can laugh along with rather than a deal breaker.

It would be fair to say The Bluff is ultimately a fairly mixed bag. It does not necessarily do anything particularly new, but as home streaming entertainment goes there is enough ferocious action to make it just about worthwhile to check out.