Our Flag Means Death Review: Plundering Meets Blundering in Taika Waititi’s Pirate Comedy
Rhys Darby and Nathan Foad, Our Flag Means Dying Jake Giles Netter/HBO Max A lot of the chatter about HBO Max’s pirate comedy Our Flag Means Dying will point out its director-producer-actor Taika Waititi, however the actual affect behind the brand new sequence is creator David Jenkins, whose massive credit score is the extraordinary, heartfelt, humorous, and,…
A lot of the chatter about HBO Max’s pirate comedy Our Flag Means Dying will point out its director-producer-actor Taika Waititi, however the actual affect behind the brand new sequence is creator David Jenkins, whose massive credit score is the extraordinary, heartfelt, humorous, and, sadly, under-watched 2016 comedy Folks of Earth. (It is streaming on Hulu, and undoubtedly value your time.) That present featured a gaggle of individuals on very specific fringes of society who bonded via uncommon circumstance (they have been in a assist group for alien abductees), forming charming and sudden connections due to a shared perception that the sequence used as its energy. Jenkins’ Our Flag Means Dying repeats the primary a part of that components (they’re pirates!), however not as a lot of the second half, as an alternative plundering pirate life and using the excessive seas for jokes.
It is a trade-off that is good for gags of assorted high quality, making Our Flag Means Dying a sillier present that steers nearer to shallow shores and would not dive into the depths of its many characters and wonderful solid. Perhaps it is unfair to match Folks of Earth — a real ensemble comedy — to Our Flag Means Dying, which focuses totally on Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a pirate who was traditionally notorious not for being feared, however for being a person of British excessive society who ditched his household for a pirate’s life. It is a premise gift-wrapped for a comedy author, and Darby, harnessing his knack for blissful incompetence (his Murray from Flight of the Conchords is a gold customary of that sort of character), continues to be successful as a wannabe pirate carrying frilly garments however not fairly prepared to get his palms soiled.
Our Flag Means Dying
Like
- The solid (led by Darby) is nice
- Pirate setting is exclusive
Dislike
- It must be funnier than it’s
- Facet characters aren’t fleshed out
- The early episodes are tough
However Stede is consistently surrounded by his shipmates, who’re unconvinced that he is the person for the job. (He even calls himself “the Gentleman Pirate,” an oxymoron not fitted to the kind of work usually related to barbarism.) And not less than early on, except for just a few exceptions, many of those different pirates mix collectively slightly than forge their very own selves as they might in different office comedies. To be truthful, it is onerous to determine so many characters rapidly (critics have been despatched 5 episodes of the ten-episode first season). However even the characters who’re distinguished from others turn into blips on Stede’s journey, which is unfortunately not sufficient to maintain issues afloat by itself, as his progress is sluggish and his triumphs are unintended (his first homicide is a mishap).
Issues perk up when Blackbeard (Waititi) and his crew present up, offering a crucial distinction between precise pirates and the ragtag bunch we begin with, however their stronger personalities solely underline the truth that the unique crew is undersketched. And as Blackbeard and Stede type a friendship (a variation of which occurred in actual historical past) towards the center of the season, there’s an improved blueprint for what the present would possibly appear like shifting ahead.
What’s much less encouraging is the general humor, which does not appear to take full benefit of all of the piracy occurring. A lot of the jokes are based mostly round the truth that Stede is a nasty pirate, which, truthful. Somewhat than boarding Spanish galleons and slaughtering everybody on board, Stede would slightly have his pirates sew flags. As an alternative of guzzling barrels of rum, Stede tends to his ship’s library (even if solely two individuals on board can learn). Stede’s foppishness performs higher when he is pressured to do one thing out of his consolation zone, which sadly would not occur sufficient, as his impenetrable ignorance would not permit the fact of conditions to hit him till it is too late. Fortunately, the tip of Episode 5 guarantees excessive discomfort headed his means, so maybe the sluggish begin to Our Flag Means Dying is only a case of a comedy discovering its sea legs.
Premieres: Thursday, March 3 on HBO Max
Who’s in it: Rhys Darby, Kristian Nairn, Rory Kinnear, Taika Waititi
Who’s behind it: David Jenkins (creator), Taika Waititi (director, EP)
For followers of: Foolish seafaring shenanigans
What number of episodes we watched: 5 out of 10
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