Had Karl Urban not appeared in some cool movies before, I would never have thought of watching The Bluff. Also, it was at number 3 on Amazon Prime in Germany, so I thought, what the hell.

Then I quickly realized that this swashbuckler action thriller is just a rinse-and-repeat, a very, I mean a very predictable story. Even though the narrative is set in the 1800s, the post-production crew may have done a couple of convincing CGI jobs and called it a day. The whole movie seems unfinished; it looks too modern and feels fake.

Needless to say, movies nowadays don’t exude the passion, emotion, or SFX quality that we once witnessed back in the day, and most contemporary movies are reduced to being heavily CGI-packed. However, it doesn’t hurt to try a little bit harder to make the film look credible.

There’s no life, depth, or whatever that we, the audience, could cling to. I did not care about the characters or their future because their backstories weren’t given much weight. The actor who plays Isaac is certainly just happy to be there as a rookie. The whole movie is bland like a curry made without salt.

The music, I would say, reminded me of Assassin's Creed Black Flag a lot. Perhaps my mind plays tricks on me. (I’m getting old.) But I later found out that the music of this movie was composed by the same composer, Henry Jackman, who created music for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Maybe that’s why it sounded kind of similar?

I just can’t put my finger on it; it’s difficult to believe Priyanka Chopra as an action hero. Perhaps it’s because of the Bollywood effect. I just can’t see past all her dance numbers and the times she acted as a pretty heroine in Bollywood. She is a phenomenal actress with great versatility; no one's denying that. Even in some Bollywood movies, she has given her all. It must be acknowledged that even in The Bluff, you can tell that she has trained a lot, she fights well, and she is, of course, convincing. But, as I said, I just can’t take her seriously. It’s just unfortunate what Bollywood does to many talented actors. With Bollywood’s naive stories and plotlines, I feel like most actors are robbed of their potential. On the other hand, Chopra is probably lucky since others may have had it worse.

Finally, is it a bad movie? No, because you can watch it without any complaints. Did I waste my time watching it? No, because I could watch it even while washing dishes. Be that as it may, it is a flavorless movie, and frankly, nothing would change even if you missed several scenes. It is for those who desire to expend less mental effort and seek movies that demand minimal emotional investment.

Were they really bluffing, hinting at an attempt to give us a better movie with this? I think so.