Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Scott-101 Thoroughly enjoyed this pirate saga that has many of the elements of "Pirates of the Caribbean": beautiful shots of exotic Caribbean locales, swordplay, and the kind of plot twists that come from a pair of mischievous Jack Sparrowish characters who both possess a near-endless capacity for on the fly.In one ring, we have Blackbeard (John Malkovich), who in this alternate take on history, faked his death and is now living large as a semi-peaceful ruler of an off-the-grid pirate kingdom of his own making. His main foil is combination doctor/spy/ tactician/lover Tom Lowe (Richard Coyle) who is originally sent to expose/kill Blackbeard but ends up in an uneasy alliance with the semi-erratic despot. There's also a love triangle between Lowe, free-spirited quartermaster Kate Balfour (I could easily write another paragraph about how enchanting Claire Foy is here) and her handicapped husband (Peter Stebbings).As for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" comparison (a compare/contrast angle is inevitable considering that is the only other pirate film I have seen), this isn't the movies but an NBC show that's relegated to the summer schedule (AKA low-key filler) so adjust your expectations accordingly. It is worth pointing out, however, that while Johnny Depp anchored the Pirates series with a meticulously crafted iconic comic character in Jack Sparrow Jon Malkovich's humor is unintentional: His interpretation of Blackbeard's accent is suspiciously Malkovich-like (worth mentioning other than the accent, Malkovich is fine here). But hey, written history can only tell us so much about the accents of 18th Century pirates. Maybe Blackbeard did sound like John Malkovich?

DavidBordeaux After watching Black Sails, i was happy to see another pirate show with the excellent John Malkovich. Well, after watching i was really disappointed! The so called pirates in this show are mostly well mannered, non swearing and seem to have incredible hygiene rules and dental care on the island... The production looks like amateur hour. On every episode up until now, the shots not cutting together jump at you without looking for it. In the last episode "Beggarman", Lowe receive lashes. When they're done with it, you can see that the marks on his back are drawn with red lipstick... But what really bugs me the most is that they didn't bother to give the main character Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) a freaking English accent!!

AlexanderExtazy As you read on the title, very bad imitation Black Sails. One or two scores higher if they replaced John Malkovich (I don't know if he's famous because he can say a long sentence in one breath, but I consider it dumb), another score if the story was a bit slower to make viewers catch up, and additional scores would be rewarded if actual pirate characters were played.The ones acting as Blackbeard's henchmen look more like the rogues you see in pirate video games than ones acting out the reality of how pirates were.I strongly suggest the whole crew leave their capes and gowns and look forward to another season of Black Sails; who knows, maybe they learn a thing or two!Last but not least, I gave this one a 4 just because of the Caribbean colonial era theming; one of my favorite of all times !

Ryan Bayne It has been a long time since I watched a series that involved ships and swords. It is very refreshing to get away from modern guns, cities, hotels, mansions and motored vehicles. It is not the type of show I expected but I'm find with it. The whole pirates thing has been done already and lets face it Jack Sparrow owns the stage. Look at how well Pirates of the Caribbean is doing. I don't see many complaining about history. Throw some real historic names and all of a sudden the history teachers are giving out 2-3 star ratings. The pirates are not the bad guys in this which is a nice change. I think the series has shown an Englishman to torture more people than any pirates have in the show. That is fine by me. It is trying to do something different, almost from a pirates point of view. That is a great thing about drama. We can fill the blanks in however ever we want and only the nerds will complain.Personally pirates are one area of history I don't think the human race needs to remember and I do not mind this series being none factual. If you want facts do not watch this. If you want dirty, nasty pirates as told by a bias side sometime way back then do not watch this. I don't mind the pirates being a bit clean and hardly giving Jack Sparrow a run for his money. But that comes back to the point that the show is suggesting that pirates actually had two eyes, two hands and no gold teeth. If you want facts this is not your show, go watch the History channel. People who review as if they expect a documentary should stick to watching documentaries and not dramas. They always write such smart sentences with a touch of humor. Neglecting the common sense of TV genres matter and have purpose.