Pirate Radio

Review By: Tom Herrmann
TomHerrmann@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: B

The 1960’s seems to be a period of great interest in pop culture. It could be the fact that it is reaching a certain distance, now that we are half a century past, that is creating this nostalgia; or it could be the numerous social revolutions of the decade. Regardless, the 60’s will for ever be synonymous with ideas of rebellion and defiance against the norm, particularly in the form of music. Rock and Roll was new, aggressive and terrifying to the establishment. This was particularly true in Britain where, despite the abundance of British rock music, the genre was banned from its radio stations. This caused in the most obvious of results, DJ’s set sail and started pirate radio stations outside of British jurisdiction.

Inspired by these events, Pirate Radio (The Boat That Rocked to British readers) tells the story of a Motley Crew of rock DJ’s who stand up to the forces of Parliament and continue to push the envelope by any means necessary. All of this happens in the film, but it is more of a synopsis of the trailer than the actual film. The movie itself deals with, but more so with Carl (Tom Sturridge) who is sent by his mother to the ship Radio Rock to get set on the right course by spending time with the crew and his godfather and ship’s captain Quentin (Bill Nighy) - sadly, not the science guy. As Quentin so elegantly puts it, “spectacular mistake.”

This felt almost like a tease on a part of whomever edited the trailer for this. Why depict it as if the entire film will be the ship facing off against the man in a Bugs Bunny vs. Elmer Fudd style showdown where the Radio Rock crew merely escapes defeat while leaving “The Man” in a cartoony and incontinent situation, all over the soundtrack of 60‘s rock. This does happen a time or two towards the end of the film, but drama takes over the rest of our time. Carl is an extremely wimpy protagonist, as is the current trend with actors like Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg landing lead roles. The thing is that Carl is somewhat pathetic, especially with Marianne (Talulah Riley). After their date, Talulah leave Carl to sleep with Dr. Dave (Nick Frost), but as soon as she comes back and says she is sorry it is all done and over with: Carl is in desperate need of a spine.

There is also a rivalry between The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) who is the most popular DJ towards the beginning, and Gavin (Rhys Ifans) who used to DJ for them before the count and has returned for publicity. The two have a power struggle, but this doesn’t result in any sort of moping like all of the things Carl makes us deal with. With that aside, there is a great deal of fun to the upbeat score of rock and roll. When ...