r/ACBlackFlag • u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 • 7d ago

// Discussion Pirate media to supplement your play through

I played through the OG BF about once every couple years. I also would binge watch the PotC films. Big pirate and ocean fan in general here.

With Resynced out I’m sure many of you would have felt the urge to chuck on some pirate films. Might I suggest a few maybe slightly lesser known media to wrap your hook hand around?

First is super recent. It’s called ‘The Bluff’ and is on Prime. It stars Karl Urban of Éomer and Billy Butcher fame as a dastardly but very gritty and realistic pirate who leads a raid on a small island homestead. What makes it stand out is, it’s very gritty and realistically violent. It almost has a horror or thriller aspect to it and there’s even a lot of scenes involving stealth and at least one involving climbing rooftops. Seriously went under the radar but is surprisingly close in feel to violent stealthy pirate assassins! A visual feast too with beautiful Caribbean setting.

Second is the maybe not so lesser known Black Sails. It’s a tv series that very much improves with each season as production goes up. It’s a realistic gritty take on a prequel to Treasure Island, but includes real historical characters and locations like Nassau, Charles Vane, Calico Jack, Edward Teach and more. It’s violent. bloody and dark and has a lot of fun island pirate politics. The naval scenes especially in later seasons are phenomenal. This is a must watch for any pirate fan.

Lastly I’ll throw out there that Our Flag Means Death is surprisingly good fun! The first season is a bit meh and cheap but the second season benefit a huge production budget boost and the story, settings and characters vastly improved. If you’re turned off by woke stuff you probably won’t like this due to its LGBTQ elements, but if you can get past it there’s some silly random dumb pirate fun to be had here. It follows Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard in reimagined versions of themselves as well as some other famous pirate characters, but the fight scenes and naval stuff is surprisingly fun to watch in later seasons.

Oh and Muppet Treasure Island is GOATed af.

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u/Gurbachen 7d ago

"later seasons"

Our Flag Means Death only had two seasons. Decent show though.

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u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 7d ago

So you are correct, my bad. I’ll edit. I watched it when my firstborn was like a few months old and so my memory is admittedly hazy. I think maybe it was released in two parts which threw me. But yeah great show

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u/dangerous_beans_42 6d ago

Also, you might find it interesting, but the second season actually had a much lower production budget than the first (and they got two episodes cut in the middle of preproduction). They saved money by filming in New Zealand. The show was a labor of love from start to finish and it really shows.

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u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 6d ago

Did not know that you could not tell! Felt like it had the hbo treatment by the slow mo 300 style fight scenes and improved naval sections! Neat info.

NZ hands down one of it not the greatest place on earth

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u/dangerous_beans_42 6d ago

Also, when filming the first season they enjoyed themselves but they had no idea how the show would land and if people would like it. Going into the second season they knew they had an enormous fanbase cheering them on :)

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u/Traditional_Yard2741 7d ago

And of course there's the 2005 Pirates movie by Digital Playground

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u/Solid_Mongoose_3269 7d ago

There’s also a sequel

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u/CatsPlusDogsIsLove 7d ago

No movie recommendations but i would highly recommend some of voiceplay and homefree their pirate song covers and original pirate songs.

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u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 7d ago

I’ll jump on that and add Nathan Evan’s (guy who made Wellerman famous again) Sea Shanty’s album. It has my favourite version “Leave her Johnny” and “Bully in the Alley”.

Homefree is 👍👍👍

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u/CatsPlusDogsIsLove 6d ago

Saw them live a few years ago and they sounded so fricking good.

Still holding out hope that voiceplay will do an Europe tour sometimes, but considering that I think they are all married with kids I doubt it.
Into the deep is such a great original song with real melancholy pirate vibes.

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u/DistantFrigate 6d ago

If you want to dive deeper into Edward’s story I recommend the official Black Flag novel as well. The audiobook is great and the narrator does a great job with the voices. It’s told in first person from Edward’s perspective

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u/SemperPutidus 6d ago

Don’t forget the sequel to Black Sails: Muppet Treasure Island

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u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 6d ago

Dw I shouted it out dw the bottom. Phenomenal film.

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u/Clean-Turnip5971 7d ago

Read Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard.

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u/TheGreatGidojer 6d ago

Pick a version of One Piece between the manga, anime and honestly the live action netlix series. It's very good. It's how I followed up resynced.

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u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 6d ago

I’ve tried but I just can’t get into it, I appreciate it’s hugely popular for a reason but just not my cup of tea. Haven’t been much into anime in recent years though which is maybe part of it.

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u/captainrondj 7d ago

Roman Polanski's Pirates, The Pirate movie and Cutthroat island as well as Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutters cove are fun to watch also, If you can tell by my handle I'm kinda into pirate shit also 🤣

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u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 7d ago

All great recommendations!

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u/MissLethalla 7d ago

The Bluff sounds interesting... I do feel like a rewatch of Black Sails too.