Pirate Radio – Review

The 1960s are arguably one of the most influential times in rock and roll. Many great bands spawned from the decade, but the freedom to listen to them was not always intact for everyone. This is the premise of Pirate Radio as we follow the boat called Radio Rock that illegally broadcasts a 24/7 rock station to the listeners of the UK. We follow the station through their struggles, their triumphs, along with a killer soundtrack.

The film has plenty of heart, laughs and intriguing characters to keep your attention wrapped up for the entire two hours and nine minutes. The pretty solid cast keeps this film afloat, making even some of the more unnecessary subplots bearable. Not all of the characters get enough screen time for you to know what they’re all about, but the extended amount of time they make you spend with them through the movie makes you feel like your a part of the crew by the time the film is finished. Talents like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Nick Frost steal the screen whenever they appear with their character’s bigger than life persona. One of the most bland characters within the bunch is Tom Sturridge as Carl, the lead character that basically entraps us into this quirky and strange world.

Although Richard Curtis has written and sometimes directed many entertaining movies, this one does have a message about how rock persevered during those strange governmental times, but does not excuse the fact that a vast majority of the story is unnecessary. What I mean is that a lot of the subplot, as previously mentioned, does build up the characters to a certain degree but focuses so far away through a majority of the film from the ‘threat’ of the government make them not so villainous. Curtis could have done somewhat better in balancing the evils of this United Kingdom government and whatever hilarious and strange antics the other characters got into.

The production design of the film stood out, not because it was completely set to its sixties theme but because it had a fair pinch of modern zing in it. That is one of the things that can almost throw a person out of the movie, and that’s starting to fool around with what era your in exactly. Nothing was particularly special about the camera work, it was pretty much just a series of static shots that did lead to less distraction, making room for the never ending yet clever dialogue.

This film makes up for it’s long standing running time with it’s colorful characters and simple direction. This is one of those movies that has been thrown under the radar and should be given the proper amount of attention like the rest of the few good flicks out there. It’s an entertaining, rocking and comical ride that by the end your kind of sad to get off of.

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