Is 'Crossbones' The Swashbuckling Summer Series To Watch In 2014?

Crossbones, the new NBC series starring John Malkovich is due to premiere tonight (30th May). The series follows the world's most famous pirate - Jack Sparrow excluded - Blackbeard AKA Edward Teach and is set to track his infamous life and career.

However, other critics have been less than impressed with the show and have criticised the amount of violence present throughout the opening episodes. Entertainment Weekly and Variety have both panned the series. EW's critic Tim Stack went so far as to claim "a bout of scurvy would be more entertaining." Whilst Variety's Brian Lowry felt the show is "too lifeless to capitalize" on Malkovich's considerable acting talents.

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Overall the critical response has been largely positive but it appears some reviewers have delved too deeply into the show's meaning and have even gone so far as to consider the historical inaccuracies of the series. One critic (Ed Barky, Uncle Barky) claimed "Crossbones is about as believable as Casanova in a seminary." As with any historical drama, be it HBO's Rome, Boardwalk Empire or Showtime's The Borgias, there are bound to be difficulties in keeping the drama true to events.

John Malkovich stars in Crossbones as Blackbeard.

Malkovich, speaking to NBC, has explained the issues within the series and emphasised that Crossbones is a fictional portrayal of Blackbeard's later life. As Malkovich points out, Blackbeard did not live past his 30s thus his character in Crossbones is simply an older adaptation of an already highly fictionalised character. Speaking on the matter, Malkovich said "This story says what if he [Blackbeard] had lived and if he had had a much longer career but a secret career. And if he had gained a great deal of wealth and caused great havoc to the shipping trades."

Crossbones will premiere tonight at 10/9pm on NBC.