Share and Follow
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the lead in Prime Video’s latest pirate action thriller The Bluff, has carved a niche for herself in the English-language entertainment space with approximately ten fiction films and two prominent espionage series on American television. Based on these contributions and the reception of films like Love Again and We Can Be Heroes, one might categorize her as a streaming-era luminary—an actor whose work thrives on digital platforms rather than traditional cinemas, as suggested by Love Again‘s box office performance. This portrayal somewhat captures Chopra Jonas’s North American trajectory over recent years. However, it overlooks her extensive career, marked by her status as India’s highest-paid actress, with over 30 film appearances in the past 24 years, excluding her numerous guest roles and special dance appearances.
Chopra Jonas’s presence in both films and television showcases her rare cross-cultural success, a feat few in the Indian film industry achieve. Yet, this journey into the global spotlight can pose challenges, even for seasoned performers. It presents a unique form of modern fame that might sometimes dilute the grandeur of a star, despite her worldwide recognition.
Consider The Bluff, Chopra Jonas’s latest foray into streaming content. It stands as her most significant English-language lead role to date. While she had a notable part in the acclaimed sequel, The Matrix Resurrections, it wasn’t centered around her. In contrast, The Bluff is her stage—a narrative where she embodies a reformed pirate who has settled on a Caribbean island as the fabled “golden age of piracy” fades. But when her past resurfaces, threatening her family, she transforms into an action hero, delivering swift justice to those who intrude on her peace.
Chopra Jonas’s experience from series like Quantico and Citadel—the latter also an Amazon production under the Russo Brothers—seems to have honed her skills for American action films. These narratives often demand intense John Wick-style choreography and a fierce maternal protectiveness when women lead. However, while The Bluff captures her as a formidable action figure, the plot’s focus on her protective instincts over her son and sister-in-law may not fully leverage the excitement one might expect from a pirate’s tale.
Her portrayal in The Bluff exhibits a somewhat calculated range, blending romantic flashbacks, intense action, and emotive moments, while subtly highlighting her physical appeal. This multi-faceted display evokes a sense of being reminiscent of Jennifer Lopez—not only as an ageless and captivating performer but also in choosing roles that accentuate her strengths. Her character, however, seems curiously devoid of guilt for the past’s repercussions on her family, as she excels in every facet of action and emotion. Perhaps it’s time we start dubbing her “Cho-Jo” in homage to her dynamic prowess.
There can be a similar muchness to contemporary Indian cinema, with action, melodrama, romance, crime, drama, and comedy coexisting comfortably. But The Bluff isn’t a maximalist extravaganza; it’s just  a silly pirate thriller that takes its star’s branding a little too seriously. It doesn’t help that it’s produced by the Russo Brothers, who have become accidental specialists in streaming fugazi cinema meant to resemble movies you hazily recall enjoying. By those diminished standards, The Bluff is downright terrific. It’s definitely better than anything the Russos have directed for various streamers.
It’s also a better pure showcase for Chopra Jonas than Heads of State, her previous Prime Video movie, where she’s there for a bait-and-switch-and-unswitch operation, appearing to get surprised-killed in the first scene before returning in the second half of the film. Her character isn’t much (she’s Idris Elba’s love interest who also… loves puns?) but she does get to do some fight scenes and grabs the spotlight for one of the best moments in the film, starring in a rapid-fire mini-montage explaining how she survived from her seeming death and made her way back to the narrative.
These Amazon actioners in turn mark a massive improvement from the appalling Love Again, a soppy rom-com so wilted that it made an actress with two decades of experience regress to neophyte levels. With that movie serving as an early American vehicle for Chopra Jonas, is it any wonder that she might choose subsequent projects with a Lopez-style increase in image-burnishing control? It’s probably frustrating that not long after American companies became seemingly more open to the idea of embracing stars from other cultures, the star market in general took an IP-abetted nosedive. Even someone as established as Lopez can’t always tell the difference between good movies, bad movies, and an insane vanity project. This has left the American-cinema version of Priyanka Chopra Jonas as something like a shiny label, floating from product to product, unsure of what exactly to sell.
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn podcasting at www.sportsalcohol.com. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Guardian, among others.
Stream The Bluff on Prime Video