Saturday, May 26, 2007

Pirates 3...lots of gold

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Gore Verbinski - 2007 - 5/10



Summary:

Where to begin. Right where the second one left off. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is presumed dead, or at least in some quasi purgatory at the end of the world. The rest of the gang, led by Elizabeth (Kiera Knoghtley), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) need to convince the powerful Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun Fat) to help them get to Jack. After that its everyone for themselves, on screen and off.

Critique:

I love this story. I love these characters. I even think I could love Gore Verbinski. BUT...much of this movie makes little sense. There it is, straight up. Three hours long and most of that time is left you trying to figure out confusing doublecrosses, seemingly out of the blue sacrifices all amidst non stop action. I'll pause form laying it on this movie and say, that the action was really good. Good sea-fighting scenes, intense swordfighting, very good melee scenes (just like the other two movies) and lots of hilarity. Yet it's really not enough. Despite going into this movie with low expectations, I came away extremely disappointed. I just could not figure out what was happening. Characters made deals and bargains with characters so frequently and so quickly it was hard to keep track of what was going on. Then you chalk up the fact that any plotline, character, weapon, or object that was mentioned in passing in the first two movies had a pretty good shot of coming back for this movie. Characters seemed different in this movie as well, previously unique character traits wattered down in the first movie are now entirely gone. Even the villains are moderated in this installment as Davy Jones is literally given heart and our evil East India Company instigator is shown to be a man who simply had a dream. Corniness abounds, as to be expected, but as mentioned previously, the end result does not make you forgiving. Sure, you knew this was going to be a popcorn flick, but you can't give the movie a free pass.

Verdict:

Does it matter? Just like everyone else in America, you HAVE to see this movie.

If you liked this movie, watch...
...Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
...Cutthroat Island
...Shipwrecked

An extended review can be found at SaltyStix.

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