Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)June 5th, 2007
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2007 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
Compared to "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (hereafter referred to as Pirates 1), its sequel, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (hereafter referred to as Pirates 2), was a complete and utter waste of everyone's time, a sorry state of affairs that robbed those colorful pirate rogues we had come to know and love of their ineffable charm.
Three's supposed to be a charm of course but you won't find much of that in Gore Verbinski's continuation (current thinking: culmination) of his silly yet spectacular swashbuckling saga starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and Geoffrey "them's more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules" Rush.
Compared to Pirates 2, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (hereafter referred to as Pirates 3) often feels like Pirates 1, which is a bit unfair since it's nowhere near that good. But it's better than Pirates 2. Keep telling yourself that and you'll likely make it through to the (world's) end.
What you will find in Pirates 3 is a lot of the same. And I mean a *lot* of the same. Save from an opening sequence in Singapore (with Chow Yun-Fat) and a brief, much ballyhooed cameo by Keith Richards as Captain Jack's paterfamilias (Depp often cited the Rolling Stones guitarist as his inspiration for Sparrow's body language and vocal deliveries) there's little here we haven't seen before. This time it's longer, noisier, more spectacular, perhaps, in terms of its set pieces--the battle scenes, especially--but bigger isn't necessarily better (although it *is* better than Pirates 2).
Not only are Cap'n Jack, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Barbossa, that flamin' monkey, and those two funny pirates (one with the wooden eye?) all back in fine fighting form but so too are the entire cast of Pirates 2, pretty much, including locker room attendant Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and his fleet of fishy followers, the Jamaican high priestess Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), "Bootstrap" Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgård), and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander).
Beckett rises to a position of prominence in Pirates 3, forming an unhealthy alliance with old tentacle face in a bid to rid the Seven Seas of Sparrow and his motley crew of brigands and ruffians (Beckett's keeping Jones's heart on ice in the cooler, so to speak, so he has the upper hand). Fortunately for the good guys Ms. Swann also puts in a bid for more screen time and wins, elevating her pulchritudinous position to King of the Pirate Lords! Which doesn't leave much room for Jack...
Depp's more subdued this go around. At least he's not reduced to clown status, as he was last time, but he was key to the first film's success and his savvy "savvy?" is neither here nor there. Instead, Pirates 3 spreads the witty asides around. It's not quite the same.
Plumbing the art decorator's depths with characters and situations we've come to enjoy, the atmospheric "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" winds up evening the series out. Would I see it again? If appropriately compensated, maybe. Would I watch Pirates 2 again? "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to [that] request. Means 'no.'"
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David N. Butterworth
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