At World's End
It was one big convoluted mess. There were 4 scenes I absolutely loved and would watch over and over. Too bad they were in this movie.
Barbosa was great. Sparrow of course great. Performances were great from mostly everyone.
Norrington dies. That's the stupidest idea ever. Why are you going to build up this great character over the previous two movies only to have him die for really no reason.
I love the boat rocking scene, I love the "wedding", I enjoyed the two ships blasting the endeavour.
But other than that everything else was just a mess. And I didn't even mind the multiple Jacks or the giant Calypso. Really I got lost in all the talk about making deals and betrayals and such. I felt like the movie came to screeching halt everytime I saw Bootstrap Bill. After a while I really didn't care about that plot line, and I started to really care less and less about Davey Jones' frickin heart. And it's not because I don't understand either. I make it a point to analyze these movies. I work at a theatre where I spend most of my time watching movies over and over to understand why something works or doesn't work. I completely understand the plot, but the point is I also understand each audience i observe seems to get lost with the first showing.
And you only get one chance to hook them. If you lose them once that's it. Game over. Well not for Disney, cuz they're going to make money regardless. But if they cared about makinga great movie, would they have dared to make a movie so convoluted and experimental. Yes that's right, experimental. I almost feel like they were just kind of sitting around going, "hey let's put this in and see what happens."
The multiple Jack's, fine, I accept that, he was in "the locker" it was a hallucination, it was cute, and those that love to look at Depp may enjoy this. But when he's on The Dutchman towards the end, are they Hallucinations then?
The giant Calypso. I'm fine with it, but to be honest there was something a bit too Xena Warrior Princess about that. And truth be told I enjoyed Xena, but come on guys, you're supposed to be 5 steps above an old syndicated show. Wassup?
Will becomes the new captain of The Dutchman. Unorthodox. Why would you do something so risky to a franchise. I thought for sure that Calypso would appear at the end and make things better so we could have the cliched happy ending. And sure it is a cliche, but honestly it's what alot of people wanted, dare I say it was almost a given. But just like Davey Jones, Calypso, and Norrington, Will and Elizabeth's happy ending or proper resolution never comes, although that's pretty much what you're garunteeing us with the first movie. Instead of resolution you give us a soap opera. Thanks.
After the credits. Yeah yeah, we see after the credits there is more to the story. This is just plain stupid. Not only do you take Will and Elizabeth's resolution to soap opera level, but you give us a major part of their resolution as a "bonus" at the end after the credits. Thing is not everyone stays after the credits. If you really wanted to tell everyone how it all really ends, why are you fuckin around. Put it in the fuckin movie. Yeah yeah, everyone knows that there's always bonus at the end of a POTC movie. But it's usually reserved for something unimportant about the dog or the monkey. What is this, "oh by the way they have a kid" crap? I've observed the last three showings every night since opening day, out of the 300 people per screening, 5 people stay to watch the end.
This is really a trend that I believe started with The Matrix. I watched The Matrix again recently and I have to say it's still a really great movie. The next two movies however just competely lose the magic.
I believe that ...
1. There are a slew of moviemakers that do not understand what kinds of movies they are making (writing).
2. They really need to quit telling one story over two movies, because they don't seem to handle this task very well.
When I have plotline or structure issues in my movie, I can pretty much blame the fact that I HAVE NO MONEY. I can't pay everyone to show up or pay extra for a location therefore I have to sometimes choose the lesser of two evils in the writing. But these guys have TON OF MONEY. There's really no excuse for any structure problems. Obviously with this movie, there was a writing issue. I observe these audiences and more and more I see people losing interest and getting lost in all the back action and story holes.
I think Pirates should have been what Indiana Jones is. A great series with different adventures. I mean you've got this great character in Jack Sparrow, why not see him pursue other adventures. It's why other franchises work a little better. Indy, James Bond, even John McLane of the Die Hard series, all of it works because it's your favorite characters going through different adventures. Also, they don't take 3 hours to entertain you. Really can't we just see Captain Jack and a few other POTC characters on a different adventure. Couldn't we have taken the events in 2 and 3, cut out all the crap, and condense everything into one sequel, and then continue on with an entirely new and fresh 3rd movie? It's what they teach in every screenwriting class on the planet. Cut to the chase, cut out the bullshit, shorten and entertain.
Now there are other trilogies to consider. Star Wars, LOTR, The Godfather, all of them continuing stories like a soap opera. But I think the difference here is that the story you're continuing really did start from the very beginning. The journey of Frodo, or Skywalker, or Michael Corleone started from one end and ends at the other. Where as with The Matrix and POTC, that first movie is one whole story, with the other two movies trying to cram in another story. It really feels like they didn't realize they were going to make a trilogy. And that's fine if you didn't realize it, but at least try to make it feel continuous. It's like someone telling you a joke and then giving you 3 different punchlines.
I know what your thinking, well what about Back To The Future. Doesn't count. Yes they obviously did come up with something quickly just to make more movies, but at least I understood what was going on and therefore had fun watching them in the first viewing. Sure 2 and 3 continue the same story, but the first one actually ends with a to be continued scene. Spielberg and Zemeckis were smart enough to know they MIGHT make a few more BTTF. Also BTTF follows the rules of seperate adventure. The first one was mainly about the 50's, the second one is a futuristic movie, and the third is a western. And Marty doesn't have to cut his heart out and miss out on being with Jennifer.
There was one big thing that really annoyed me about AWE. So, Will Turner was perfectly fine sailing with Barbosa, the man who pretty much caused all this crap with his father in the first place.
In other news, BUG is a fucked up movie (in a good way), that I just can't stop laughing at. Spiderman was also one big mess but on a separate level then Pirates. Shrek the 3rd was very enjoyable although not as funny as the previous 2. I seem to be the only one who got the "Six Million Dollar Man" joke. The "chopper" scene in 28 Weeks Later was fucking awesome and is actually done much better then the chopper scene in Planet Terror, but I still love Planet Terror.