how to not really get the most out of scotland but have fun doing it!
Yeah, we (me & verbotenwidow) made it to Edinburgh, were absolutely awestruck over how gorgeous it was, and then realized that our brains were completely melted and that the prospect of another museum was likely to make us explode. So we chose the obvious alternate route -- watch something braindead-friendly: Pirates 3!
What's the deal? Pirates 3 is actually good! I don't understand this.
Of course it does have two-movie syndrome, but instead of the way 2 was all jumbled and incoherent, in 3 you can pretty much see the easy division between the Disney movie and the epic drama. If it weren't a Disney movie it could be so good as pure fantasy; if it weren't trying to be epic it could have been much more along the lines of the first Pirates in terms of humor and a watertight thrill-ride type of plot. The transition from serious to humor is a little jarring here and there in 3, but mostly the two different genres seem to cooperate fairly well.
It's not great. It's not Pirates 1. Like 2, it's still mediocre and plothole-y enough to be extremely inspiring in terms of fanworks, under the "ARGH there's so much potential here and I could do it so much better!" school of thought. Which is great for me, because I'm already inspired for more ficcage -- when I actually have time, which is clearly not for another two weeks at least. (I has a 6-page paper due in two days, yays! x_x) It's not even really a very well put-together movie; it's just better than 2, and that's what has me so enthusiastic.
I'm sure a lot of people will hate it -- like the Harry Potter books, as the franchise goes on, certain paths of plot and character are chosen that force render other options non-canon, and although we all know that that stops no one, there are still many thousands of fangirls who like to bitch about their own options not being chosen. And in my case, I'm probably biased in favor of the movie because of all the things it did right by my own theories and wishes as far as character interaction goes.
Specific reactions... DAVY JONES CAN OWN MY SOUL ANY DAY, but we all knew that already. Tia as Calypso was utterly predictable, but I actually liked the way they handled it quite a lot. And OMG THE ONE TIA/DAVY SCENE! Bill Nighy all piratey without the fishiness! YES! That made me so very irrationally happy.
Davy -- they managed to walk that fine line between his emotionality and his cruelty without copping out. Also they didn't cop out on Tia; she really didn't have a reason for missing their appointment on the shore, just her wild nature. I appreciated that. And Will! I can't believe Will has gotten cruel enough to tell Tia that Davy was the one who got the Brethren to bind her! That was absolutely terrible.
Which takes me to Will -- who I still like. I started liking him in 2 (one of the few things I liked about 2) and he's stayed true to form. There was much more character consistency from 2 to 3, although THANK GOD Norrington seems to have recovered from his psychotic break and gone back to the more interesting character he was in 1. Norrington! I can't believe they actually killed someone who STAYED DEAD! Wow.
In fact, the deaths of Governor Swann and Norrington were actually quite touching and well-handled, and gave Elizabeth some sort of real emotional drive to be on the pirates' side, other than the lame-ass "pirates are cool, I want to follow them!" attitude she'd had before.
And speaking of well-handled -- Bootstrap. Ohhhhh no. That was done so well, and it was so sad and creepy at the same time. And even the very last exchange between him and Will -- all the things that can't be said -- the fact that they're reunited and Bill is free, but only at the expense of damning his son forever -- but at the same time the sort of guilty happiness over the fact that Will "chose" him over Elizabeth (not really, but it's all Bill has at that point) -- and, just, oh. Oh. Heart-hurty. The first scene when he kept forgetting, too, that was hard to watch, having had Alzheimers in the family. And Norrington. And "Part of the crew, part of the ship." Poor, poor Bill.
Inane little things made me like this one so much more than the last one... the lack of enormous fight scenes (just the one long, ridiculous one, really -- the wedding? laaaaame), the multitude of pure character scenes, the fact that Will wasn't really redeemed, the fact that Jack was actually intensely affected by something and changed because of it (and not for no reason at all, as in 2), the fact that even though Davy and Tia could have worked it out somehow, they left it as a sort of epic Romantic Shakespearian misunderstanding. Also the fact that with the way the lead-ins and intros towards the beginning are set up, the fic that I started right after 2 came out is actually NOT OBSOLETE. It fits perfectly between the two movies and in fact makes more sense now than it did when I was writing it. Precognition, anyone? I'm excited because it means I can go back and finish it without being totally in the dark now.
And they didn't make you feel too good about Beckett's death, either! Another thing I liked. The pirates won, but Beckett's last line was almost, almost on par with "I feel... cold" for making you really feel that last-second pang of realization and sympathy for the "bad guy" that puts the whole conflict back in perspective.
I need to go see it again, maybe a couple of times, and definitely, definitely finish that one fic I was working on, "And On the Surface, Die". Another idea for one popped into my head on the bus back from Edinburgh today, too, title first (which doesn't happen often for me) -- "Seven More for Rachel," in reference to the Bible story, and I can't believe I would be writing a Will/Elizabeth fic, but it would be set after Elizabeth's death of old age and would probably be mainly centered around a conversation between Will and Calypso. Must finish these two damned classes so I can spend the next month solid writing! I've been ridiculously inspired lately. Stupid England! XD
Not very coherent or well-written, but it's late and I have way too much to do to be writing about Pirates, but I just had to get it all out. I'll probably start seeing the flaws more later, but for now I'm just sort of floating along with it.
now for two papers and a research proposal,
-rave
What's the deal? Pirates 3 is actually good! I don't understand this.
Of course it does have two-movie syndrome, but instead of the way 2 was all jumbled and incoherent, in 3 you can pretty much see the easy division between the Disney movie and the epic drama. If it weren't a Disney movie it could be so good as pure fantasy; if it weren't trying to be epic it could have been much more along the lines of the first Pirates in terms of humor and a watertight thrill-ride type of plot. The transition from serious to humor is a little jarring here and there in 3, but mostly the two different genres seem to cooperate fairly well.
It's not great. It's not Pirates 1. Like 2, it's still mediocre and plothole-y enough to be extremely inspiring in terms of fanworks, under the "ARGH there's so much potential here and I could do it so much better!" school of thought. Which is great for me, because I'm already inspired for more ficcage -- when I actually have time, which is clearly not for another two weeks at least. (I has a 6-page paper due in two days, yays! x_x) It's not even really a very well put-together movie; it's just better than 2, and that's what has me so enthusiastic.
I'm sure a lot of people will hate it -- like the Harry Potter books, as the franchise goes on, certain paths of plot and character are chosen that force render other options non-canon, and although we all know that that stops no one, there are still many thousands of fangirls who like to bitch about their own options not being chosen. And in my case, I'm probably biased in favor of the movie because of all the things it did right by my own theories and wishes as far as character interaction goes.
Specific reactions... DAVY JONES CAN OWN MY SOUL ANY DAY, but we all knew that already. Tia as Calypso was utterly predictable, but I actually liked the way they handled it quite a lot. And OMG THE ONE TIA/DAVY SCENE! Bill Nighy all piratey without the fishiness! YES! That made me so very irrationally happy.
Davy -- they managed to walk that fine line between his emotionality and his cruelty without copping out. Also they didn't cop out on Tia; she really didn't have a reason for missing their appointment on the shore, just her wild nature. I appreciated that. And Will! I can't believe Will has gotten cruel enough to tell Tia that Davy was the one who got the Brethren to bind her! That was absolutely terrible.
Which takes me to Will -- who I still like. I started liking him in 2 (one of the few things I liked about 2) and he's stayed true to form. There was much more character consistency from 2 to 3, although THANK GOD Norrington seems to have recovered from his psychotic break and gone back to the more interesting character he was in 1. Norrington! I can't believe they actually killed someone who STAYED DEAD! Wow.
In fact, the deaths of Governor Swann and Norrington were actually quite touching and well-handled, and gave Elizabeth some sort of real emotional drive to be on the pirates' side, other than the lame-ass "pirates are cool, I want to follow them!" attitude she'd had before.
And speaking of well-handled -- Bootstrap. Ohhhhh no. That was done so well, and it was so sad and creepy at the same time. And even the very last exchange between him and Will -- all the things that can't be said -- the fact that they're reunited and Bill is free, but only at the expense of damning his son forever -- but at the same time the sort of guilty happiness over the fact that Will "chose" him over Elizabeth (not really, but it's all Bill has at that point) -- and, just, oh. Oh. Heart-hurty. The first scene when he kept forgetting, too, that was hard to watch, having had Alzheimers in the family. And Norrington. And "Part of the crew, part of the ship." Poor, poor Bill.
Inane little things made me like this one so much more than the last one... the lack of enormous fight scenes (just the one long, ridiculous one, really -- the wedding? laaaaame), the multitude of pure character scenes, the fact that Will wasn't really redeemed, the fact that Jack was actually intensely affected by something and changed because of it (and not for no reason at all, as in 2), the fact that even though Davy and Tia could have worked it out somehow, they left it as a sort of epic Romantic Shakespearian misunderstanding. Also the fact that with the way the lead-ins and intros towards the beginning are set up, the fic that I started right after 2 came out is actually NOT OBSOLETE. It fits perfectly between the two movies and in fact makes more sense now than it did when I was writing it. Precognition, anyone? I'm excited because it means I can go back and finish it without being totally in the dark now.
And they didn't make you feel too good about Beckett's death, either! Another thing I liked. The pirates won, but Beckett's last line was almost, almost on par with "I feel... cold" for making you really feel that last-second pang of realization and sympathy for the "bad guy" that puts the whole conflict back in perspective.
I need to go see it again, maybe a couple of times, and definitely, definitely finish that one fic I was working on, "And On the Surface, Die". Another idea for one popped into my head on the bus back from Edinburgh today, too, title first (which doesn't happen often for me) -- "Seven More for Rachel," in reference to the Bible story, and I can't believe I would be writing a Will/Elizabeth fic, but it would be set after Elizabeth's death of old age and would probably be mainly centered around a conversation between Will and Calypso. Must finish these two damned classes so I can spend the next month solid writing! I've been ridiculously inspired lately. Stupid England! XD
Not very coherent or well-written, but it's late and I have way too much to do to be writing about Pirates, but I just had to get it all out. I'll probably start seeing the flaws more later, but for now I'm just sort of floating along with it.
now for two papers and a research proposal,
-rave