Take what ya can...give nothing back!
Where are we?
End of February?
I finally got to pop in the DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End that I got for Christmas.
I love this series. I really do. Even though I'd never call myself a "Disney fan", I will admit that on occasion they get it right. And although it takes multiple viewings to absorb the convoluted plot of the Pirate movies, the viewings are definitely worth the time.
I didn't care to much for the second installment. I didn't like the fish guys. I saw them as an attempt to recreate the same effects that looked so great with the skeletons from the first film. To me, the second film seemed forced. Sometimes the middle part of a trilogy only exists to set up the third part, and I think that was the case with POTC 2.
The best thing they did with POTC 3 was resurrect Captain Barbossa. He's a much better foil for Captain Jack than Will Turner, and watching Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp together is a lesson in how talented, experienced actors can push everyone else out of the way. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom just fade into the background. It's easy to forget they exist. You're just waiting for Depp and Rush to come back on screen.
At a certain point, this film (and the other two) delves into complete CGI indulgence. The swordfight on the main sail, the ships in the malestrom, crabs, battles...it goes on and on, but for some inexplicable reason, it seems completely appropriate in this context. To me, if I say "hey! neat special effects" while I'm watching, I'm out of the movie and the film makers have failed. If I'm so into a movie that it seems perfectly natural for a ship to turn upside down, then it works.
When I originally saw this last summer, I thought it was interesting that corporate giant Disney would make a film about the evils of big business and let outlaws be the winners. I still find it a bit subversive, but if that's the way they want to go, who am I to judge?
Things I love:
* The dialoge. Particularly when Barbossa and Jack are trying to outdo each other with their mastery of the English language.
* The monkey. What can I say? I think all movies should have a monkey!
* Norrington's redemption.
* Jack doing the right thing by letting Will stab the heart.
* No matter what, Jack comes out ahead. "Do you think he plans it out in advance, or just makes it up as he goes along?"
* Pirates win: East India Trading Company loses.
* The attempt to make Orlando Bloom look masculine and rugged. Let's face it, he's kinda girly, the poor guy. Give him another 10 years.
* Driving jokes into the ground. Sea turtles. The dog with the keys. The wooden eye. One of Jim Henson's tactics was to play a joke out to such extremes you had to laugh. Just when you thought it was done, they'd make the same joke again. It works. I don't know why, but it does. If it's a stupid joke, it works even better.
Best of all: The fact that the trilogy ended just as it began -- Jack and Barbossa fighting over the Black Pearl. I love characters who are completely incorrigible, and these pirates fit that bill. Even dying doesn't stop them from their competition with each other.
Will there be a POTC 4? Who knows? The mouse stands to increase his pocket change if they make another one. There's certainly the set up for it at the end of 3, but actors like to move on. Until then, I'll watch this one a few more times!
End of February?
I finally got to pop in the DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End that I got for Christmas.
I love this series. I really do. Even though I'd never call myself a "Disney fan", I will admit that on occasion they get it right. And although it takes multiple viewings to absorb the convoluted plot of the Pirate movies, the viewings are definitely worth the time.
I didn't care to much for the second installment. I didn't like the fish guys. I saw them as an attempt to recreate the same effects that looked so great with the skeletons from the first film. To me, the second film seemed forced. Sometimes the middle part of a trilogy only exists to set up the third part, and I think that was the case with POTC 2.
The best thing they did with POTC 3 was resurrect Captain Barbossa. He's a much better foil for Captain Jack than Will Turner, and watching Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp together is a lesson in how talented, experienced actors can push everyone else out of the way. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom just fade into the background. It's easy to forget they exist. You're just waiting for Depp and Rush to come back on screen.
At a certain point, this film (and the other two) delves into complete CGI indulgence. The swordfight on the main sail, the ships in the malestrom, crabs, battles...it goes on and on, but for some inexplicable reason, it seems completely appropriate in this context. To me, if I say "hey! neat special effects" while I'm watching, I'm out of the movie and the film makers have failed. If I'm so into a movie that it seems perfectly natural for a ship to turn upside down, then it works.
When I originally saw this last summer, I thought it was interesting that corporate giant Disney would make a film about the evils of big business and let outlaws be the winners. I still find it a bit subversive, but if that's the way they want to go, who am I to judge?
Things I love:
* The dialoge. Particularly when Barbossa and Jack are trying to outdo each other with their mastery of the English language.
* The monkey. What can I say? I think all movies should have a monkey!
* Norrington's redemption.
* Jack doing the right thing by letting Will stab the heart.
* No matter what, Jack comes out ahead. "Do you think he plans it out in advance, or just makes it up as he goes along?"
* Pirates win: East India Trading Company loses.
* The attempt to make Orlando Bloom look masculine and rugged. Let's face it, he's kinda girly, the poor guy. Give him another 10 years.
* Driving jokes into the ground. Sea turtles. The dog with the keys. The wooden eye. One of Jim Henson's tactics was to play a joke out to such extremes you had to laugh. Just when you thought it was done, they'd make the same joke again. It works. I don't know why, but it does. If it's a stupid joke, it works even better.
Best of all: The fact that the trilogy ended just as it began -- Jack and Barbossa fighting over the Black Pearl. I love characters who are completely incorrigible, and these pirates fit that bill. Even dying doesn't stop them from their competition with each other.
Will there be a POTC 4? Who knows? The mouse stands to increase his pocket change if they make another one. There's certainly the set up for it at the end of 3, but actors like to move on. Until then, I'll watch this one a few more times!