Pirates!
As trilogies go, this one ended on a high note. IMO, as always.
It was not that difficult to guess that Tia Dalma was the woman Davy Jones had cut out his heart for in the last movie, but Tia Dalma as Kalypso, the embodiment of the sea, caught me by (pleasant) surprise, and I loved the made up mythology. (And am impressed they actually not only thought of an explanation why Barbossa got resurrected other than "he's popular" but told us on screen why the same method could not be used for Jack.) (Kalypso, in the Odyssee, is the goddess with whom Odysseus, arguably the most famous seaman of them all, spends ten years on an island before Zeus orders her to let him go, but I don't think we're supposed to believe this is the same person - as the Greek Kalypso was not the sea as such - that was Poseidon's job - , and the Pirates Kalypso clearly is. I haven't written fanfic in this fandom and am not likely to, but if I would, it would definitely involve Kalypso. And Elizabeth. My Elizabeth love is strong as ever; the way she dealt with her killing Jack guilt, the way she rallied the pirates; her discovery of her dead father being ferried to the hereafter was both heartrendering and gave her an excellent reason to want Becket dead, and I absolutely believed her when she said he would be. My favourite Elizabeth scene, though, is probably the one with Norrington. I'm sure Norrington fans will be upset with both his lack of screentime and his death, but it worked for me; he ended the last movie having made a bargain which he thought would bring him back what he had lost - honor, status, his old life - only to find it hollow, and the price too high. But he already knew the alternative, the pirate's life; he had done that in DMC, had been good at it and had hated every second. So, dying after freeing the crew and Elizabeth and saying goodbye to her, giving her time to escape? As I said, it worked for me.
The movie drew parallels and contrasts between Will and Elizabeth on the one hand and Davy Jones and Tia Dalma/Kalypso on the other. I must say, Will and Elizabeth never worked as well as lovers to me as they did in this movie, which undoubtedly is partly because in previous films, they each had more screentime with Jack than with each other. This time, it was different. As the Flying Dutchman and the Goddess of the Sea, they each committed a betrayal and saw they were capable of that; but as opposed to the earlier lovers, this didn't turn them against each other, and ultimately strengthened their relationship and made it more real. At the end, they weren't a boy and a girl as they had been back in the first film, they were a man and a woman.
Now I had expected them to end up married - this being Disney - and I also expected much fury from the Jack/Elizabeth 'shippers as a result. I must salute the script writers for what they did come up with, which I really had not expected until about a minute before it happened, and which ended the trilogy not on a predictable and bland note, but on a mythological one. Also, the way it came about - Jack giving up his shot (or this particular shot) at immortality to save Will - tied to the overall theme; last movie everyone at one point or the other doublecrossed someone else, this movie the doublecrossing continued but more as a part of the game, whereas more importantly everyone came together again and redeemed themselves. So, at the end, we have Jack Sparrow where he started the trilogy, minus one ship (but let's face it, Barbossa actually is the better captain) and in a small boat but completely free; Elizabeth has become Queen of the Pirates (and I believe that despite the Age of Piracy ending, she managed to continue with that during the next ten years, while also being a mother); and Will has become the Flying Dutchman, but the Flying Dutchman as he orignally was originally supposed to be (in this mythology), the ferryman of the dead, not a ruthless killer. And you know that the one day on land isn't the only time they meet; there are plenty of reunions on the sea they all three love.
...and I really want Elizabeth and Kalypso stories. Must hope that artaxastra will write them!
Trivia: there was no Cannibal island embrassment here, and the gags like Barbossa and Jack with their looking glasses made me laugh as they were supposed to. Will there be Jack/Goat fic? And the surreal rendition of the Otherworld with Jack & the Black Pearl in the middle of the desert, and multiple Jacks around was great.
Lastly: these movies have an increasingly gruesome openig. We go from the plundered ships little Elizabeth encounters and the two skeletons Jack Sparrow sees when arriving in the first movie to crows picking out eyeballs in the second to mass executions in the third. They never make much of a claim to historical authenticity, but that adds a great touch which makes this fantasy world truly dangerous.
It was not that difficult to guess that Tia Dalma was the woman Davy Jones had cut out his heart for in the last movie, but Tia Dalma as Kalypso, the embodiment of the sea, caught me by (pleasant) surprise, and I loved the made up mythology. (And am impressed they actually not only thought of an explanation why Barbossa got resurrected other than "he's popular" but told us on screen why the same method could not be used for Jack.) (Kalypso, in the Odyssee, is the goddess with whom Odysseus, arguably the most famous seaman of them all, spends ten years on an island before Zeus orders her to let him go, but I don't think we're supposed to believe this is the same person - as the Greek Kalypso was not the sea as such - that was Poseidon's job - , and the Pirates Kalypso clearly is. I haven't written fanfic in this fandom and am not likely to, but if I would, it would definitely involve Kalypso. And Elizabeth. My Elizabeth love is strong as ever; the way she dealt with her killing Jack guilt, the way she rallied the pirates; her discovery of her dead father being ferried to the hereafter was both heartrendering and gave her an excellent reason to want Becket dead, and I absolutely believed her when she said he would be. My favourite Elizabeth scene, though, is probably the one with Norrington. I'm sure Norrington fans will be upset with both his lack of screentime and his death, but it worked for me; he ended the last movie having made a bargain which he thought would bring him back what he had lost - honor, status, his old life - only to find it hollow, and the price too high. But he already knew the alternative, the pirate's life; he had done that in DMC, had been good at it and had hated every second. So, dying after freeing the crew and Elizabeth and saying goodbye to her, giving her time to escape? As I said, it worked for me.
The movie drew parallels and contrasts between Will and Elizabeth on the one hand and Davy Jones and Tia Dalma/Kalypso on the other. I must say, Will and Elizabeth never worked as well as lovers to me as they did in this movie, which undoubtedly is partly because in previous films, they each had more screentime with Jack than with each other. This time, it was different. As the Flying Dutchman and the Goddess of the Sea, they each committed a betrayal and saw they were capable of that; but as opposed to the earlier lovers, this didn't turn them against each other, and ultimately strengthened their relationship and made it more real. At the end, they weren't a boy and a girl as they had been back in the first film, they were a man and a woman.
Now I had expected them to end up married - this being Disney - and I also expected much fury from the Jack/Elizabeth 'shippers as a result. I must salute the script writers for what they did come up with, which I really had not expected until about a minute before it happened, and which ended the trilogy not on a predictable and bland note, but on a mythological one. Also, the way it came about - Jack giving up his shot (or this particular shot) at immortality to save Will - tied to the overall theme; last movie everyone at one point or the other doublecrossed someone else, this movie the doublecrossing continued but more as a part of the game, whereas more importantly everyone came together again and redeemed themselves. So, at the end, we have Jack Sparrow where he started the trilogy, minus one ship (but let's face it, Barbossa actually is the better captain) and in a small boat but completely free; Elizabeth has become Queen of the Pirates (and I believe that despite the Age of Piracy ending, she managed to continue with that during the next ten years, while also being a mother); and Will has become the Flying Dutchman, but the Flying Dutchman as he orignally was originally supposed to be (in this mythology), the ferryman of the dead, not a ruthless killer. And you know that the one day on land isn't the only time they meet; there are plenty of reunions on the sea they all three love.
...and I really want Elizabeth and Kalypso stories. Must hope that artaxastra will write them!
Trivia: there was no Cannibal island embrassment here, and the gags like Barbossa and Jack with their looking glasses made me laugh as they were supposed to. Will there be Jack/Goat fic? And the surreal rendition of the Otherworld with Jack & the Black Pearl in the middle of the desert, and multiple Jacks around was great.
Lastly: these movies have an increasingly gruesome openig. We go from the plundered ships little Elizabeth encounters and the two skeletons Jack Sparrow sees when arriving in the first movie to crows picking out eyeballs in the second to mass executions in the third. They never make much of a claim to historical authenticity, but that adds a great touch which makes this fantasy world truly dangerous.