Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's
End
We are stuck right in the
middle of the season of the threes, so right on the heels of Spider-Man 3
and Shrek the Third comes the (apparently) final chapter of the
Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Okay, let's get the
suspense over with right away. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's
End is much better than the second movie, but not nearly as good as the
first.
At World's End is a
rousing bit of commercial filmmaking if overly long and probably a bit
too complicated for its own good. Still the nearly three hours of
running time do pass pretty quickly. The story occasionally sputters
or bogs down from the myriad of plot threads and the climactic battle
sequence, while effective, seems too impersonal and effects driven it's
occasionally war as a massive soulless spectacle like found in the Lord
of the Rings films.
It's still a lot more
enjoyable than the last chapter, Dead Men's Chest. (Which is
interesting, because the two stories were filmed concurrently.) At
World's End has enough of the goofy spectacle, intriguing plot twists
and the fun of the original to give it a very real, if slightly qualified,
recommendation.
The first thing you notice
right off the bat in a scene where dozens of people suspected of being
pirates, including a small child, are hanged by the East India Company
that At World's End is a much darker ride than the previous
installments.
At World's End toils
mightily to tie up all the threads of the previous movies, even adding a few
new characters into the crowded mix.
Even more than in the
previous films, the pirates are the heroes and the real villains of the
piece are the so-called respectable politicians and businessmen. In
particular the East India Company is shown to be much more untrustworthy and
soulless than even the most hardened buccaneer.
The company and the
colonial navy have decided to use the tentacled bad guy from the last film,
Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), to destroy the eight pirate masters and all their
followers. They can control Jones because they have his heart in a
box.
In order to save the
buccaneer lifestyle, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) goes to the newly
resurrected Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) to save his mortal enemy,
Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the weird dream netherworld of Davy
Jones' Locker. (Life and death are a lot more fluid concepts in these
movies than in the real world.) They seek the help of a pirate lord
(Asian film legend Chow Yun-fat in a glorified cameo) in Singapore (these
ships seem to be able to span continents in a matter of hours) to find
Sparrow and gather the other pirate lords to convene a council to fight off
the infiltration.
There are lots of subplots,
some interesting, some not so. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom
who again
proves to be handsome but a bit of a liability as an actor) is trying to
save his father from an eternity in Davy Jones' crew at the same time as
trying to save his souring love with Elizabeth. As Elizabeth works her
way up the ranks in pirate politics, she seems to lose her fascination with
him, even flirting with her hapless ex. To keep offbeat romance in the
air, it turns out the love of Davy Jones' life was Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris
in the role introduced in the second film), a passion which has not quite
worn off for either of them, despite the fact that they are both trapped in
bodies which are not natural to them.
As with the first films,
Captain Jack is by far the most interesting character though he is less
the center of attention than in the previous films. Depp still has
lots of fun with the role and while he's on screen At World's End is
always fun and fresh. Also, the return of Rush as Barbosa gives this
movie a jolt of fun and humor which the second film seriously missed in his
absence. (Even in this film, Nighy's Davy Jones, while a technical
movie-making marvel, is a much less interesting bad guy.)
Keith Richards even shows
up towards the end in the long-rumored cameo as Captain Jack's father (Depp
has often suggested that Richards was the main inspiration for his offbeat
characterization), however it turns out to be a bit anti-climactic.
Richards' character seems strangely restrained compared to his flamboyant
son.
Does At World's End
have too much going on? Absolutely. Some of it for example
the contribution of a female goddess called Calypso is annoyingly
under-explored and unexplained. Not that the film doesn't give us the
background, but in the end we have no idea which side she is helping or
hurting or if she is hurting both by her intervention into the action.
However, sometimes with a
big spectacle like this you just have to decide if you are willing to go
with it or not. For the most part, At World's End will keep you
hooked and entertained. The action scenes are truly jawdropping and
there is a good amount of humor strewn about the script like stray
doubloons. You can ask for more than that (just like the bounty
delivered by the first movie), but you can't totally begrudge a movie for
delivering enough of the goods rather than delivering too much.
Also, despite the fact that
all involved were rather vocal about this being the last voyage of the
Pirates franchise, At World's End closes on a note which seems
wide open for yet another sequel. So, who knows? If this movie
does well enough (and with the box office takes of the other two chapters,
it most certainly will), the dead men may tell more tales. (5/07)
Jay
S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2007 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: May 26, 2007.
