Friday, December 14, 2007

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End


The film critic for one of the local newspapers absolutely hated this movie, saying that it was so incomprehensible that it might as well have been in a foreign language. Well, I didn’t have any real trouble following the plot and actually thought it had a few nice twists to it. But hey, if you’re watching this movie, or either of the two that came before it, for that matter, for the plot, then you’ve probably picked out the wrong movie.

What I watch the PIRATES movies for are Johnny Depp’s over-the-top mugging as Captain Jack Sparrow and the elaborate action scenes and the striking visual images, all of which play major parts in AT WORLD’S END. If you remember the end of the previous movie, Jack had been sent to Davy Jones’s Locker, and this installment opens with his friends figuring out a way to rescue him. That they’ll be successful in doing so is a foregone conclusion, and the rest of the movie’s nearly three hour running time is concerned with all the various groups of pirates banding together to do battle against a common enemy. That final battle is a long, very good scene highlighted by a wedding, of all things. And the post-credits closing scene, while predictable, is still very effective.

I’d rate AT WORLD’S END better than DEAD MAN’S CHEST, the second entry in the series, but not quite as good as the first one, THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL. It’s silly and maybe the plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in places (and don’t try to watch it without having seen the first two, or it won’t make any sense at all), but I had a grand time watching it – and I didn’t doze off even once! I don’t know if there’s going to be a fourth PIRATES movie or not – the filmmakers certainly leave themselves an opening if they want to do one – but if there is, you can be sure I’ll watch it.

2 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I haven't seen this yet but want to. I liked both the first two entries, and yes, it's mostly Johnny Depp's acting that brings me to this. Plus some good action stuff.

Anonymous said...

The first Pirates of the Caribbean was great, not too sure about the other two, tho the special effects were top notch of course, will the fourth maintain the quality of the first?