It also requires a willingness to wave any sense of comprehension of what it is all about because there is a multitude of over a dozen plots thrown at you in random confusion. If you do decide to go and see it, it is best to be prepared to just sit back and try to be entertained by the preposterous and the fantastimagoric. It helps to have seen the first two too!
The first, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) I'd rate a "B+". But the sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) was not up to scratch and earned a straight "D". Unfortunately the end of the trilogy, PotC:AWE, is also the longest and the worst, deserving only an "E". Yet fans will go to see it, if only just to see Captain Jack Sparrow (the wondrous Johnny Depp) and his motley crew of friends and enemies. They are all here again and much more. It is interesting that at the end Jack Sparrow warns against continuing beyond the trilogy when he says, "I wash my hands off this weirdness". Unfortunately, films that bring in huge profits for those who make, act and promote them pose such a greedy temptation not to stop. So, though there shouldn't be a PotC-4, there may very likely be one, and all too soon too. It may also require extending the Disneyland theme park where Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the most popular rides.
Though it is now four years after the first show, PotC:DMC and PotC:AWE were filmed in tandem, but PotC:AWE has been released a year later (a technique that has been used before when running a series of films). Thus, while most of the characters will seem to have aged, the delightful Elizabeth Swann (a glowing Keira Knightley) is really caught in a time warp.
Her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is here again, but it doesn't seem very eagerly. Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is also back, but it is not clear from where, as he was not in PotC:DMC (it was thought he had died). But part of the fun in the trilogy is that the line between the living and the dead doesn't really exist. When the film begins Jack Sparrow is interned in Davy Jones' Locker-now when I was a boy that is where you went when you drowned in the deep blue sea. That we don't see Jack for a very long stretch after the film opens one wonders if he was really finished at the end of PotC:DMC? Jack has the most unbelievable hallucinations while incarcerated, involving multitudes of himself. The keeper of the locker is also with us again; a weird, tentacle-faced, Captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) of the Flying Dutchman. Tia Dalma (acted by Naomi Harris), the Voodoo Princess a.k.a Calypso is also back and undergoes some remarkable transformations. The most delightful character in the film is the little monkey. Do watch him closely as the computer graphics people have fallen in love with him and provided him with a variety of unusual touches.
Some new acquaintances are Jack's mentor and Keeper of the Code, Captain Teague (Keith Richards in a two-minute cameo), and to give a Chinese flare to the film, Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat), who hides out near Singapore and bequeaths to Elizabeth Swann a totem of the "Super Piratehood" so that she can join the fight against the Dutch East India Company and its imperialist efforts to destroy all pirates. Sao Feng also has some critical maps the others need to pursue their quest.
It takes time for Elizabeth, Will and Captain Barbossa to save Jack. Then comes the fight against the Company and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander). Beckett now controls the Flying Dutchman for his own nefarious ends. An extraordinary Brethren Court with an unusual Nine Lords meets to decide how to confront the Company and Commodore James Norrington (Jack Davenport). There is a lot of talk, even of Pirate Law (I thought they were rogues beyond any laws?) and much of the talk is incomprehensible (no subtitles either). Then , sounding a bit like the institutionalised terror unleashed by security laws in reactionary states, the Crown imposes a "State of Emergency", eliminates all human rights, and anyone who objects well then it hangs them by the neck until dead.
There are many digital delights to be had in PotC:AWE. You won't miss the multitudes of digital creatures that rescue the pirates' vessel in a most curious manner. But look out for an insertion of a bit of very worn Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is two hours and 50 minutes long. It is supposedly in English? The director is Gore Verbinski to a script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. The cinematographer is Dariusz Wolski; the editors are Stephen Rivkin and Craig Wood; and the music is by Hans Zimmer.
The visual wonders belong to Charles Gibson and John Knoll. It is rated 10 plus, but be warned there is a lot to feed nightmares here. [email protected]
