Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - 4
Stars (Excellent)What a relief! Like
many of my fellow reviewers, I held my breath after "Dead Man's
Chest" hoping installment three "Pirates of the Caribbean: At
World's End" would not be left in the chest with Davy Jones'
disgusting, slimy beating heart.
Three could have gone in the dumper with the
average performance of Priates two, but thankfully "At World's
End" gets an excellent rating like the first Pirates' presentation
"The Curse of the Black Pearl".
Dead Man's Chest got mixed reviews
nationally as many reviewers could not tolerate a plot that was
too convoluted to follow. Trust me when I say that At World's End
was no better in that regard, but was far and away better as
important story lines returned. Here are some:
1) The romance between Elizabeth Swann (Keira
Knightly) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) resumed. Just looking at
Keira Knightly in her finest can take your mind off of the
troublesome story line. The relationship between the two was all
but destroyed in "Dead Man's Chest".
2) Jack is back! The Curse of the Black
Pearl had Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) front and center with
all action revolving around him. Dead Man's Chest dimmed the
spotlight on Captain Jack and eventually had him "killed" off at
the end. At World's End brings Captain Jack Sparrow back front and
center, where he should be as the focal point of this saga.
Pirates of the Caribbean begins and ends
with Jack Sparrow, and if he is given a lesser role the story
suffers.
3) The over-the-top sight gags in Dead Man's
Chest (the sword fight in the giant wheel which went on far too
long and the hanging baskets between the cliffs) put too much
focus on production gimmicks rather than the characters. People
make the story of Pirates, not gimmicks.
At World's End has swordfights aboard ship
and cannons blowing ships apart, right on, this is a pirate story
for cripes sake, not some ballet production on a ferris wheel.
Give someone credit for letting writers Ted
Elliott and Terry Rossio tell the story without marching orders. I
believe these two writers were pushed into throwing anything
together to satisfy the immediate demand for a sequel that would
dovetail into another sequel. Gore Verbinski directed all three
movies.
Given how convoluted the story line is, here
is the best synopsis of At World's End by J. Curcio (it certainly
helps if you have seen the first two Pirate films):
"After Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner and
Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) rescue Captain Jack Sparrow from
the land of the dead (Davy Jones' locker), they must face their
foes, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom
Hollander). Beckett, with control of Jones' heart, forms a dark
alliance with Davy Jones in order to rule the seas and wipe out
the last of the Pirates.
"Now, Jack, Barbossa, Will, Elizabeth, Tia
Delma and crew must call the Pirate Lords from the four corners of
the globe to a gathering to figure out how to release the goddess
Calypso, Davy Jones' former lover, so she can come to their aid.
Once Calypso is free, all of the Pirate Lords will stand together
in their fight for freedom against Beckett, Jones, Norrington, the
Flying Dutchman, and the entire East India Trading Company."
During the battle, Will proposes to
Elizabeth who insists that Barbossa marry them immediately. When
Davy Jones mortally wounds Will aboard the Dutchman, Jack places
the sabre in Will's hand and helps him stab Davy Jones' heart in
the Dead Man's Chest, thus killing Jones and making Will the
Flying Dutchman's captain.
The crew cuts out Will's heart and places it
in the Dead Man's Chest. Jack and Elizabeth escape before the ship
is pulled into the whirlpool, but it quickly resurfaces with Will
at the helm. Will captains the Flying Dutchman and Jack Sparrow
captains the Black Pearl as they destroy Lord Cutler Beckett's
ship, killing Beckett and causing his armada to retreat.
Although Will has been saved and the
Dutchman crew has regained its humanity, Will must spend the next
10 years at sea ferrying souls to the next world. Will and
Elizabeth spend one day together on an island to consummate their
marriage, and Will entrusts Elizabeth with the Dead Man's Chest
containing his heart.
The rest is simply too good to give away
here. Do not make the mistake of leaving when the credits begin to
roll as there is a bonus scene at the end of the credits that is
critical to understanding where the movie is headed next.
There are too many secret alliances,
turncoats, double-crosses and self-centered activities going on to
detail them in this review. Suffice to saw that the action happens
so quickly that the plot does become convoluted.
There was in fact an actual council of
pirates at one time in history.
The 9 Pirate Lords portrayed in the film
are:
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: Pirate
Lord of the Caribbean Sea.
Geoffrey Rush as Hector Barbossa: Pirate
Lord of the Caspian Sea.
Chow Yun-Fat as Captain Sao Feng: Pirate
Lord of the South China Sea.
Takayo Fischer as Mistress Ching: Pirate
Lady of the Pacific Ocean.
Hakim-Kae Kazim as Gentleman Jocard: Pirate
Lord of the Atlantic Ocean.
Marcel Iures as Capitaine Chevalle: Pirate
Lord of the Mediterranean Sea.
Ghassan Massoud as Ammand the Corsair:
Pirate Lord of the Black Sea.
Marshall Manesh as Sri Sumbhajee: Pirate
Lord of the Indian Ocean.
Sergio Calderon as Captain Villanueva:
Pirate Lord of the Adriatic Sea.
The scenery is really outstanding in At
World's End; some of the scenes were filmed during the filming of
Dead Man's Chest so locations would not have to be revisited.
Keith Richards, who had been courted to
appear in earlier Pirate films, agreed to appear as Jack Sparrow's
father and keeper of the Pirate Code in At World's End.
When the Pirate's Code is brought out to
settle a dispute, Barbossa refers to the code created by "Morgan
and Bartholomew".
This is a reference to famous pirates Henry
Morgan and Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts. Morgan was famous for
sacking several impenetrable treasure towns, including Portobello,
the Fort Knox of its day.
Black Bart was simply brutal without any
conscience whatsoever, he killed and pillaged at will and was one
of the pirates to develop a code of honor which his crew followed
upon pain of death.
These are my favorite lines in the movie:
Will Turner: No cause is lost if but one
fool is left to fight for it.
Barbossa: Dying is the day worth living for.
Barbossa: All men are drawn to the sea
perilous though it may be.
Will Turner (when he gives Elizabeth the
Dead Man's Chest with his beating heart in it): It was always
yours . . . Will you keep it safe? (How is that for a romantic
line, ladies?)
Cabin Boy: Yo ho, haul together, hoist the
colors high. Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die!
Among the locations in At World's End were
the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the dunes in Guadalupe (CA),
Niagara Falls in New York, ocean battle scenes were located near
Palmdale (CA) and sea sequences in Rancho Palos Verdes (CA).
At World's End runs 2 hours 47 minutes, 15
minutes longer than Dead Man's Chest and 30 minutes longer than
Spider Man 3.
Despite its length, At World's End had the
best Memorial Day Weekend opening ever, hauling in $142 million,
and was second only to Spider Man 3's best opening weekend ever at
$151 million. When you add in the international numbers, At
World's End hauled in $332 million for the weekend.
At World's End rang up the most valuable
haul among any pirate booty ever.
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
