The Official PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END Thread

[ItisWritten]

Ah heck. It was great fun. Why nit-pick at the plot of a summer movie? Sometimes you just gotta relax and enjoy. Kind of like a one-nighter. You know, it ain't the best way to spend your money or time, but living in the moment has its perqs. I actually clapped once (monkey-ball), and that almost never happens.

No characters? What movie were you watching? If there was anything wrong with Pirates 2 & 3, it was that the director worked too hard to create conflicts between the characters (the wedge between Will and Elizabeth, Jack conflicted about what he wanted, then schizo). As for Barbosa being out of character,

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his goals were consistent. Jack had to be retrieved for the purpose of freeing Calypso--the only means he saw of overcoming Davey Jones. Once the code was invoked, he was bound to continue aboard the Pearl, which he then stole.

How is any of that inconsistent?

Convoluted double-dealing?

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Will wanted to save his father, which meant a shot a Jones' heart. None of that would happen unless the Pirates dealt with each other and Beckett found them. Jack wanted the same, but knew he'd have no chance aboard the Pearl. So, he needed Jones occupied against another ship, but for the Pearl to have a chance, it needed a fleet behind it to keep Beckett relying on the Dutchman. In the end, Calypso couldn't decide which side she hated more, and leveled the playing field.

Of course, I was a bit bothered by all of it

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until Jack pushed Will overboard with his compass.

After that, I just watched.

[Loredoctor]

I saw the movie yesterday and I really enjoyed it. What I loved:

Lord Beckett.
The doubledealing.
The humour.
Davy Jones and his ship.
Lord Beckett.
The naval battle.
The nice twist.
Lord Beckett.
The hanging (I was amazed Disney allowed the last 'hanging' to be filmed)

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Davy Jone's mortal form being revealed.

What I didn't like:
Hard to make out the dialogue.

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That Lord Beckett died (though what a death!).
The Kraken's death. Rather poorly handled.

I'm kind of stunned at some of the comments made by some members here. "No characters" - what movie did you watch? "Barbossa's inconsistency" -

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funny that he betrayed Jack at the end, just like the original film. Also, he was placed in between fighting, and losing against, the pirates, and fighting the East-India Trading Company (which he had no chance). Basically, he had to stop Davy Jones. To expect him to focus on commanding/stealing the Black Pearl (which he pretty much did, anyway) as opposed to fighting a greater threat is slightly odd.

[hierachy]

I understand that Barbossa's hand was forced... that wasn't what I was getting at... it's that he is too nice while doing it.

[Loredoctor]

I understand that Barbossa's hand was forced... that wasn't what I was getting at... it's that he is too nice while doing it.

Not nice; I'd say he was just being his charasmatic self.

[I'm Murrin]

I must say I didn't see anything in it that conflicted with his earlier appearances.

[Marv]

Yeah, it was a good movie. The first one was very, very funny but the second and the third were only quite amusing. Couldn't make out any problems with the plot or the various characters.

[CovenantJr]

Loremaster, you might want to spoiler the bit about Barbosa's actions at the end. No great shock there, but I think it's still a spoiler.

[Elfgirl]

Ohhhhh YEAH!!! IT ROCKED!!!

Not long enough, if you ask me! And whichever idiot critic said it was plotless was CLUELESS...the whole thing tied up some loose ends from the other two movies, and the in-jokes were priceless. Reckon anyone who bagged the film really has no sense of fun, no sense of adventure, and no taste in movies...they probably like crap like "brokeback buntin"...

[balon!]

Mabye I should reword what I meant.

I liked the film, it was good, but from my veiw it paled in comparison to the previous two films. It was as if they shifted from depending on the characters and plot to run the film to running it off of SFX and the look of the characters rather than the characters themselves. Like "I love you but I'm not IN love with you." If that clarifies.

[Cagliostro]

I couldn't help seeing significance in the line: "Does he plan this, or does he make it up as he goes along?" I felt the same with this movie.

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What the hell with the Kraken? One line that took me a minute to know what they were talking about, and then I couldn't remember what they said happened to it. Then we see it dead on the beach. Silly.
Also didn't like that they made the cool voodoo lady some goddess in human form. Disappointed me.

Those nitpicks aside, I did really have fun, and I must say that I enjoyed it more than the second one. But I enjoyed it less than I thought I would. I didn't realize until this film that what the second film was missing was Barbarossa. It just felt right having him back.

[Loredoctor]

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Also didn't like that they made the cool voodoo lady some goddess in human form. Disappointed me.

.

I too had a problem with that part, as it seemed there was no hint in the earlier movies, apart from the pendants worn by the two characters.

[ItisWritten]

I too had a problem with that part, as it seemed there was no hint in the earlier movies, apart from the pendants worn by the two characters.

There was a hint. She brought Barbossa back from the dead. "How can she do that?" I wondered. Now I know. That there was more to her power would be difficult to add to the Dead Man's Chest, since much of it was spent running about on land to avoid fighting the kraken, or fighting the kraken.

Speaking of which, cinematically speaking,

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the kraken was an undefeatable foe (perhaps Calypso could have mastered it, but would that have been entertaining?), demonstrated quite clearly in 2, and had to go. The final battle had to be between the Pearl and the Dutchman.

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The scene in which they find the kraken on the beach was effective. It showed how far things had gone between Beckett and Jones. I assumed (unable to hear any dialogue either) that Beckett had insisted on its death to remove an uncontrollable weapon from Jones' arsenal.

[CovenantJr]

Saw it last week. *shrug* I thought it was better than the second, but nowhere near the quality of the first. As I feared, it tries too hard to be epic and dramatic, and loses most of the fun in the process.

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The humour seemed forced; the multiple Jacks irritated me after the first minute or so of their prescence; Will and Elizabeth just grated the entire time (not least because Elizabeth appears to have suddenly become an expert swordswoman); Norrington was wasted; the whole thing about having a big book of rules for pirates seemed silly (not to mention the fact that Bartholomew was his first name, not his last); the pirates seem to have stopped being pirates and instead become some sort of loosely affiliated rebel faction; the removal of the Kraken may have been necessary, but it was sloppily done (given that it was essentially unbeatable, its death needed more explanation); the increasingly permeable barrier between life and death seemed silly and slightly boring; even Jack was annoying, which is quite an achievement.

Having said that, I did like some things: Barbosa (he was the only major character who didn't annoy me); the climactic battle between the Pearl and the Dutchman; Will replacing Jones; Jack's sacrifice of his own ambition in order to save Will's life (one of only two things Jack did that didn't irritate me); Jack voting for Elizabeth to be Pirate King (the other thing Jack did that didn't irritate me); the near-dementia of Bootstrap; the genuine threat to all pirates posed by Beckett's command of Jones and the Dutchman.

[wayfriend]

Don't get me going ....

I agree with you, but for some reason the thing that irritated the most was

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Jones being able to come ashore and parley by standing in a tub of water. If it's so simple, it makes so much that happened wasted. For example, if you were Will, and you were married to Elizabeth, would you wait ten years or would you find a stout tub?!?!

[ItisWritten]

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the multiple Jacks irritated me after the first minute or so of their prescence.

You can have too much of Johnny Depp.

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the whole thing about having a big book of rules for pirates seemed silly (not to mention the fact that Bartholomew was his first name, not his last).

Bartholomew is a good biblical name. Why would it need to be a last name? As for the written code, they made much out of it being guidelines, rather than rules in the first one. Now they're worth killing over? Hmm.

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the pirates seem to have stopped being pirates and instead become some sort of loosely affiliated rebel faction

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With the wholesale hanging of civilians, they'd soon be extinct. The enemy of my enemy and all that. Piracy in the movies is over the top anyway.

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the the removal of the Kraken may have been necessary, but it was sloppily done (given that it was essentially unbeatable, its death needed more explanation).

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I agree. Some mention--maybe an argument between Jones and Beckett, you know, about putting down an old pet--before they find it on the beach would have been nice.

Do we still need to spoiler this?

[CovenantJr]

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the whole thing about having a big book of rules for pirates seemed silly (not to mention the fact that Bartholomew was his first name, not his last).

Bartholomew is a good biblical name. Why would it need to be a last name? As for the written code, they made much out of it being guidelines, rather than rules in the first one. Now they're worth killing over? Hmm.

Agreed on the latter point. On the former: the "code" was apparently drafted by legendary pirates "Morgan and Bartholomew". I take Morgan as a reference to Caribbean-based privateer Henry Morgan, and Bartholomew as a reference to statistically the most successful pirate ever, Bartholomew Roberts. Just seems sloppy to refer to one by his surname and the other by his first name.

[ItisWritten]

Ah. I see your point.

Perhaps they were trying to steer us from "Dread Pirate Roberts" jokes.

[CovenantJr]

Good point.

It does amuse me that there actually was a Dread Pirate Roberts. Still more so that both he and Henry Morgan were Welsh. There's something about the Welsh accent that lacks intimidation.

[kevinswatch]

I guess I forgot to comment on this before, but I saw this a few weeks ago with A, and was pretty much just disappointed with it. I think CovJr sums it up best as they tried too hard and ended up losing the fun of the original.

The only character that I really liked was Barbossa. The other characters (Jack, Will and that chick whatshername) just annoyed me.

The final fight was very well done, though. And the imagery was top notch.-jay