My man Jolly Roger sent in this review of PIRATES AT THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END. I've known Jolly for a while, now. He's a hardcore geek & avid AICN follower, so I thought you might appreciate his perspective.
BEWARE HEAVY SPOILERS HERE!!!
INCLUDING PLOT, AND DETAILS ABOUT THE FILM'S POST-END CREDITS SEQUENCE!!!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Here's Jolly Roger...
Hey Merrick,
It's early Sunday morning (5/20) and I just got back
from the Disneyland; World Premiere of Pirates 3: At
Worlds End, the red carpet was just insane, I've never
seen so many people turn out to an event. Disney sure
did it up right for guests of this party, I'm so
pirated out right now that I'm almost glad the hype is
over and I can move onto Transformers. But wanted to
give you my review of the film.
First off, let me just say this. At Worlds End is NOT
your fathers Pirates of the Caribbean. In the way that
Episode 3 of Star Wars had that much darker tone, this
3rd film also shared that formula. If the 1st two
reeled you in as being fun and quirky with skeleton
pirates, funny monkeys, waddling Jack, an Octupus man
and sword fights then Disney did its job, this film
throws most of those light and colorful perceptions
out the window. If the earlier films started out like
this, it'd be a totally different trilogy!
(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD MATEY, ALERT!!!)
The film starts with Lord Becketts army basically
hanging any man, woman AND child who is, was or has
been associated with pirates, it is chilling and
morbid...and then 3 minutes in it suddenly becomes a
musical with all the doomed joining in unison to sing
a pirate anthem...I wasn't sure at this point where the
film was headed.
Singapore got the film on track. Kudos to Rick
Heinnrich the Production Designer on the entire look
of this film, so detailed and gorgeous. His team did
did an amazing job (and he was seated a few rows ahead
of me tonight too). So in Singapore there is a whole
plot to steal Sao Fengs ship and the ancient maps and
it sort of feels like a mission along the lines of THE
ROCK (very Bruckheimerish). We see Elizabeth Swann as
a pirate now, she has shed the princess persona for
this movie. A scene where she basically goes thru a
security checkpoint and turns in her weapons is just
great, we see how rough and tough she's become.
About 20 mins in we finally get the taste of our 1st
big on-screen fight as the East India trading company
crashes the party and goes on a killing spree. They
are ruthless, this set of scenes if very graphic and
disturbing, lots of shooting and death. Will, Barbosa,
Liz and the rest of the gang escape in Sao Fengs ship
and go in search of Wicked Jack at Worlds End. This
Asian ship sails thru some amazing visuals, from an
arctic sea to a ocean full of stars. Watching the
little monkey freezing was almost cute.
Around 30 minutes in Davey Jones shows up and starts
tearing up the place in the Flying Dutchman, its the
1st on screen battle at sea and it doesn't disappoint.
His sea-themed crew never looked cooler and a new EEL
crew member is rad! We also see Jones shed tears of
rage over his lost love Calypso, the sea goddess.
Around this time our cast topples over that waterfall
to their destiation...
It takes a good 45 minutes but FINALLY we see Jack
Sparrow appear and what can only be described as his
"Multiplicity" moment. The time it must have taken to
shoot Depp in sooooo many angles for this scene is
crazy to imagine, but WOW...it is cool! We also learn
that a rock...isn't always a rock.
Jack and the old gang meet up, we learn Barbosa's 1st
name is Hector, soon the Black Pearl is on the water
again (it was in the middle of the desert earlier,
reminded me of that scene from Close Encounters) Now
Jack and Barbosa are fighting over who's the Captain
of the Pearl and it comes down to a pissing contest
that basically equals a "who's telescope is bigger?"
Then the film gets eerie and darker...you've heard of
the DEAD SEA? Well they are certainly in it and it's
nightmarish at points. By the hour 1 mark the crew is
back in the real world of the living, we see the
demise of the Krakken and the return of Sao Feng, we
also learn that Will Turner has plans of his own and
that includes being a bit of a traitor, was a nice
turn...but he still pines for Swann who now is losing
interest in Turner...oh the Drama! But thru all this
the pacing of the film has been non stop.
Make-up wise, the faces seem dirtier, grittier and
more weathered in this tale and all the villains eyes
seem bloodshot and tired. Another HUGE gory sword fight
erupts about 90 minutes in, Sao Feng bites it and the
crew arrive at Shipwreck Cove. We learn what the 9
pieces of 8 are (junk), Davey and Tia Dalma (aka
Calypso and Jones lost love) reunite and we see Davey
Jones PRE-SQUIDFACE!!! We meet the Pirate Lords which
are ok, and we see some very brief cameo interaction
w/ the Pirate King Capt.Teague who we learn is
actually Daddy Sparrow...and we meet Mummy...I mean
Mommy Sparrow as well!!!
Ever wonder what the keys the dog in the Pirates ride
are holding go to? We always assumed it was to the
jail cell, but now we see it's for something else, the
Pirate Book of Rules! (Looks like a huge scrapbook)
Swann is nominated the Pirate Leader and she takes
full on bad-ass control, the Pirates all band together
to stop Lord Beckett as Elizabeth yells "Hoist the
Colours" and then all hell breaks loose as they get
ready for the epic battle!
A little over 2 hours in Calypso (Tia Dalma) is
transformed into a 50ft woman who then turns into
millions of crabs and causes a Maelstrom/whirlpool
which kicks off a 20 minute non-stop action sequence
which will knock your socks off. This key part of the
movie is the swashbuckling pirates we've all been
waiting to see. Its the Episode 1 Darth Maul fight
sequence from Star Wars but on the open seas.
The Dutchman goes head to head w/ the Black Pearl,
Sparrow and Jones sword fight, there is a Marriage on
the High Seas, an Explosive building climax and a
total rip off of Return of the Jedi's final Emperor's
Throne Room scene (minus the flailing lightning
bolts), but between Will Turner, Davey Jones and
Bootstrap Bill. THEE coolest moment, which is Oscar
worthy is the effect of Lord Beckett's ship the
Endeavor being blown to smithereens around him as he
proudly goes down w/ the vessel. THIS SHIT WAS
AWESOME!!! I'd pay just to see that effect sequence
again.
About 130 minutes in Davey Jones visits his own
locker, Will Turner bites it, the Dutchman goes down
the drain and thank god for Seaweed Parachutes is all
I have to say. All seems rectified, Jack loses his
ship again, the line we've seen in the clips of Swann
saying it'd never work between them and he says "Keep
Telling Yourself That" got HUGE laughs. There is a
super sexy ending between Liz and Will, he gives her
his heart, theres a sunset kiss and then Jack and
Barbosa are seen both separately heading on a mission
for the Aqua de Vida (the Fountain of Youth). Living
Forever seems to be the underlining goal for most of
the characters in this film trilogy.
Overall...a great ride...and I dont mean the theme
park one. I think it closed all the doors and left
ones open for possible sequels. There is a few minute
scene AFTER all the credits roll which was really cool
and gives us a look 10 yrs in the future of some of
our characters, definitely stick around for that!!!
Costumes, Sound, Visuals, Effects, they all went the
gambit in this one. And acting, well it is what it is
for these kind of movies, this isn't the Departed, it's
Pirates, and going into that, you get a really fun
movie, but like I said, much darker in tone than the
others, parents beware!!! You have been warned.
I would say see Dead Mans Chest again before going out
and seeing At Worlds End because in the past year
since I saw pt.2 there were plot points I had
forgotten about that left me trying to catch up w/ the
storyline.
I was disappointed that I didn't see Samurai Jack or
Sao Feng on the beach, I guess all those early leaked
pics were to throw everyone off. Despite all what I've
mentioned, seeing this on the big screen will be a BIG
treat visually, I encourage anyone to invest $10 and
see it in theaters w/ good sound. Thats it...off to
bed. I think the fireworks they had afterwards burnt
holes in my Corneas.
