Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

The success of trilogies can fit into three categories. In the case of “Star Wars” or “The Lord of the Rings”, history is made with all three films. In the case of “Back to the Future” and “Ocean’s Trilogy”, there are problems with the second film but the third film saves the story. Then we have the scenario where, the first film is such a hit that the second film is good but can’t quite live up to the original. Then unfortunately, the third film blows it story-wise. Usually this happens because the mood, style or genre changes over the course of the films. The filmmakers get carried away with the world they have established. This happened in “The Matrix” trilogy, the first three "Shrek" films and unfortunately also in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films. The director of all three “Pirates” films, Gore Verbinski, set “The Curse of the Black Pearl” in a genre of historical fantasy. “Dead Man’s Chest” also fit nicely into that genre but regrettably, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” lost its historical feel and we are left with only fantasy. Because of this lack of verisimilitude, the film doesn’t quite work with our expectations. Also the story has some confusing, unbelievable and tasteless moments. In addition, the focus of the film is the design & the special effects where as the first two films had the story as its focus. You can have fun watching the third film and it has some wonderful parts. Nevertheless when you focus less on story and more on special effects for example, the movie is never perfect.

I feel the best way to review this film is by writing the good news first. I like Chow Yun-fat’s character in that Sao Feng adds variety to the “Pirates” world. The Singapore scene is quite stylized which opens the film well. Johnny Depp once again is very entertaining as Jack. His best moment in the film is the line: “Did no one come to save me just because they missed me?” He is excited to see the hands of those who did, which include Marty, Pintel & Ragetti and then says: “I’m standin over there with them.” Depp’s facial performance during the moment when Will is stabbed is very real and dramatic. We are used to seeing Jack react comically to everything and this is the first time that he shows genuine, dramatic shock. The movie has some fun lines throughout from all the characters such as "We can still use them as clubs". We have great performances from all our returning cast members but a new member of the cast includes Keith Richards. Depp based much of his character of Jack on Richards and it is more than fitting & a lot of fun to have Keith Richards play Jack’s father, Captain Teague. You can see the resemblance between the two characters. Gibbs once again fills us in on anything we don’t understand. I like when the ship goes over the edge and we hear the sounds from the ride at Disneyland. The scene with Tia Dalma and Davy Jones is great for story purposes and also, we get to see Bill Nighy without the special effects. I like the running gag of sea turtles, especially with the dog with the keys. I like how Verbinski himself plays the guitar before the parley between Beckett, Turner, Swann, Jones, Barbossa and Sparrow. The sword fight between Davy Jones and Jack Sparrow is something we needed to see before the trilogy ends and it is handled quite well. "At World's End" received Oscar nominations for Visual Effects and Makeup by the way. Despite these fun and well-done qualities of the movie, we must acknowledge the mistakes made with such a highly anticipated film.

As pointed out, this film is more fantasy than historical. Sure, the original film had fantasy but the mix between real and imaginary was perfect. With a change in the genre, “At World’s End” feels different when compared to the other films. This movie can be likened unto later movies such as “Avatar” and “2012” where the special effects take center stage. It can also be categorized with Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” & Jerry Bruckheimer’s “King Arthur” where the design and look of the film has been given more attention than the story. When these elements support a good story, the movie becomes better than when it was just a script. But when a story is invented to showcase special effects or a uniquely designed world, the film does not do as well as it could have. I find many cases where the filmmakers got carried away with special effects and/or where the story is weak. The scenes with more than one Jack Sparrow seemed weird and out of place in a “Pirates” movie. Despite Geoffrey Rush’s amazing performance in this movie, Barbossa’s first scenes do not live up to his surprise appearance in “Dead Man’s Chest”. It would have been better if he made another surprise appearance in the Singapore sequence such as our heroes are in a bind and Barbossa, according to plan, appears to switch the odds in their favor. I feel that the story’s complexity is also proof of its failing. In “Dead Man’s Chest”, the complicated subtext of the climatic sword fight was explained twice for the audience in a satisfying way. There is no such assistance for the audience in “At World’s End”. There is way too much conspiracy between characters and ulterior motifs behind other characters’ backs: Will & Sao Feng, Sao Feng betraying Will, Beckett & Jack, Sao Feng being betrayed by Beckett, Sao Feng changing his mind because of Barbossa, Beckett & Will, etc. The editing back and forth between Jack & Beckett and those up on deck was confusing. The Brethren Court and the Nine Pieces of Eight added to the complexity. Davy Jones became a character in this third movie that we sympathize with and because Beckett is his replacement as the villain, “At World’s End” has no strong, entertaining antagonist as in the first two films. Ever since “The Return of the Jedi”, Darth Vader has become a character that we feel sorry for but the Emperor (the new villain as it were) was well designed to be evil in every way. Beckett has no appeal as a villain unlike did Barbossa or Davy Jones. At the film’s climax, we had all those ships that set up a big battle that was about to take place. By the end, only three ships end up in the battle and that bothered me. There were a lot of impractical decisions with the climax that spoil things. I found it unrealistic that the Pearl was able to pull out of the maelstrom and the marriage between Will and Elizabeth felt really phony. I also had a problem with Jack & Elizabeth parachuting out of the maelstrom and the death of Beckett felt like it was out of "The Matrix”. As if Beckett, walking as slow as he was, could survive that destruction around him. The mistakes with “At World’s End” outweigh the good moments and therefore, the movie ended the trilogy in a poor way.

Once you establish a world or a genre in a film franchise, you must maintain it unless you make desired artistic changes beginning with the second film. Similarly, I had a problem with “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” for example because a lot of things felt different from the first two movies. “The Chamber of Secrets” was a little darker than its predecessor but for the most part, the mood, feel and design were identical. With the “Prisoner of Azkaban”, one change that could not be helped was that Richard Harris had died. They did however change the director and therefore the feel of the third Harry Potter film was different enough that it troubled me. The first two Pirate films were a lot a like but “At World’s End” was a lot more fantasy in nature. The story had complexity that was hard for the audience to follow and I feel that the filmmakers got carried away with ending the trilogy is a big way. They lost their focus on fun characters acting out a good story. I was not too optimistic for the fourth Pirates movie and I was right. Just as “Shrek” has been worn out by the third film, the rum is all gone by "At World's End".

3 Stars