Sunday, June 03, 2007

"Pirates 3" review

First things first: continuing this summer's crappy trend, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is not as much fun as the first two Pirates movies. It's too long, too slow, and too confusing, at least for the first two hours. (Yes, you heard me, the movie is two hours and 45 minutes long! Normally the length wouldn't bother me--the previous Harry Potter was the same length, but it was consistently thrilling and fast paced.) Having said that, when At World's End finally gets going, it floats nicely into a frantic, dizzying, delightful finish.

As I mentioned, there's more story here than is worth mentioning, with every sort of pirate being introduced and given his or her own little subplot. Because there are so many new stories to tell, there isn't time to address the stories we're all really interested in. Case in point: Johnny Depp's Captain Jack isn't even introduced until about 40 minutes into the movie! To add to the frustration, the other likable or interesting characters (Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Captain Barbossa, etc.) don't get their storylines addressed until nearly the end of the movie, amidst all the chaos. And what kind of a pirate movie waits until the final 30 minutes to stage a swordfight?!?!

Having said all this, it would appear that I disliked this movie; to the contrary, when it finally gets to its conclusion, it satisfactorily ties up all the loose ends (from each of the three movies), even giving some surprising plot elements you might not have expected. The climactic battle takes place in a swirling maelstrom, complete with rain and explosions and lots of delicious special effects and death. So if you had asked me at about the two hour mark, I would have said it deserved ** out of four. Thanks to the final 40 minutes or so, it earns *** out of four.

This summer is disappointing me a little bit so far; I really hope Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix doesn't disappoint, or I might have to reconsider a new hobby...

4 comments:

Miss Gabe said...

I have to admit that I was kind of pleased with this show. I was a little more easily entertained since I went into it expecting absolutely nothing (since Spiderman and Shrek have upset me thoroughly)so I wasn't too bothered by the long winding plot. However, my one complaint is that they didn't kill off Elizabeth Swan!!

Justin said...

Are you kidding? She bugged less in this movie than in the previous two--she's finally stopped doing that weird thing with her lips!

Miss Gabe said...

You know what they say....Once a bugger always a bugger! Well at least she will always bug me.

PJC said...

I agree with Gabe for the most part. I liked Elizabeth in this one. I also really liked Will Turner. He was much better in this movie than the last two. I thought it was very romantic, and it made me cry. What more could a girl want?