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PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN:
AT WORLD'S END |
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"Hey Keira...
Didn't This Used to Be
Our Trilogy?" |
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Directed by Gore
Verbinski - Written by
Terry Rossio, Ted
Elliott
Starring Johnny Depp,
Keira Knightley, Orlando
Bloom, Stellan Skarsgård
Jack Davenport, Kevin R.
McNally, Lee Arenberg,
Mackenzie Crook
Andy Beckwith, Reggie
Lee, Chow Yun-Fat
Distributed by Disney -
2007 - 168m - Rated PG13 |
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Is It Over Yet? |
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Half way through the
film, one character asks another if he thinks Captain Jack Sparrow
has a plan or if he just makes it up as he goes along. The same can
be said of director, Gore Verbinski, who guides this third entry in
the series along a confusingly chaotic and overlong path.
Each "POTC" film has been longer than the last... "At World's End"
clocks in at a bloated two hours and fifty minutes. It wouldn't have
been as noticeable if the energetic entertainment level had matched
the 2003 original. Unfortunately, this latest chapter drags through
a morose ninety minutes before reaching the lively conclusion.
Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom in
"POTC3"
Each of the returning characters gets too much attention. Instead
of focusing on Jack and Elizabeth (the only two characters that
really matter), it seems as if Verbinski insists on giving everyone
their 15 minutes. Normally, this would be a reasonable proposition
-- but when there are over a dozen such characters, it can be a
chore to sit through. If I had to listen to any more of Naomie
Harris' Jamaican omens, I was just gonna vomit.
The screenplay flips the tables one too many times... Make that ten
too many times. Bad guys become good guys. Good guys become bad.
Everyone gets their turn to be a ship's captain. He's got the gun.
She's got the gun. Who's got the heart? I've got the heart. Where is
the World's End? Who has The Pearl? Who is dead? I am dead? No
wait... she must be dead. There's more Deus Ex Machina here than in
a Latin phone book.
Okay fine... there is Depp and Knightley, in all their swashbuckling
glory. There are a ton of impressive sequences. But it all amounts
to a little more than a numb posterior.
I loved the frivolity of the first film. It was pure cinematic
entertainment, executed at break-neck pace with wit and ingenuity.
Even the second was a success despite lacking any sense of
independence as a film -- a true example of "middle chapter
syndrome".
The third lacks the fun, replacing it with melodramatic intensity
and utterly messy lunacy. About two-thirds of the way through, I
just stopped caring. The enjoyably redemptive final third wasn't
quite enough to satisfy me. I was under the impression that any
excuse to see the incomparably lovely Keira Knightley on the big
screen would merit a thumbs-up and a repeat viewing -- but I
seriously doubt I will ever bother sitting through this one again.
It's just no fun.
I'd Take Orders From Captain Keira! |
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© Written by TC Candler -
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Richard
Propes' Comment
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Hall's Comment
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