Review 267: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a ginormous mess of a film; an overproduced, overlong, convoluted, sluggishly paced and overall a miserable and frustrating conclusion to a lighthearted adventure series.Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander) gains power over Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and with the help of Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman, he is now executing his plans to extinguish piracy forever. To stand against the East India Trading Co., Will (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), a resurrected Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), and the crew of the Black Pearl set out to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from Davy Jones' Locker. As one of the Nine Pirate Lords, Jack is needed in order to summon an ancient goddess with the power to defeat Beckett's forces.
The plot is a borderline, incomprehensible mess as well as being a joyless bore. It ends up being the most protracted and most confusing film of the trilogy, which is saying a lot.
How is it possible to make a film this extravagantly loony and yet sooooooooooooooo boring?
The pacing is agonisingly sluggish to the point of painfully boring According to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, maintaining the films 169 minute runtime was necessary to make the final battle work in terms of build-up. But that doesn't excuse how both clunky and clumsy it all feels. Nothing feels as though it's being properly built-up because they spend so much time on tedious dialogue heavy scenes on convoluted Pirate lore and dim witted jokes. During the course of these two hours, there's little in the way of charm, humour or action.
Thirty minutes into the film we're re-introduced to Captain Jack inside Davy Jones' Locker and then we're treated to a scene with Multiple Jacks Sparrow's (I wish I was making this up) due to the fact that he's gone loopy during his time in the locker. The scene feels self-indulgent and silly. It also goes on for seven solid minutes and kills the already slow pacing stone dead! And twenty-five minutes later we're back in the real world. Added altogether the sequence inside Davy Jones' Locker goes on for fifty-five solid minutes and drains all tension and urgency and pacing from the film.
A weird running gag throughout the film along with the Multiple Jacks is that he has developed a bizarre and left-field fascination with peanuts. Why you might ask? Because it's an example of how little the writers care.
The biggest problem with this film is the setup. This big showdown between the Pirates and the East India Trading Company feels completely off the cuff and out of left-field.
I wouldn't expect this simple pirate movie about pirates trying to lift a curse to lead to this epic showdown. I mean it wasn't pre-established in an earlier instalment in the trilogy so it comes right the flip out of nowhere as a result. Because the the big, epic, climax between the Pirates and the East India Trading Company just feels empty and devoid of any tension or excitement. The East India Trading Company are the villains because they're bastards.
What I mean is, when the spectacle is there, it's beautifully crafted and amazing to watch. But the problem is this film is trying too hard... It's trying to hard to be grand and epic.
Whilst you're watching this spectacle you're constantly being distracted by elements that just don't make sense.
As if the story wasn't convoluted enough, throughout this film the characters spend so much time betraying each other with their have their own agendas. Trilogy director Gore Verbinski has admitted that Dead Man'c Chest and this film began shooting without a completed script which explains all of characters motives changing on a dime and the and it ends being far more complicated than it needs to be.
What I mean is, when the spectacle is there, it's beautifully crafted and amazing to watch. But the problem is this film is trying too hard... It's trying to hard to be grand and epic.
Whilst you're watching this spectacle you're constantly being distracted by elements that just don't make sense.
As if the story wasn't convoluted enough, throughout this film the characters spend so much time betraying each other with their have their own agendas. Trilogy director Gore Verbinski has admitted that Dead Man'c Chest and this film began shooting without a completed script which explains all of characters motives changing on a dime and the and it ends being far more complicated than it needs to be.
which I guess was an attempt on the filmmakers part to deepen the characters and add a sense of moral ambiguity to the trilogy but it ends up doing is making the character unholly unsympathetic
Possibly the biggest crime this film commits is that it completely undermines the ending of the first film. At the end of The Cure of the Black Pearl, everyone is happy and everything was neatly resolved.
Possibly the biggest crime this film commits is that it completely undermines the ending of the first film. At the end of The Cure of the Black Pearl, everyone is happy and everything was neatly resolved.
Without delving too much into spoiler teritory but At World's End has now completely butchered that ending with an ending that is a massive downer to what's supposed to be a lighthearted adventure series.
Returning director Gore Verbinski's direction is positively bonkers, the cinematography is beautifully vibrant, the score by Hans Zimmer is spectacularly grand, the special effects are admirably stellar, the production design is fantastic, the make is rich, the costumes are magnificent, the action scenes are spectacularly exciting and well choreographed. Culminating in a maelstrom battle against the East India Trading Company which while certainly spectacular in scope and spectacle with effects executed to a very high standard lacks the weight and majesty of those seen in Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings
The best thing I can say about this film is that, Johnny Deep, Orlando Bloom & Keira Knightley as well as the majority of the cast do their best with the material they're given, but surrounded by constant betrayals and convoluted Pirate mythology, the
Returning director Gore Verbinski's direction is positively bonkers, the cinematography is beautifully vibrant, the score by Hans Zimmer is spectacularly grand, the special effects are admirably stellar, the production design is fantastic, the make is rich, the costumes are magnificent, the action scenes are spectacularly exciting and well choreographed. Culminating in a maelstrom battle against the East India Trading Company which while certainly spectacular in scope and spectacle with effects executed to a very high standard lacks the weight and majesty of those seen in Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings
The best thing I can say about this film is that, Johnny Deep, Orlando Bloom & Keira Knightley as well as the majority of the cast do their best with the material they're given, but surrounded by constant betrayals and convoluted Pirate mythology, the
which isn't really saying much considering all backstabbing that happens with it makes tough for us as an audience to root for them or know who to root for.
But when it came to Will & Elizabeth culminating their characters arcs and becoming more pirate-like I just didn't really buy into it. They've firmly established them as the heart of the trilogy that escalating their to this degree just feels wildly out of character.
Possibly the character to suffer most from this chronic backstabbing disorder is Will who changes his allegiance so often, it's almost like a running gag. At first, he it seems like he betrays his friends so he can save his father Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) from Davy Jones, a selfish albeit understandable motive. But then it where he could be fighting for his and Elizabeth's love or his old life at any given time to the point where it's just not credible.
Possibly the character to suffer most from this chronic backstabbing disorder is Will who changes his allegiance so often, it's almost like a running gag. At first, he it seems like he betrays his friends so he can save his father Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) from Davy Jones, a selfish albeit understandable motive. But then it where he could be fighting for his and Elizabeth's love or his old life at any given time to the point where it's just not credible.
Having been teased to returning at the end of Dead Man's Chest, Geoffrey Rush His overacting is and while Rush is clearly having a blast with this character, his presence is beginning to ware pretty thin by this point
The revelation that Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris) is in fact Davy Jones' lover Calypso is painfully obvious
The film also shamelessly wastes the talents of actors Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce and welcome newcomer to the series Chow Run-fat who are criminally under-utilised and reduced to mearly plot points within the larger context of the films convoluted narrative.
A particular low amongst this cast of talent is a glorified cameo from the Rolling Stones Keith Richards as Jack's father Captain Teague which is an incredibly self indulgent in-joke about how Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack is based on Richards.
1/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
The film also shamelessly wastes the talents of actors Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce and welcome newcomer to the series Chow Run-fat who are criminally under-utilised and reduced to mearly plot points within the larger context of the films convoluted narrative.
A particular low amongst this cast of talent is a glorified cameo from the Rolling Stones Keith Richards as Jack's father Captain Teague which is an incredibly self indulgent in-joke about how Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack is based on Richards.
1/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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