IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3, DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING ENTRY.
NO SERIOUSLY, DON'T. MAJOR SPOILERS, FOOLS.
Alright.
So.
Dressed up. Unfortunately there really wasn't that much of a crowd so I didn't get to show off as much, but one of the employees recognized me from the last movie and one girl screamed when she saw me. Which is always good. ;D
So, my review of the movie:
THINGS THAT I LIKED:
-Singing
I don't know why, but I really really liked that part in the beginning with the singing. It was... intense. Weirdly enough.
-Asian Influences
When thinking pirates, everyone thinks of the European sailors in the Atlantic Ocean, but piracy occurred all over the world. I know Asia is the big thing right now in the Western world, but it was cool to see, even if it was a little cheesey.
-The Captain's Madness
I loved the insight into Jack's madness. And the multiple Jacks. SO INCREDIBLY ENJOYABLE. Especially because it was consistent throughout the movie. Whenever Jack needed to figure things out, his other selves were hanging around. One of them lost his brain. XD
-Tia Dalma's True Identity
I really liked that she was more important than she seemed to be and was, in fact, a goddess. And she did end up being Davy Jones' lover, which I had theorized was the case. When I found out, I had to give props to Ted and Terry (the script writers) because of one line of Tia's in Dead Man's Chest. It's the part that goes:
Tia Dalma: A woman. He fell in love.
Gibbs: No, no, no, no. I heard it was the sea he fell in love with.
Tia Dalma: Same story, different versions and all are true. See it was a woman, as changing and harsh and untameable as the sea.
It's just a small bit but it's a kind of a foreshadowing line without even seeming to be. I mean, it sounds like just a remark on passed on stories, but it really was true. It was a little hint to her identity and that is awesome.
-The Fan
There's one scene where Jack and Beckett are trying to work out a beneficial arrangement between the two of them and Jack is walking around fanning himself with this lovely fan. During their discussion, they end up tossing objects about and Beckett ends up with the fan. And fans himself with it.
It was so very gay. XD
-Betrayal and Allegiances
I absolutely loved how alliances were broken and reforged and betrayed and plotted in this movie. You never knew who was going to end up siding with whom , and I think by the end of the movie everyone had worked and plotted with everyone else at some point. It was a challenge keeping up with how things were progressing, but I did enjoy it. Especially because there were great moments like Will and Beckett's tea party scene. The scene starts out with Will and Beckett working out an agreement, Will turns Jones, who walks in, against Beckkett, who he was working for because of the heart situation, then Will uses that mistrust to exploit Tia's "betrayal" of Jones so that Beckett ends up with what he wants.
And that was in a very short piece of dialogue, but it was fantastically done.
Especially for Will Turner. XD
-Battle Sequences
I LOVE SWORD FIGHTS. And there are plenty of them in this movie. Lots of beautiful swordplay and stunts, the epic battle between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman, pirate brawls... you name it, this movie's got it. Impromptu wedding during one of the most epic battle sequences ever? Have it. And it even made me happy.
Which is awesome, because I didn't like Will and Elizabeth's relationship in the other two movies. I thought it was too typical and just kind of corny romance, but this movie made me like it. I don't know how they managed to do it because they were betraying each other and keeping secrets and not being in love the whole time, but they still managed to have a relationship at the end. It was lovely.
-Soundtrack
The music was GORGEOUS. I could drool all over that soundtrack all day. All the themes were there, with variations, and it was, lovely. AND EPIC.
So good.
There was also a song performed by Keith Richards.
-Keith Richards
I knew that Keith was going to be in this movie, but I didn't think he'd have a significant part. Important captain among the pirate brethren and the kind of keeper of The Code? Fucking awesome. He rocked hardcore.
-Admiral Norrington
Always knew he'd make Admiral. Youngest Admiral the Navy has seen in a long time.
His appointment has been long predicted by many a good fic. Not the same way, of course, but all the same...
And I'm glad he chose the right side. I would have been very upset if they had corrupted his character enough to keep him loyal to Beckett. And it would have completely negated his entire past and completely ruined him in terms of character development. In order to turn evil, he would have had to have the seeds of evil in him, which he didn't have.
In the first movie, his character was very simple. He proposed to Elizabeth because he loved her and thought he would be a good husband to provide her with whatever protection she needed with his new appointment as Commodore. He pursued Jack because he threatened Elizabeth's safety and because he has a strong sense of honor and duty, which compels him to enforce the law (which is probably why he got into the Navy in the first place). When Elizabeth is kidnapped, he immediately sets about planning a course to return her to Port Royal. He goes after Will because Elizabeth asked him to and he wanted to see her happy. After Elizabeth sides with Will at the end of the movie and confesses that she loves Will, not James, he accepts this because it is what will make her happy. He allows Jack his one day's head start because he has seen that Jack is a good man, even if he doesn't always seem like it.
The first movie only shows a glimpse of it, but James is more than just the stern Commodore. If you've watched his scenes as many times as I have, you can see that there are really two James Norringtons. There's the Commodore, the stern, justice demanding man shouting orders and battling pirates, and James. James is the man who feels. Whenever there's a slip of the stern mask that the Commodore has, you see James. When he's proposing to Elizabeth where he feels nervous and awkward, when she accepts his proposal, when she turns him down, when Jack gets a little too close, and, for an instant, when Jack is stealing the Interceptor and he allows his anger to show through. The second movie had a lot to do with James, and not the Commodore. In fact, you rarely saw the Commodore. The loss of his commission forced James to feel everything because he didn't have that mask to hide behind any more. Jack was the reason that he was removed and he had to actually deal with that instead of sail off to fight for honor and justice. Unfortunately for that movie, James didn't learn to deal with those feelings well and found a way back to his mask.
It was good to see that, in this movie, there was a balance between the Commodore (or Admiral) and James. Even in uniform, James didn't give in entirely to the Commodore. For instance, when Beckett returned his sword, he had this look of... wonder on his face. Something like that. You knew the sword was very important and that he has regretted not having that particular one pained him. It was a symbol of his past, of the Commodore, and the fact that he accepted it as James was very powerful.
I also as happy to know that there must have been some moment unseen during the movie where Norrington reevaluates his life and allegiances and he realizes that he's wrong. He's not one to make a decision without doing some heavy thinking on the subject first, and I like that he was able to recognize Beckett's evil, even though everything he was doing was "perfectly legal."
-Will Turner and the Flying Dutchman
I liked that Will took over Davy Jones' position as Captain. It seemed... fitting somehow that he would sacrifice his life to repair the corruption done by Davy Jones.
-The Ending Chase
Barbossa stealing the Black Pearl right from under Jack's nose and Jack chasing his in a dinghy was really an ending that belonged the Pirates. Their rivalry is what makes them almost friends and it's great to see that the writers didn't end that with the end of the series.
THIINGS THAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
-The Death
The novelization of the movie was released before the movie was and, being a member of the Sparrington fan fanfic community, you learn spoilers very quickly. Many of them have been rumours, and this one was a rumour long before the book came out. I knew about it going into the theater, but I had hoped that it wouldn't be true.
James Norrington is killed. I was quite sad by that. I was also quite sad that no one missed him. I'm not even sure that anyone knew he was dead. Other than Mr. Mercer. Elizabeth didn't see the killing blow, and she's the only character who would really mourn his death. And I was sad that it was Bootstrap who did it. Especially because he wasn't really himself. He was kind of a mindless drone for the ship and it was sad to see Norrington fall to such a character.
-Unfinished Business
After Tia was released into her goddess form, she brews a storm and there's a huge deal about it. Then she kind of disappears. The storm does recede, but there weren't any Here, Look, The Storm's Over shots to even signify it. If they had had some of those, or, better yet, some image of Tia leaving the battle scene or mourning Davy Jones' death or something, it would have felt like a better ending to her character. They built her up to be fantastic and powerful and then she just kind of dissipated.
-Blinded By The Light
Blackness into COMEPLETELY WHITE LANDSCAPE FOR AGES hurts. And I couldn't even wipe away the moist PROTECT ME FROM THE LIGHT tears because of the Jack make-up. So painful.
-Cutler Beckett = Superman?
Right before his death, Beckett walks slow-mo through flying debris and wreckage as his ship is being blown to bits. Many of these pieces hit him, but he doesn't flinch or stop or anything. There's not even a scratch on him until his explodes. It was weird and kind of dumb. A little overkill. A close up of his stunned face and the explosion would have been enough. We didn't need Superman in this movie.
It just made me want to watch more Smallville. XD
Overall, AWESOME MOVIE. I had only heard bad things about it and I went in there expecting the worst, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. :D
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