That Pirate Movie

[winter]

Heatwaves in May are decidedly unfair, but at least it meant I didn't feel guilty about spending a Saturday morning at the cinema. Let's hear it for air conditioning.


Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

My general action can be summed up as "WHEE!"

After way-too-long sequences in Dead Man's Chest where the director was clearly enamoured of certain special effects, it was refreshing to see that in the third installment, it was back to swashbuckling all around. I also enjoyed the fact you're actually supposed to think and concentrate to follow the plot, instead of having it served on a silver platter.

You could tell that at one point they decided to kill off everyone not necessary for the ending just so they could get away with doing one or two endings, not a LOTR-like fan of them. Sao Feng's death was plot-necessary to make Elizabeth a captain, but a pity, since Chow Yun Fatt was clearly having fun being all grr and piratey. Norrington - also made sense to show how lost Bootstrap was, but that didn't mean I didn't go "OUCH". I LIKED him. (And that syndrome was also evident with side characters, like Sao Feng's bunch. WTF?)

I loved the more on-crack sequences, especially Jack in the Locker. It was such an early Disney cartoon, of the black-and-white kind with a thin Mickey Mouse. And I can't begin to spell out my love for the fact that the two philosophical redcoats (Marines?) from the first movie end up as pirates.

Quite frankly, I can't see what's the beef with the movie being anti-feminist, especially for that age. Not only do we get the token female pirate captain - and a matron at that, not an eyecandy wench - but Elizabeth gets to be the mastermind and make the plan that ends up getting them all free. She's an equal to the guys here, and she gets to make the Aragorn speech. I hear that some people said it's anti-feminist because she has a kid at the end. Um, hello? Normal female bodily function? Plus, she's an orphan and single mother for 10 years, probably without that much money since her father's inheritance would at least partly pass to her male relatives. Can't see her staying at home and, well, starving for lack of money.

(Which gives me a plotbunny that's all selenak's fault, because Elizabeth and Calypso are two sides of the same equation, warrior and lover, and having them interact would be fascinating.)

The end made complete sense in a way that I haven't seen people point out yet. At the beginning, Will hated pirates and didn't want to be one. In the end, he becomes the protective spirit of all pirates and sailors. How is that for a hero's journey?

Comments

[lanyon.livejournal.com]

great review. i saw the movie yesterday and may need to see it again purely because i was sleepy and post-call and i want to try to take more of it in. i did think it was excellent and elizabeth does kick arse, as does will, as you've rightly pointed out.

[winter]

Oh, it's definitely one that'll hold up with a second viewing :) Just like the first one (IMHO the second one could use about half an hour cut from it). I love the way both Will and Elizabeth progressed from their childlike dreams to real pirate-ness.