’’Pirates of The Caribbean’’ is shaping up to be one of the best films that I’ve seen for a long while, and that’s not because I’ve been avoiding the cinema. From the writers of ’’Shrek’’ (!), producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and a ride at Disney Land I was unsure how this film would turn out, and I was very surprised.
PLOT
Basically the plot involves the metro sexual, and straight laced hero Will Turner (Bloom) having a thing for the Governor’s daughter Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) but they can’t consummate their feelings for class reasons and the fact that soon to be Commodore Norrington (Davenport) has his eye on Ms Swann. This little tropical ’Days of Our Lives’ is interrupted by the arrival of Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp), who’s captured in a bizarre twist of events that sends out the call to the dreaded pirate ship The Black Pearl. Before one can say ’Arrgh me hearties’ Captain Barbossa (Rush) has Ms Swann, the whole crew have malnutrition issues and there’s a sacrifice in the works. This requires Turner and Sparrow to work together and a fun, light hearted action movie ensues, with suitable twists. Whew now that that’s done, I can say that although this may seem complicated once you’re in the spectacle of the big screen, it’s smooth sailing and it all works beautifully. The plots a little clichéd and can be predictable but it adds to the already camp feel of the movie.
CAST
There’s been a lot of hype about pretty young things Bloom and Knightley, I think Knightley was brilliant in this movie, she was funny, had great timing, sassy and a fine empowered female lead. Bloom I’m still not so sure about... I’m sceptical about his talents (after all he’s been Legolas which requires him to stand there, and some redneck in ’’Black Hawk Down’’ who got two minutes on screen) and I think he fulfilled two roles, one: sex appeal for the women audience, two: playing the less likeable ’serious’ hero. The supporting characters are great, Pryce and Davenport as Mr Swann and the Commodore work as upper class British types, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern like Red Coat duo provide some clever humour, the Pirates don’t work as well but they look fantastic, with skin and without. Rush provides a wonderfully menacing villain, who you can loath entirely but at the very end he still manages to make people feel empathise with him, well I did at any rate. This all said the real stand out is Depp, from his entrance (one of the best I’ve seen) to his exit (not as good, but not bad) Depp rules the screen. His quirky, unscrupulous, and loony Captain Jack Sparrow creates a rogue so devilish but so likeable that one can only compare him to a far more charismatic Blackadder. Depp camps it up the entire he’s on screen, and it works so well that it’s just as well that they had a more serious, boring lead to counter balance Depp.
SCRIPT/ LOOK
Being based on a ride, and being a Bruckheimer film I was expecting a lot less in terms of script. The more serious moments, of which there aren’t many, work well and the humour jumps between some less successful pirate slapstick, to clever dialogue and physical gags (Depp gets most of these). Throughout the film I couldn’t help but sense a weird cinema deja vu, a sense that some of the characters had been through this before, this is a result of very clever ’’history repeated’’ jokes, that involve Depp stumbling on to the pirates as they are about to sacrifice a person twice, or Depp being dumped on an island, though we only hear about the first time, and Depp facing the gallows, even after being a hero. The scripts great but oddly jumps between clever dialogue based humour, action and cheap slapstick. Being a Bruckheimer film I expected it to look great, and it does, from the crystal clear waters to the Pirate skeletons (in particular one brilliant fight at the end) the spectacle of it all is amazing, Jerry does it again.
Problems occur mainly with some of the Pirates performances, and the fact that the movie is nearly two and a half hours. I firmly believe that most movies shouldn’t break the two hour mark, as they risk over staying their welcome. In any event, a great film, that’s great fun, and a must see for anyone with anyone.