Oct 012007
 
four reels

Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), sorceress Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), and the resurrected Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) need the aid of a traitorous Far Eastern pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat), to retrieve Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from Davy Jones’s locker. This is imperative because Jack is one of the nine pirate lords, and all are needed if there is any hope of defeating the alliance of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander). Of course, these are pirates, so they aren’t exactly good at cooperation; each man (and woman) plot and scheme to attain their conflicting goals but somehow end up together for one of hell of a finish.

Perpetually loopy Captain Jack Sparrow is back (in a series based on a Disney World ride that features undead pirate skeletons, you didn’t think death would be a deterrent?), as is Elizabeth Swann and the rest of the pirate gang for the biggest and most spectacular film of a summer that’s going to be filled with big, spectacular films. Luckily, this one is also good.

2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl reinvigorated the Swashbuckler, and didn’t hurt Disney’s bottom line any either.  It was a comedy with action set pieces and a touch of horror breaking up the gags. 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest had trouble figuring out what it was. Call it a zany adventure with moments of melodrama dropped in uncomfortably. At World’s End, the final film in the trilogy until the accountants realize how much money is yet to be made, is an epic fantasy adventure, as grand as The Lord of the Rings, or, for you older folks, The Thief of Bagdad. There’s humor—quite a bit—but it exists to set off the sweeping action and exotic locals, not the other way around.

Jam packed with ten or twelve sub plots, At World’s End could easily have been two films, which makes it all the more fun that it’s one. Yes, it’s long at two hours and forty-eight minutes, but the pace is rapid and there are no lulls.  Just stock up with popcorn and pop, and you’ll be fine.

The stunts, swordfights, and ship duels are bigger, more plentiful, and more unlikely than in its overblown predecessor: Captain Jack dukes it out with Davy Jones on the main mast; the undead monkey (named Jack as well) rescues Elizabeth, Will, and Barbossa with a fireworks rocket; two magical ships blast each other at close range as they sink into a maelstrom. It’s all as bombastic as it sounds, but this time it means something. It’s dangerous, and people might (and do) die.

There are a lot of characters, and a few get lost in the mob (remember James Norrington? The movie doesn’t), but some price has to be paid to keep the flick from bogging down. A few story items are given even less time. Apparently it’s easy to bring dead pirate captains back, so there’s no need to say any more than was already mentioned at the end of Dead Man’s Chest. New characters play a role, but don’t come to the theater thinking you’ll see Chow Yun-Fat’s jumping from tree to tree.  He’s a diversion. What we get are a lot of the nearly surrealistic antics of Jack (yup, I said surrealistic, such as a ship of twenty Jacks sailing on a seemingly infinite white plane), the loving rendered pirate clichés of Barbossa, the sexy modern-girl strength of Elizabeth, and the all-grown-up determination of Will (he’s still the stiffest and least humorous member of the bunch, but a few years have transformed Bloom from teen heartthrob into an adult). In a picture this loud, the real surprise is that it’s the characters that count.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t enough CGI to make George Lucas run and hide, but for a change, I can discuss computer effects purely in the positive.  Nothing looks fake and it’s all as magnificent as the ad campaign claims. I’m partial to the icy cavern, but it’s hard to beat the waterfall that surrounds the world. The half-sea creature crew of The Flying Dutchman look better than before, and Davy’s octopus face should be enough to garner another effects Oscar nomination.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is everything you want from a summer popcorn extravaganza. It’s not a learning experience, but it does have Keira Knightly in a cute Oriental outfit and Johnny Depp talking to two little Johnny Depps who are swinging from his beard. Learning is over-rated. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise saved the pirate genre (if there was anything to save), and now At World’s End has saved the franchise.

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