Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler, Jordan, Naomi

The final film of the Verbinski Pirates Trilogy. This one has a more unified drive than the last film but still suffers from the great number of characters and plots left over from the second instalment. It's also a much darker film than I remember. According to the George Lucas storytelling rules it's usually the 2nd film of the trilogy that is the darker one. But this is basically a Pirate Apocalypse that they have to prevent here by teaming together and going against the evil East India Trading Company.

As the stakes are raised higher the fun seems to drain out of the action, everything is much more serious, life or death. Or something inbetween that.

Let's talk about that Davey Jone's Locker sequence. It's a head scratcher. A Fantastically absurd diversion into the metaphysical desolation of abstract madness made tangible. It's too much for some people and a delight for a seemingly small few. I am one of those few, I loved the grand visuals, the humor and the change of pace from the rest of the series. You can see a lot of these ideas developed further in Verbinski's Rango from earlier this year. It's a crazy sequence and one I'm glad made it into a big budget studio blockbuster where it probably has no place being.

The big finale fight is very well crafted and staged. It's certainly the biggest of the series and the biggest ship to ship fight I've ever seen. There's no doubt the action at the end is satisfying.

The climax and conclusion is a little more problematic. Mainly just the romantic leeds. They have a situation with no easy way out of and in a way it's nice that not everyone can end up happy. The love story between Will and Elizabeth has a very melancholy ending, especially when viewed with the sequence after the end credits (I do hope you've all seen the scenes after each of the end credits). It does raise a few logistical questions and overall isn't exactly the most satisfying end to their tale.

And as far as I'm aware it is the end of their tale as they aren't in the next film. As for the dark tone of the 3rd film perhaps that's something that can be sated with the next instalment. We shall see soon enough.

So We managed to get through all 3 in one sitting. They look bloody fantastic on Bluray and I now await the next film with some trepidation and curiosity more than anything else.