There is nothing not cool about pirates
May. 28th, 2007 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragojustinePirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End
The first movie was hilarious and brilliant in its sheer unexpectedness, a concoction of pure joy. The second movie was rather more over the top, even more determined not to take itself seriously and as such began to give you a little bit of wonder-and-wackiness fatigue. It seemed more studied, like it was trying too carefully to match the recipe of the first rather than simply continue it. It required quite a lot of suspension of normal expectations about movies to enjoy, but the result was, indeed, fantastically enjoyable once you got the knack. And when you wanted to apply critical faculties, the whole thing looked like a bit of a ridiculous house of cards, but there were bits of sheer comic genius and enough honest-to-god character development (though not in the direction I wanted, for Jack) and clever character-driven sense in the final climax, that when you finally got spit out the other end there was a real attachment. Dammit, I LIKE these people, this setting, those ships, and despite all the jokes it's not entirely because of the hotness factor.
The third movie moves even farther in the same direction. It's even more ridiculous, even more over-the-top, even more determined to follow in the footsteps and up the ante over the last two (and therefore less spontaneous, less believable, rather more fake). There's the basic BIGNESS- more pirates with more ships with more guns and more plots, while we're at it- but there's also a far higher sense of ridiculousness. The overriding thought, watching this movie, is "what were they THINKING?" There are several scenes that make you quite seriously debate what illegal chemicals were involved in the writing process. The thousands and thousands of little crab rocks? The ENTIRE SHIP full of Jack Sparrow's? I'm having a hard time deciding whether that entire
"Jack Sparrow in hell" bit was a bit of inspired Dadaist film surrealism, a chilling psychological look at isolation and insanity, or actually meant to be taken literally.
And yet, despite how incredibly hard you have to work at maintaining the suspension, at allowing yourself to enjoy the damn thing despite wondering whether everyone involved was on acid, the fact remains that once again the whole thing is peppered by tiny moments of verbal and visual comic genius, and by the end of it, you LIKE living in this crazy world with these people.
The one problematic bit is the very ending, with Elizabeth. I really liked our look into how Davy Jones became what he is- the amount of sympathy they managed to garner for him was impressive. I liked that the whole movie rejected Hollywood happy ending, with the death of Norrington as a hero and the death of Elizabeth's father. I liked Jack's difficulty deciding what he really wanted for eternity, liked his final decision to simply be what he is. I liked Will's decision not to save his father at the expense of Elizabeth, and I even liked the way they handled Bootstrap Bill- horribly horribly sad and yet making the decision to abandon him okay and inevitable. I especially liked how this movie, like the last one, managed to make the final plot climax seem to come naturally from character motivations that are already established (ie, Jack's indecisiveness over destroying the heart, and an odd mixture of his willingness to pawn the dirty work off on others with his willingness to save Will for Elizabeth's sake- which is the real motivation? Who knows?). I liked the madcap battle wedding (though the absolute necessity of marrying the characters before their roll in the sand makes me roll my eyes). I LOVED the sexy leg kissing on the beach. I like Will Turner riding the seas as the captain of the Flying Dutchman, hanging off the rigging with the wind streaming through that beautiful hair. It's a lovely image.
You know what I don't like? The fact that Elizabeth, whose character arc has been wonderful and striking and gloriously feminist, who went from being the maiden to be rescued to being the main actor in this drama, who somehow became a completely convincing pirate king, becoming stronger and sexier all the time- who somehow, shockingly, amazingly, became truly and believably the equal and comrade of Jack... how is it, again, that she ends up land-bound, waiting as a sea widow for her dear husband to see her one day every ten years? It simply doesn't work for me. In what world would she not have continued to be a pirate lord on her own ship, and seen the Flying Dutchman at sea whenever she damn well pleased? The ending was tragic and bittersweet and brave, and if Elizabeth had been a different character... but I suspect that in any sequel, we will see her roaming the seas as a pirate and meeting Will often, and we will find that the ten-years-later meeting this movie was merely a formalized anniversary, y'know? Because otherwise, the very end just doesn't fly.
The first movie was hilarious and brilliant in its sheer unexpectedness, a concoction of pure joy. The second movie was rather more over the top, even more determined not to take itself seriously and as such began to give you a little bit of wonder-and-wackiness fatigue. It seemed more studied, like it was trying too carefully to match the recipe of the first rather than simply continue it. It required quite a lot of suspension of normal expectations about movies to enjoy, but the result was, indeed, fantastically enjoyable once you got the knack. And when you wanted to apply critical faculties, the whole thing looked like a bit of a ridiculous house of cards, but there were bits of sheer comic genius and enough honest-to-god character development (though not in the direction I wanted, for Jack) and clever character-driven sense in the final climax, that when you finally got spit out the other end there was a real attachment. Dammit, I LIKE these people, this setting, those ships, and despite all the jokes it's not entirely because of the hotness factor.
The third movie moves even farther in the same direction. It's even more ridiculous, even more over-the-top, even more determined to follow in the footsteps and up the ante over the last two (and therefore less spontaneous, less believable, rather more fake). There's the basic BIGNESS- more pirates with more ships with more guns and more plots, while we're at it- but there's also a far higher sense of ridiculousness. The overriding thought, watching this movie, is "what were they THINKING?" There are several scenes that make you quite seriously debate what illegal chemicals were involved in the writing process. The thousands and thousands of little crab rocks? The ENTIRE SHIP full of Jack Sparrow's? I'm having a hard time deciding whether that entire
"Jack Sparrow in hell" bit was a bit of inspired Dadaist film surrealism, a chilling psychological look at isolation and insanity, or actually meant to be taken literally.
And yet, despite how incredibly hard you have to work at maintaining the suspension, at allowing yourself to enjoy the damn thing despite wondering whether everyone involved was on acid, the fact remains that once again the whole thing is peppered by tiny moments of verbal and visual comic genius, and by the end of it, you LIKE living in this crazy world with these people.
The one problematic bit is the very ending, with Elizabeth. I really liked our look into how Davy Jones became what he is- the amount of sympathy they managed to garner for him was impressive. I liked that the whole movie rejected Hollywood happy ending, with the death of Norrington as a hero and the death of Elizabeth's father. I liked Jack's difficulty deciding what he really wanted for eternity, liked his final decision to simply be what he is. I liked Will's decision not to save his father at the expense of Elizabeth, and I even liked the way they handled Bootstrap Bill- horribly horribly sad and yet making the decision to abandon him okay and inevitable. I especially liked how this movie, like the last one, managed to make the final plot climax seem to come naturally from character motivations that are already established (ie, Jack's indecisiveness over destroying the heart, and an odd mixture of his willingness to pawn the dirty work off on others with his willingness to save Will for Elizabeth's sake- which is the real motivation? Who knows?). I liked the madcap battle wedding (though the absolute necessity of marrying the characters before their roll in the sand makes me roll my eyes). I LOVED the sexy leg kissing on the beach. I like Will Turner riding the seas as the captain of the Flying Dutchman, hanging off the rigging with the wind streaming through that beautiful hair. It's a lovely image.
You know what I don't like? The fact that Elizabeth, whose character arc has been wonderful and striking and gloriously feminist, who went from being the maiden to be rescued to being the main actor in this drama, who somehow became a completely convincing pirate king, becoming stronger and sexier all the time- who somehow, shockingly, amazingly, became truly and believably the equal and comrade of Jack... how is it, again, that she ends up land-bound, waiting as a sea widow for her dear husband to see her one day every ten years? It simply doesn't work for me. In what world would she not have continued to be a pirate lord on her own ship, and seen the Flying Dutchman at sea whenever she damn well pleased? The ending was tragic and bittersweet and brave, and if Elizabeth had been a different character... but I suspect that in any sequel, we will see her roaming the seas as a pirate and meeting Will often, and we will find that the ten-years-later meeting this movie was merely a formalized anniversary, y'know? Because otherwise, the very end just doesn't fly.