blue_bells (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blue_bells) wrote2007-05-29 01:44 am
blue_bells) wrote2007-05-29 01:44 am
Entry tags:
Meta += Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End aka 'Barbossa Owns All'
This evening I watched At World's End with my sister and my Mom who sat between the two of us -- I tried rearranging our seating at first so I would have ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
necromage to cling to in my inevitable fits of glee, to which Mom said, "Cling to me." I ended up leaning over her for a lot of the film and waving at Mage, but a good time was had by all, though I really only wanted to cling when I recognised Groves. I was very tired when I walked in there and might have had hypertension by the end. Tiredness breeds overreaction, le sigh.
Did I like it? Oh, yes.
Did it wipe the floor with Dead Man's Chest like a dirty, used rag? Sir, yessah. Although, honestly, such a feat would not be difficult.
Some (not so) short thoughts post-film because there's already a lot of meta floating around about this and I've yet to read most/any of it. The below will contain heavy spoilers and assume you've seen the film.
JAMES! [cries] You survived your personal angstathon in DMC just to be gutted by the father of your rival in love? You make me weep. And I didn't realise becoming a part of the Flying Dutchman makes you lose so much of yourself and sanity, but then I've only watched DMC once. I might have missed that point when young Will was talking to the barnacled torch-bearing expositor in DMC. Senior Turner's behaviour befuddled me in parts, but I accepted it as one of the unsavoury side-effects of being cursed to sail with Bill Nighy for all eternity.
Oh, Bill Nighy. I luff you. Why must you love a literal force of nature? I was so glad they extended his story with Tia Dalma andnecromage was right about their tragic love, but to see it in its locketed shadowy brigness was bittersweet. They were so beautiful. I might have been guzzling M&Ms at this point, but I was crying on the inside.
Glad they explained why Tia Dalma brought Barbossa back (see, all it takes is a line or two and point resolved) and why it couldn't be done for Jack, but I wish they had foreshadowed about Calypso in the earlier films. Even in passing. However, it felt a lot like the first film where the undead pirates came out of the midnight blue, so it was fresh and random and surprising, and I forgive them. I don't forgive the effects people who stretched Tia Dalma over the mast in badly rendered glory and what the hell was she slurring? It probably doesn't matter in the end, but just before she expanded on both axes, the ritual to unbound her cracked me up.
BARBOSSA: The incantation must be spoken like one to their lover!
Barbossa proceeds to shimmy, wave his torch like a man possessed and invoke the Gods of the four corners of the Earth.
BARBOSSA'S CREW: Seriously? Your wenches get much satisfaction?
Ragetti proceeds to show him how it's done, Calypso whimpers and I tear at her anguish when Will tells her it was Davy Jones that originally divulged the means to bind her. Then she, uh... bloats?
I love that everyone had a moment to really shine in this film, like the above. Take the monkey that blew up Sao Feng's shanty town. Monkey Jack has been a real gimmick in the previous two films and that really didn't change much here, but it never crossed my mind how cute he was. Particularly when he was freezing to death or being blown out of a canon (wth, Disney?).
Governer Swann's passing was done so well. Elizabeth's initial misunderstanding and excitement (i.e. subconscious denial) before the horror and desperation set in and Tia Dalma's outcry when everyone knew Elizabeth was going to jump in the waters after her father was wonderfully played. I liked Governer Swann's peace and awareness of his situation and the gentle, off-handed attempt to soothe her hysteria with, "I'll pass your love on to your Mother, shall I?" as though handing over the real responsibility of 'guide and protect' to those in her company. Another shining father/daughter moment and demo of Keira actually acting, nicely done, Keira.
And finally, the crux of it all: Will and Elizabeth -- bored me in DMC, compelled the plot in CotBP, and brought the world back to its orbit around them in AWE. I will start off by saying I take Keira Knightley with a grain of salt and have learned to ignore her Keira-sue ways, but even though she was insufferably promoted to Fairest Ruler of Them All (thanks, Jack), she pleasantly surprised me. I think she finally added another facial expression to her repertoire or learned not to pout at everyone and thing, but I didn't mind her in this film. Neither did I mind Will! Honestly, they were very pretty and drawn together. I think they won me over in the first ten minutes when it was revealed that Will's incompetent on his own and Elizabeth still loves him. With her one little cry in the bath house, I believed it and I haven't believed it since they first smiled at eachother in the Swann's mansion foyer. Before I realised it, I was gunning for them and I didn't actually want Will to die because he might take Keira's spectacular acting ability with him and after all the effort Barbossa had gone to preside over them.... !
DEARLY BELOVED! (The only other time I laughed this hard was when Pintel and Ragetti attempted to drop canonballs on the drifting dead. Darn it, I was a curious as they were.)
So, Hector, we know who was really posing as the clergyman of the Church of England. I was intrigued by the new dynamic between Barbossa and Elizabeth in this film, evidently a lot transpired between DMC and AWE, but since he first imparted that the code was more like guidelines, it always seemed like Barbossa was Elizabeth's compass to piracy. This was compounded by her again ripping his lines in her St. Crispin's Day speech, which, btw fails.
ELIZABETH: For freedom! For crime! For the sweat on our backs and the men at my feet! Damn, it's good to be King!
WILL: I love, you baby! Whoo!
CREW: [mistakes this as the cry for battle] Whoo!
ELIZABETH: Yeh, who's your daddy?
There was no way Elizabeth would have been accepted by Sao Feng's crew without a lot more bickering, even when she stood with them against Norrington and Davy Jones. While I could assume their insubordination happened off-screen, all was too calm and confident in brig-land when James came to bust them out. This was almost made up for with sufficient grief at James' subsequent death.
But, I digress. Barbossa owns all. He owns monkey Jack, the Pearl, a useless border of a map, and is the only one who can sufficiently command the Pearl in battle. For all her skills and piratical majesty, I'm glad Elizabeth deferred to Barbossa in the maelstrom; Barbossa's immediate willingness to acquiese to her request was a bit startling, but he, they and we all know he's the only one crazy and creative enough to do it properly. Jack's just crazy. Jack wins battles. Barbossa wins the war.
I should say something about Jack. His salty desert of doppelganger purgatory was not as startling or surreal as the expression on my Mom's face might suggest, but I've been in my own world of bleached weirdness in original fiction recently, so I was prepared! I want a detailed blueprint of all those tattoos. I wonder if Jack has always heard the voices on his shoulder or it's only under the influence of Davy Jones (i.e. the locker, the Flying Dutchman's brig, the seas inbetween worlds). I am so glad his debaucle with Elizabeth has been cancelled out because it really felt like the writers were undermining their attempts to sell the Will/Elizabeth OTPness of Film #1 and it just. Didn't. Settle. It curdled, like bad milk and I disliked almost the entire cast but the Kraken by the end of DMC.
Speaking of the Kraken, it's time for a calamari siesta! The first frame of the poor beached beast didn't click in my head because of lighting and then my heart broke as I remembered Davy Jones' flinch at the command to end his pet. Ohohoho, my pet makes splinters of your armada! But Davy Jones! So much pain in this film with so little. I don't miss the beast itself because it's things like the Kraken that impart my fear of large or simply dark bodies of water, but I was sad for Davy Jones.
Bennet's (Beckett? I get confused) death scene on the exploding Endeavour was far too long.
Captain Turner and Captain Swann raise my eyebrow. Their-love-is-so-starcrossed-redundancy. I argued that they could be together if they circled each other on ships at sea, or if Elizabeth set out a trail of buckets, but asnecromage pointed out, the new Captain of the Flying Dutchman actually had a lot of ferrying to do, so we can assume this was a full-time preoccupation. Davy Jones probably wasn't supposed to be on this side of the sea, marauding the oceans and taking prisoners, so Will had who knows how many years of neglected drifters to guide home. It was chilling when his father and the other pirates crowded him with their zombie mantra and the camera cut away just as the knife came down on Will's heart. There's something about Orlando getting his heart cut out that is undeniably good. The tone of that moment was great: the pirate's duty, Elizabeth's grief, Jack's obligation and the gurgling maelstrom of Calypso's fury. Turner looks good as Captain of the Flying Dutchman, but it's a little too Dreaded Pirate Roberts for me.
Finally, if you have a weak heart like me and was finally won by the Will/Elizabeth sentiment despite the scenes of passion that passionately required more rehearsal, here's an unreferenced addendum to their story and the post-credits scene (purportedly quoted from writers Elliot and Russo):
"The captain of the Flying Dutchman curse can be broken and that's why Davy Jones was so furious with Calypso. If the captain's true love is waiting for him when he comes ashore after 10 years the spell is broken and he is no longer bound to the ship - he's free to live a normal mortal life on land again. A new captain is chosen to continue the 10 year cycle. When Davy returned to shore after the first 10 years Calypso was not there to meet him. The curse was not broken and he was doomed to remain captain for eternity. So, when Will comes back after the first ten years (since Liz is waiting for him with their son) the spell is broken and Will can join his family for the rest of his life."
YAY. I have to remember to tell my Mom tomorrow otherwise she'll go around with a bittersweet notion of an ending in her head. Although, if Will is freed of the curse in the above way, who takes over as the Flying Dutchman's Captain? The first mate? Did Will have to elect someone on standby just in case he was successful, before returning to land, Elizabeth and Will Turner III? (Seriously, couldn't they have named him something else? Like, James?)
If someone can source the direct article itself, I'll gladly put up the link.
I will never deny that I like happy endings, happy families and big explosions. AWE secured all of these in the end and thus, my faith and enjoyment in the Pirates franchise is restored. I won't mind seeing this again, but probably not anytime soon with all the assessment left to be done in the next fortnight.
So, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End wins a 4/5 from me because the more I reflect on the good, the more my love grows.
This response could have been a lot shorter. Maybe I'll work at home tomorrow (someone needs to drag me out of bed before nine).
If you haven't seen it yet, remember to stay after the credits for the special scene. If you have a weak heart like I do, you might want to stay for it.
necromage to cling to in my inevitable fits of glee, to which Mom said, "Cling to me." I ended up leaning over her for a lot of the film and waving at Mage, but a good time was had by all, though I really only wanted to cling when I recognised Groves. I was very tired when I walked in there and might have had hypertension by the end. Tiredness breeds overreaction, le sigh.Did I like it? Oh, yes.
Did it wipe the floor with Dead Man's Chest like a dirty, used rag? Sir, yessah. Although, honestly, such a feat would not be difficult.
Some (not so) short thoughts post-film because there's already a lot of meta floating around about this and I've yet to read most/any of it. The below will contain heavy spoilers and assume you've seen the film.
JAMES! [cries] You survived your personal angstathon in DMC just to be gutted by the father of your rival in love? You make me weep. And I didn't realise becoming a part of the Flying Dutchman makes you lose so much of yourself and sanity, but then I've only watched DMC once. I might have missed that point when young Will was talking to the barnacled torch-bearing expositor in DMC. Senior Turner's behaviour befuddled me in parts, but I accepted it as one of the unsavoury side-effects of being cursed to sail with Bill Nighy for all eternity.
Oh, Bill Nighy. I luff you. Why must you love a literal force of nature? I was so glad they extended his story with Tia Dalma and
necromage was right about their tragic love, but to see it in its locketed shadowy brigness was bittersweet. They were so beautiful. I might have been guzzling M&Ms at this point, but I was crying on the inside.Glad they explained why Tia Dalma brought Barbossa back (see, all it takes is a line or two and point resolved) and why it couldn't be done for Jack, but I wish they had foreshadowed about Calypso in the earlier films. Even in passing. However, it felt a lot like the first film where the undead pirates came out of the midnight blue, so it was fresh and random and surprising, and I forgive them. I don't forgive the effects people who stretched Tia Dalma over the mast in badly rendered glory and what the hell was she slurring? It probably doesn't matter in the end, but just before she expanded on both axes, the ritual to unbound her cracked me up.
BARBOSSA: The incantation must be spoken like one to their lover!
Barbossa proceeds to shimmy, wave his torch like a man possessed and invoke the Gods of the four corners of the Earth.
BARBOSSA'S CREW: Seriously? Your wenches get much satisfaction?
Ragetti proceeds to show him how it's done, Calypso whimpers and I tear at her anguish when Will tells her it was Davy Jones that originally divulged the means to bind her. Then she, uh... bloats?
I love that everyone had a moment to really shine in this film, like the above. Take the monkey that blew up Sao Feng's shanty town. Monkey Jack has been a real gimmick in the previous two films and that really didn't change much here, but it never crossed my mind how cute he was. Particularly when he was freezing to death or being blown out of a canon (wth, Disney?).
Governer Swann's passing was done so well. Elizabeth's initial misunderstanding and excitement (i.e. subconscious denial) before the horror and desperation set in and Tia Dalma's outcry when everyone knew Elizabeth was going to jump in the waters after her father was wonderfully played. I liked Governer Swann's peace and awareness of his situation and the gentle, off-handed attempt to soothe her hysteria with, "I'll pass your love on to your Mother, shall I?" as though handing over the real responsibility of 'guide and protect' to those in her company. Another shining father/daughter moment and demo of Keira actually acting, nicely done, Keira.
And finally, the crux of it all: Will and Elizabeth -- bored me in DMC, compelled the plot in CotBP, and brought the world back to its orbit around them in AWE. I will start off by saying I take Keira Knightley with a grain of salt and have learned to ignore her Keira-sue ways, but even though she was insufferably promoted to Fairest Ruler of Them All (thanks, Jack), she pleasantly surprised me. I think she finally added another facial expression to her repertoire or learned not to pout at everyone and thing, but I didn't mind her in this film. Neither did I mind Will! Honestly, they were very pretty and drawn together. I think they won me over in the first ten minutes when it was revealed that Will's incompetent on his own and Elizabeth still loves him. With her one little cry in the bath house, I believed it and I haven't believed it since they first smiled at eachother in the Swann's mansion foyer. Before I realised it, I was gunning for them and I didn't actually want Will to die because he might take Keira's spectacular acting ability with him and after all the effort Barbossa had gone to preside over them.... !
DEARLY BELOVED! (The only other time I laughed this hard was when Pintel and Ragetti attempted to drop canonballs on the drifting dead. Darn it, I was a curious as they were.)
So, Hector, we know who was really posing as the clergyman of the Church of England. I was intrigued by the new dynamic between Barbossa and Elizabeth in this film, evidently a lot transpired between DMC and AWE, but since he first imparted that the code was more like guidelines, it always seemed like Barbossa was Elizabeth's compass to piracy. This was compounded by her again ripping his lines in her St. Crispin's Day speech, which, btw fails.
ELIZABETH: For freedom! For crime! For the sweat on our backs and the men at my feet! Damn, it's good to be King!
WILL: I love, you baby! Whoo!
CREW: [mistakes this as the cry for battle] Whoo!
ELIZABETH: Yeh, who's your daddy?
There was no way Elizabeth would have been accepted by Sao Feng's crew without a lot more bickering, even when she stood with them against Norrington and Davy Jones. While I could assume their insubordination happened off-screen, all was too calm and confident in brig-land when James came to bust them out. This was almost made up for with sufficient grief at James' subsequent death.
But, I digress. Barbossa owns all. He owns monkey Jack, the Pearl, a useless border of a map, and is the only one who can sufficiently command the Pearl in battle. For all her skills and piratical majesty, I'm glad Elizabeth deferred to Barbossa in the maelstrom; Barbossa's immediate willingness to acquiese to her request was a bit startling, but he, they and we all know he's the only one crazy and creative enough to do it properly. Jack's just crazy. Jack wins battles. Barbossa wins the war.
I should say something about Jack. His salty desert of doppelganger purgatory was not as startling or surreal as the expression on my Mom's face might suggest, but I've been in my own world of bleached weirdness in original fiction recently, so I was prepared! I want a detailed blueprint of all those tattoos. I wonder if Jack has always heard the voices on his shoulder or it's only under the influence of Davy Jones (i.e. the locker, the Flying Dutchman's brig, the seas inbetween worlds). I am so glad his debaucle with Elizabeth has been cancelled out because it really felt like the writers were undermining their attempts to sell the Will/Elizabeth OTPness of Film #1 and it just. Didn't. Settle. It curdled, like bad milk and I disliked almost the entire cast but the Kraken by the end of DMC.
Speaking of the Kraken, it's time for a calamari siesta! The first frame of the poor beached beast didn't click in my head because of lighting and then my heart broke as I remembered Davy Jones' flinch at the command to end his pet. Ohohoho, my pet makes splinters of your armada! But Davy Jones! So much pain in this film with so little. I don't miss the beast itself because it's things like the Kraken that impart my fear of large or simply dark bodies of water, but I was sad for Davy Jones.
Bennet's (Beckett? I get confused) death scene on the exploding Endeavour was far too long.
Captain Turner and Captain Swann raise my eyebrow. Their-love-is-so-starcrossed-redundancy. I argued that they could be together if they circled each other on ships at sea, or if Elizabeth set out a trail of buckets, but as
necromage pointed out, the new Captain of the Flying Dutchman actually had a lot of ferrying to do, so we can assume this was a full-time preoccupation. Davy Jones probably wasn't supposed to be on this side of the sea, marauding the oceans and taking prisoners, so Will had who knows how many years of neglected drifters to guide home. It was chilling when his father and the other pirates crowded him with their zombie mantra and the camera cut away just as the knife came down on Will's heart. There's something about Orlando getting his heart cut out that is undeniably good. The tone of that moment was great: the pirate's duty, Elizabeth's grief, Jack's obligation and the gurgling maelstrom of Calypso's fury. Turner looks good as Captain of the Flying Dutchman, but it's a little too Dreaded Pirate Roberts for me.Finally, if you have a weak heart like me and was finally won by the Will/Elizabeth sentiment despite the scenes of passion that passionately required more rehearsal, here's an unreferenced addendum to their story and the post-credits scene (purportedly quoted from writers Elliot and Russo):
"The captain of the Flying Dutchman curse can be broken and that's why Davy Jones was so furious with Calypso. If the captain's true love is waiting for him when he comes ashore after 10 years the spell is broken and he is no longer bound to the ship - he's free to live a normal mortal life on land again. A new captain is chosen to continue the 10 year cycle. When Davy returned to shore after the first 10 years Calypso was not there to meet him. The curse was not broken and he was doomed to remain captain for eternity. So, when Will comes back after the first ten years (since Liz is waiting for him with their son) the spell is broken and Will can join his family for the rest of his life."
YAY. I have to remember to tell my Mom tomorrow otherwise she'll go around with a bittersweet notion of an ending in her head. Although, if Will is freed of the curse in the above way, who takes over as the Flying Dutchman's Captain? The first mate? Did Will have to elect someone on standby just in case he was successful, before returning to land, Elizabeth and Will Turner III? (Seriously, couldn't they have named him something else? Like, James?)
If someone can source the direct article itself, I'll gladly put up the link.
I will never deny that I like happy endings, happy families and big explosions. AWE secured all of these in the end and thus, my faith and enjoyment in the Pirates franchise is restored. I won't mind seeing this again, but probably not anytime soon with all the assessment left to be done in the next fortnight.
So, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End wins a 4/5 from me because the more I reflect on the good, the more my love grows.
This response could have been a lot shorter. Maybe I'll work at home tomorrow (someone needs to drag me out of bed before nine).
If you haven't seen it yet, remember to stay after the credits for the special scene. If you have a weak heart like I do, you might want to stay for it.