Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

It was almost a year ago since we last saw a drunken, wise cracking Captain Jack Sparrow on the big screen. When we last saw him, he had been betrayed, somewhat, by Elizabeth Swann, who had left him as a diversion to the Kraken, who was after the good Captain. This was followed by Swann, Will Turner, and the crew of the Black Pearl meeting with Tia Dalma about the loss of Jack. They are offered a chance of saving the lost man, with the help of Barbossa, who had been thought deceased after the end of the first movie. Now, we pick up our intrepid band of would be rescuers as they travel to the otherside of the globe in search of the means with which to save Captain Jack.

Is Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End a great movie? No. Is it a great conclusion to the trilogy? Not really. Do we get all the answers to the questions from the second film? Nope. Why should we see this then? Sheer entertainment. If nothing else, the movie is insanely entertaining, even at its near three hour running time it is addictively entertaining to the very end. This is a series that was large in scope and very ambitious in what it was trying to do, but on top of that, the creative team made sure to keep it entertaining at every step of the way. I think it is the root desire to make a movie that people will want to spend so much time with that was a detriment to making the story wrap up cleanly. Still, there is so much to like that I am hard pressed to really want to pull it apart as a means of criticizing the final product. Sure, I would be up for discussions of its faults and omissions, just as a means of discussing the universe that was created.

The movie opens with the good Lord Beckett executing anyone who is, was, or was associated with a pirate. Pretty much all human rights have been suspended, and Beckett is doing what he can to draw out the pirates so he can wipe them out. On his side is Davy Jones, who has been completely cowed to Beckett due to his possession of the heart (from the second movie), and together they are systematically roaming the seas and taking out every other ship they come in contact with.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth, Mr. Dobbs, Barbossa, Tia Dalma, and the rest are in Singapore. They are meeting with Sao Feng (Chow Yun Fat), one of the nine pirate lords who knows the route to find Jack, another of the pirate lords. Now, beyond the desire to rescue Jack, he is needed to attend a meeting of the pirate lords to plan out the defense against Beckett's incursions.

You know, there is so much going on in the movie that I don't really want to go the route of describing it all. Suffice to say, there are double crosses, relationships revealed, surprises, sword fights, comedy, action, a mischievous monkey, a giant woman, and more water than you can shake a stick at.

The humor is not as deftly blended as in the first two films, but everything still works for me. It is a movie that does more than its share of coasting on the goodwill built up by the first and a good chunk of the second, besides being a franchise that is built on fun swashbuckling rather than a deep and meaningful plot. The story, as big as it tries to be, fails to tie everything up and fails to even mention a few plot points, but still I found myself enjoying the heck out of it.

The performances were pretty much what I expected, though I was glad to see Knightley's Elizabeth Swann have a little more integral role this time around. Plus, her performance, as well as that of Orlando Bloom was all around stronger. Johnny Depp slips into the role perfectly, he is just so perfect for this role, even if he is bit more part of the ensemble than the leader of the ensemble this time around.

The effects are fantastic, and the final hour is as good as anything in the series, with the sea battle, swordplay, doublecrosses, surprises, and an intriguing finale that more or less wraps up the trilogy and plants seeds for the future.

While the original film surprised everyone by being a good movie (I mean who honestly thought that a roller coaster based movie would be good?), the sequels turned out to be highly entertaining flawed additions to the mythos. I, for one, am unapologetic about my enjoyment of all three films. I will gladly welcome any further additions to the franchise, should they come.

Bottomline. Great effects, fantastic production design, just all around high energy fun. This is the kind of movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen. It may be long, but never dull. Besides, who can resist a swashbuckling Johnny Depp?

Recommended.