Tony Thio
This summer, Hollywood has flooded us with highly anticipated third episodes of top-grossing film franchises. It started with Spider-Man 3, then Shrek 3 (opening May 31) and now it’s Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End. At the risk of losing credibility in this review, I’d first want to point out that I’m a fanatical fan of Johnny Depp and the whole Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
While it’s not as good as the first flick, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, At World’s End does the franchise good and helps finish the trilogy on a high note. The last half hour is a fun-filled roller-coaster ride of thrill, adventure and excitement that will guarantee you sit at the edge of your seat.
That said, there were several parts in the middle that could have ended up on the floor of the film editors, and that’s where the weakness of the film lies: it’s way too long. At 168 minutes, it’s longer than both the first and second films (already very lengthy films at 143 minutes, and 150 minutes respectively), and gives the false impression that it is of epic proportions when it is not, even if the final product (taking out the parts that should’ve been cut) would’ve been a breathtaking cinematographic triumph.
Like the 2 previous films in the franchise, At World’s End is a film of different characters driven by varying personal motives. The excellent scriptwriting and direction ensures that all the characters and their stories interweave with ease.
It starts off where it ended in Dead Man’s Chest, a society of role reversals where the lawless and the pirates practice democracy while the rulers engage in widespread tyranny and rule by fear. The film starts off where civil rights have all but been suspended, and everyone suspected of having links with pirates or alleged to have committed “crimes” against the crown are lined up to be hanged, 6 at a time. What happens next is nothing short of bewildering, as a boy standing in front of the hangman’s noose begins to sing while fiddling with a coin, and everyone that’s lined up and waiting for their turn at the noose starts singing in orchestral earnest. Most bizarre.
We then see Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), all with different agendas, along with a colourful crew sail to Singapore to seek the help of Chinese pirate captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun Fat) in rescuing Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) at World’s End.
They also need his help to defeat the evil Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), who, by holding Davy Jones’ (Bill Nighy) heart, is now commanding the Flying Dutchman with its monstrous crew. At the same time, Swann, Barbossa and Turner plan to steal a navigational map that Sao Feng owns, and that leads to where Jack Sparrow is, which is how the whole adventure begins.
Starting with when the motley crew chances upon Jack Sparrow, the breathtaking computer-generated graphics implode onto screen and make you gaze in awestruck amazement, as millions of rock crabs help propel Jack’s ship the Black Pearl from being stuck in the middle of the sand dunes, all the way to sea, with the charming pirate captain at its helm.
The cinematography is exquisitely beautiful featuring gorgeous sunsets, glittering oceans and stunning islands are the stuff of fantasies, with principal photography done mostly on the islands of St. Vincent, Grand Bahama, The Exumas, and Dominica. Almost every scene that featured sweeping landscapes can stand alone as a work of photographic genius. Such was the amazing cinematography that dominated the film and coupled with the excellent computer-generated graphics that mesh together with the live-action unbelievable subtly, it makes for an explosion of screen ecstasy that will blow your mind, as Gore Verbinski takes you on a journey to places never seen before.
Gore Verbinski has certainly not scrimped in the visual effects department and At World’s End is certainly the new benchmark for every other big-budget film that incorporates CG. The attention to detail, seen in the giant sets and well-constructed ships, has seen cinema production being taken to greater heights. Certainly, any ship featured in At World’s End makes the Titanic from the film of the same name pale in comparison with its creepy live-likeness.
As with the previous 2 films, the acting is top-notch as is the scriptwriting that gives the actors their scintillating lines. Johnny Depp is once again the swashbuckling pirate captain that has not lost any of his humour, wit, candour, loud dressing and Kohl eyeliner. Every now and then, hidden among bizarre hallucination sequences involving Depp and multiples of himself, intriguing dialogue and explosive action, lie some real gems of comedy, mostly involving Depp and Kevin McNally (as his first mate Gibbs). Of course, the whole world already knows that Rolling Stone Keith Richards (who some say is Depp’s inspiration for his character) makes a cameo as Captain Teague, Jack Sparrow’s father. Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa is a fun character with even funnier lines, notable of which is his retort when Turner and Swann asks him to marry them mid-battle, and his presence only serves to make you anticipate his next screen appearance. Bill Nighy adds a new emotional dimension to Davy Jones, as we see him in human form for the first time. Chow Yun Fat is excellent as Sao Feng, and although his screen time is pretty limited, I’m sure local audiences will remember his “Welcome to Singapore!” for a long time.
While both Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom’s characters have developed a fair bit from Dead Man’s Chest days, they’ve still lots of catching up to match the acting prowess of Depp. The one thing that never fails to amaze me is how they both can be out at sea with the rest of the pirates for so long, yet still have a set of perfectly white teeth. And yes, apart from a few scenes (the marriage proposal), the both of them pretty much spend the entire film looking extremely pretty and nothing more.
A much more enjoyable character has to be Jack the Monkey. The scene where Jack Sparrow looks at his motley crew and asks “Did no one come to save me just because they missed me?” is memorable, because everyone just looks at each other, until Jack the Monkey raises his hand. The Monkey also evoked lots of laughter from the audience when it tried to participate in the battle between the pirates and the soldiers in Singapore.
The whole film builds up to the final battle, which is one of the finest ever since the Battle of Helms Deep in The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. It will even make the Death-Star battle in Star Wars look amateurish in comparison, and while I will not reveal more so as not to spoil your enjoyment of the film, be sure to keep your eyes riveted for it is the last 30 minutes (the final battle), that the film seals its place as a cinematographic masterpiece.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End completes the trilogy, not just with a loud bang, but with a mighty “Yo-Ho!” and a fine bottle of rum!
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Movie Details:
Opens: May 24
Runtime: 168 minutes
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
Director: Gore Verbinski