Pirates Of The Caribbean
Curse Of The Black Pearl Dead Man's Chest At World's End On Stranger Tides
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At
World's End -
Overview
Positives
Negatives
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Brief Review
At World's End is visually stunning and the return of Geoffery Rush as Barbossa does help to alleviate the flat and dull characters around him. Depp's Captain Jack is beginning to tire here and the same old humour and flailing hands are starting to grow old. The whole film drags with a story that's more confusing than fun and even the final battle-as visually appealing as it is, doesn't have the "wow" factor it should. A disappointing end to this trilogy.
Full Review
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End finally brings the aging franchise to an end with a disappointing final chapter. The film drags for far longer than it should and when the action finally picks up, it feels rushed and stumbles helplessly to the finish line.
The story picks up directly where Dead Man's Chest left off with the return of Geoffery Rush as Barbossa to help try and find Captain Jack. He's in limbo in Davey Jones' locker and our heroes are on a mission to try and save him. On top of this, the East India Trading Company have control of Davey Jones' heart and consequently the Flying Dutchman. With the pirates under their control, they launch an assault to wipe out all the pirates in the world.
On top of all this eventual confusion, the sea goddess Calypso arrives to complicate matters further and there's a loose story about a love between Davey Jones and Calypso. What results is just a mess of unanswered questions and frustrating plot holes that even the ending doesn't help to explain.
This is made even worse by the flat acting all round. To be honest, Captain Jack Sparrow's character is aging rapidly and his same old tirade is beginning to become predictable. The only plus with his character is the odd joke that provides a chuckle but nothing more. His abstract scenes with more than one Jack doesn't do the camera work justice and what results is a scene thrown in for the sake of a few laughs than one that makes any sense or one that's clever and original.
Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom are possibly two of the most overhyped actors in this trilogy of films and both don't rise up to the mark here. Orlando, who plays Will Turner, is as wooden as ever and his performance remains unchanged from the dull drabs of Dead Man's Chest.
Keira Knightley, who plays Elizabeth Swan, is given a more free role here and her performance is slightly more powerful than that of the previous films but still isn't amazing. Her character is more masculine and her leadership feels weird than a natural development, but perhaps that's just me.
The one gem here is Geoffery Rush. His performance as Barbossa provides more laughs than before and the menacing demeanour is gone which is a shame but he more than makes up for it with his acting. His character steals the show in the scenes he's given and easily outclasses Sparrow in the scenes they share.
The special effects are overdone here and although the film is visually stunning, the overused special effects are more of a hindrance here than anything else. It's a nice touch throwing so much in but here it's almost as if its been thrown on to mask the dreadful story and it shows. Unfortunately, you can't mask the dreadful mess of a story and with overdone special effects the result is worse than Dead Man's Chest. The swordplay is good but misses the fun unpredictability of Curse Of The Black Pearl which is a shame as there's some good action sequences here.
Overall, At World's End is a mess of tangled plot lines and unanswered questions. The film drags for far longer than it should and the whole film stumbles over the finish line. The fun and unpredictability of the first film is gone and the overdone special effects can't mask the dreadful mess. Geoffery Rush's return is a boost for the series but Captain Jack's performance is fast become old. Overall then, At World's End misses the mark completely and winds up a confusing, frustrating mess.