Pirates of the Caribbean
Jul. 11th, 2003 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuSaw it with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snippy and The Boy last night. The trip to the theatre was rough--hot weather and bubbling frustration combined to make The Boy and I both rather cranky. Snippy, as usual, was caught in the middle trying to play peacemaker, which made the outing less fun for her than she deserved. Once the previews started, I was fine (quick to anger, quick to cool off--that's me). Snippy, alas, does not shift gears so easily.
Still, we had a good time. It was a very entertaining movie. Snippy repeatedly gripped my arm and whispered to me of her lust for Captain Jack Sparrow (aka Johnny Depp). Well, hell, I think he's pretty, so I can hardly blame her.
When I first heard about the film, I was very excited. My favorite Tim Powers novel is On Stranger Tides, full of pirates and voodoo and weird history. Pirates and voodoo? Magic? On the big screen in glorious live action? I am so there! (Okay, not voodoo per se, but still...)
Then I heard that it was based on the Disney ride and my heart sank. "Gonna suck," my inner critic insisted, "how could it not? Clearly it's purely a marketing ploy, cross-marketing a ride at Disney with a movie." But the previews looked good, and the word of mouth was good, so I began to hope that it would be good. It was. It was great fun.
As for details...spoilers follow, so don't look if you don't want to know:
The movie went on too long. Especially the climactic battle scenes. Both the assault on the Dauntless by the zombie pirates, and the conflict between Jack & Barbosa. The pirates should have long since taken the ship, given the length of that battle--they can't be killed, only temporarily inconvenienced. But once the soldiers are dead, they're dead. And bodies were falling left and right the whole time.
Jack's battle with Barbosa was good, especially the moonlight effect on them as they spun and dodged and jumped and ran. But, again, it went on too long (and I kept thinking about the soldiers and sailors getting killed fighting unkillable zombies). The sooner Jack and Will end the curse, the better. So do it already!
As Snippy said, I never actually looked at my watch, but there were times when the movie dragged a little and I became aware of time passing. Tighter editing would have boosted this movie considerably in my opinion. I liked it; I'd watch it again, but it could have been better still. Plus, I would have liked more scenes of one-on-one interaction between Depp, Bloom, Knightley, "Barbosa" (forget his name) et al, and less quick-cut endless combat scenes.
On the other hand, I really liked it that Will's rival for Elizabeth was not an asshole. He wasn't as interesting or clever, he was rather more rigid in his thinking, he was definitely more of a 17th century man than William (who was, as is typical in films, much closer to contemporary in his attitudes and values than to what a man of his time would truly be like). But he wasn't a jerk. Faced with the unpleasant reality that Elizabeth didn't want him, he behaved with dignity. That's all too rare in movies and was a pleasant surprise.
Minor nits:
Is it just me, or does Kiera Knightley bear a striking resemblance to Kate Winslet? That nagged at me through the whole film.
What the hell were they thinking on the Interceptor when they dumped all the cannonballs over the side while fleeing the Black Pearl for the shallows (and why did it require Elizabeth--a civilian landlubber--to think of running for the shallows when she's on a ship crewed by pirates, who notoriously did just that to evade warships historically?). Running isn't a plan you bet everything on; it's what you do when the plan fails. Having to resort to loading silverware in the cannons was just stupid.
And is Will aware that he drowned his father when he ended the curse? The pirates had tied him to a cannon and dumped him in the ocean, but he was among the cursed and thus still alive. I fully expected him to be rescued when they mentioned that--though on later reflection, since they'd have retrieved him for his blood if they'd know where to find him, I suppose not. But anyhow, unless he'd already escaped and walked to shore (not a problem, as we know), he's dead NOW.
Overall: A- (could have been better imho with tighter editing, but certainly very entertaining and worth seeing again).
snippy and The Boy last night. The trip to the theatre was rough--hot weather and bubbling frustration combined to make The Boy and I both rather cranky. Snippy, as usual, was caught in the middle trying to play peacemaker, which made the outing less fun for her than she deserved. Once the previews started, I was fine (quick to anger, quick to cool off--that's me). Snippy, alas, does not shift gears so easily.Still, we had a good time. It was a very entertaining movie. Snippy repeatedly gripped my arm and whispered to me of her lust for Captain Jack Sparrow (aka Johnny Depp). Well, hell, I think he's pretty, so I can hardly blame her.
When I first heard about the film, I was very excited. My favorite Tim Powers novel is On Stranger Tides, full of pirates and voodoo and weird history. Pirates and voodoo? Magic? On the big screen in glorious live action? I am so there! (Okay, not voodoo per se, but still...)
Then I heard that it was based on the Disney ride and my heart sank. "Gonna suck," my inner critic insisted, "how could it not? Clearly it's purely a marketing ploy, cross-marketing a ride at Disney with a movie." But the previews looked good, and the word of mouth was good, so I began to hope that it would be good. It was. It was great fun.
As for details...spoilers follow, so don't look if you don't want to know:
The movie went on too long. Especially the climactic battle scenes. Both the assault on the Dauntless by the zombie pirates, and the conflict between Jack & Barbosa. The pirates should have long since taken the ship, given the length of that battle--they can't be killed, only temporarily inconvenienced. But once the soldiers are dead, they're dead. And bodies were falling left and right the whole time.
Jack's battle with Barbosa was good, especially the moonlight effect on them as they spun and dodged and jumped and ran. But, again, it went on too long (and I kept thinking about the soldiers and sailors getting killed fighting unkillable zombies). The sooner Jack and Will end the curse, the better. So do it already!
As Snippy said, I never actually looked at my watch, but there were times when the movie dragged a little and I became aware of time passing. Tighter editing would have boosted this movie considerably in my opinion. I liked it; I'd watch it again, but it could have been better still. Plus, I would have liked more scenes of one-on-one interaction between Depp, Bloom, Knightley, "Barbosa" (forget his name) et al, and less quick-cut endless combat scenes.
On the other hand, I really liked it that Will's rival for Elizabeth was not an asshole. He wasn't as interesting or clever, he was rather more rigid in his thinking, he was definitely more of a 17th century man than William (who was, as is typical in films, much closer to contemporary in his attitudes and values than to what a man of his time would truly be like). But he wasn't a jerk. Faced with the unpleasant reality that Elizabeth didn't want him, he behaved with dignity. That's all too rare in movies and was a pleasant surprise.
Minor nits:
Is it just me, or does Kiera Knightley bear a striking resemblance to Kate Winslet? That nagged at me through the whole film.
What the hell were they thinking on the Interceptor when they dumped all the cannonballs over the side while fleeing the Black Pearl for the shallows (and why did it require Elizabeth--a civilian landlubber--to think of running for the shallows when she's on a ship crewed by pirates, who notoriously did just that to evade warships historically?). Running isn't a plan you bet everything on; it's what you do when the plan fails. Having to resort to loading silverware in the cannons was just stupid.
And is Will aware that he drowned his father when he ended the curse? The pirates had tied him to a cannon and dumped him in the ocean, but he was among the cursed and thus still alive. I fully expected him to be rescued when they mentioned that--though on later reflection, since they'd have retrieved him for his blood if they'd know where to find him, I suppose not. But anyhow, unless he'd already escaped and walked to shore (not a problem, as we know), he's dead NOW.
Overall: A- (could have been better imho with tighter editing, but certainly very entertaining and worth seeing again).
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Re: Pirates of the Caribbean
Date: 2003-07-12 10:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-13 01:20 am (UTC)