Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

[meganbmoore]

So, am I the last person in the world to see this? I think I probably am. It was just TOO LONG to go see in theaters.

Anyway...I liked it. Not that it should surprise anyone, as I am VERY EASY to please when it comes to adventure and swashbuckling(as long as it really is swashbuckling...yes, I remain bitter over my non-swashbuckler set of epic swashbucklers.) The first movie, of course, remains by far the best, but I'm happy with both sequels.

Mostly, I'm just happy that awful Jack/Elizabeth thing was almost completely dropped(as much as could be without pretending it never happened. Here's the thing, it doesn't matter if you like Will/Elizabeth, Jack/Elizabeth, Jack/Will, think they should be a threesome, think Will's a loser, think Elizabeth's a hussy, think romantic subplots are dumb, or whatever. The simple fact is that within the first 25 minutes of the first movie, it was obvious that Will/Elizabeth was the epic romance, and that their romance would be a major plot of the movie/series(especially the part where they like to tear apart the Caribbean looking for each other), and that there was no way it was ever going to go any other way(let's face it, one thing you can count on in a swashbuckler is that it's going to have a clear-cut epic romance to help carry the story.) The hints of Jack/Elizabeth in the second movie was, IMO, very mean, as it was clearly catering to the people who wanted that to lead them on, but with no intention of following through on it. Will and Elizabeth's chief motivation throughout all three movies was saving the others, and what Elizabeth did to Jack was essentially a higher stakes version of what she did to Norrington in the first movie...using his attraction to her to get what she wants(Will.) They just played it to cater to the Jack/Elizabeth shippers to make sure they came back, with no intent of actual delivery.

(And if you ask me my opinion on the importance of the relationship between Jack, Will and Elizabeth, I'd say Will and Elizabeth taught Jack how to care about other people, and Jack pulled them out of their narrow little social class defined lives so they could go after what they wanted and pursue a life of their choice, instead of staying the way they were and being miserable. That, and their all learning that no one is inherently good or bad, it's all about the choices you make and what you do with your life.)

A few quick comments beyond that(and if you haven't seen it yet-though I'm pretty sure everyone has- then START SCROLLING NOW TO ESCAPE SPOILERS because I'm too lazy to use a cut) because it's late and bedtime:

*Ok, seriously, what kind of blackmail material does Keira Knightley have over Jerry Bruckheimer to get to kiss half the guys in this series? Were they just trying to cover all possible het shipping possibilities? If so, then we should probably be greatful they didn't find an excuse for Elizabeth to kiss Barbossa, too.

*How much does it suck to be Norrington? Will's supposed to be the naive one(though really, I think he got over that midway through the second movie) but really, it's Norrington. Will learned, but poor Norrington was really just too naive(and blindly in love with Elizabeth) to ever stand a chance. Only real mistake he ever made was being in love with a girl in with someone else who will sacrfice anything and anyone for the other guy. Even his "betrayal"(which really wasn't one, as he didn't owe any of them anything, but rather, lost everything because he helped them) was just his trying to get back what had been taken from them.

*It took far, far too long for Jack to show up. Seriously. (And then there were just too many characters altogether, honestly.)

*Was anyone able to keep up with all the betrayals? At all? I think I did for the first hour, then I just gave up and waited for the hijinks and fights. One day, I should count all the betrayals in all three movies(and I should do the same thing with Jason Bourne and his tendency to wreck cars with the Bourne trilogy)

*I'm not sure if that was the best or the worst wedding ever. Certainly very poorly timed. But then, look what happened when they tried to do it the proper way...

*If I didn't know the part of the curse that got cut from the movie(that the reason Davy Jones was so mad at Calypso for not being there after the first 10 years was because if your true love is waiting faithfully for you, then the curse is broken) I'd be rather annoyed. All that and you only get to have sex one day every ten years? Especially given what they went through to have it legally? Would suck. And we've already seen how irked Elizabeth gets when she expects to get to have sex with Will and doesn't.

*So, who else thinks that Jack and Barbossa will now spend the next few decades stealing the Black Pearl from each other and bickering their way across the seven seas?

I will now post an MV of the trilogy and head to bed:

Comments

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

There was a bit too much doublecrossing for my taste and also there was the plot hole of all plot holes with them playing like Liz and Will couldn't see each other for 10 years, because what exactly is keeping her from sailing out to meet him (he only has to be on water, right?) or from the two of them getting a rather large bucket for that matter? They should have explained the curse a little better if they were heading that angle. They ALSO didn't explain that she could break the curse if she waited for him and everything would go back to normal. They just leave everyone with the impression that Liz only gets to see him every 10 years, which, when you're married to someone who looks like that, would be frustrating enough to drive a person to drink.

[carrielh.livejournal.com]

I think the implication is that unlike Davy Jones, Will would actually be doing the ferrying souls job rather than just sailing around on the high seas or whatever. So I'd imagine he'd be in the land of the dead, somewhere Elizabeth couldn't easily get to him.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes. I think Will is busy being responsible so he doesn't turn all tentacle-y

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think there was too much doublecrossing for anyone's taste, really, but at least most of it had enough reason and context for me to follow along.

The thing about the curse is that we don't know how much is the curse itself, and how much was Davy Jones. Unless they had the heart, people pretty much didn't get off the ship very easily unless they went all fishy, but we don't know if that's because you aren't SUPPOSED to go on the ship if you're alive, or if it was just Davy Jones being evil. Similarly, we only ever saw them leaving the boat for fighting, hunting, or delivering threats, and they always went back to the boat when it was over. And again, we don't know if that's because you can't leave the boat unless it's on business, or if, again, it was just Davy Jones being evil. I think they were probably leaving things open so that they could either incorporate the better explanation into an extended edition, or have another movie all about freeing Will from the curse.