We have achieved Pirates
Jul. 16th, 2006 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alwaysamyPerfect for a hot, muggy summer afternoon, although an Iron Maiden would have been only slightly more painful than the seats in the theater. Hello? Upgrade, people. They didn't even have cupholders. ::is aghast::
I found it a little surreal that I didn't have to explain anything about the mythology of Davy Jones to my nine-year-old...since he thinks he knows all about him thanks to SpongeBob. Okay.
Spoilers within, so read at your own risk.
and aside from a rant about filmmakers who seem unable to resist the temptation to masturbate with very long, if remarkably well-staged, fight/action scenes, just because they know boatloads of people are going to buy tickets, I loved it.
Loved New!Scruffy!Norrington, maybe the most, and loved Davy Jones and his slimy Tentacles of Doom (not to mention his oh-so-very-goth Organ of Doom, and yes, I mean the musical instrument). Loved the obeah and her treehouse, loved (and by loved I mean love to hate) the new villain, Beckett. Very suavely evil and dripping with self-assurance and condescension. Well-plaued. Jonathan Pryce broke me, wigless and desperate. Jones's crew was nicely icky, although most of them seemed to have been evil from the get-go, rather than bitter and resentful of their fate. Bill Turner's appearance was a lovely surprise, and Stellan Skarsgaard played him beautifully.
Sparrow seemed a bit more mincing in this one, which surprised me, but I haven't watched The Black Pearl in a while. I was also surprised by how often he was truly selfish. The metaphor of the compass and heart's desire was either a misdirect or not handled very well, I think, although I loved the fact that he returned to the Pearl only to have Elizabeth chain him to the ship to face his death.
Elizabeth and Jack's attraction seemed to come out of left field and was presented with a whole hell of a lot of shorthand. The triangle between Sparrow, Will, and Elizabeth was always there, but Elizabeth's sudden curiosity was hard to swallow. "I thought I'd be married by now" as a come-on? Also, as if being married to anyone was good enough, if it meant she could finally find out what all the sexual fuss was about? I didn't buy it.
I'm nitpicking more than I thought I would. I really enjoyed it -- the scary bits and the funny bits especially. The extended action sequences grated on me, but they always do. I don't need to see things blown up (or, you know, attacked by giant squid) as much as the next girl, I guess. The giant hamster wheel, as others have called it, was funny for about a minute and a half. Same with Jack escaping the natives disguised as a giant shish kabob. In all, I thought there were one too many storylines included, although if you asked me to pick which one to toss, I don't think I could. They did entwine them pretty efficiently, and I wouldn't get rid of Scruffy!Norrington for the world.
So much stayed with me, even overnight -- the image of Elizabeth kneeling in the rain at the beginning, and the surprise appearance of Barbosa at the end. Elizabeth's wedding dress floating in the sea. Jones pounding at that organ, with the dark cathedral of his quarters arched above him. And of course all the little refences and jokes, the Laurel and Hardy pirates (I can't remember their names) "saving" the ship, the running joke of the rum, the dog with the keys.
If anything, my biggest nitpick is the ending. It's unfair, I think, to end a movie on a cliffhanger (as if anyone in Hollywood cares about fair, I know), because I really believe each film should stand on its own. This one can -- only if you're willing to see the next one to find out what happens to our band of merry and not-so pirates. And, you know, I am, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
I found it a little surreal that I didn't have to explain anything about the mythology of Davy Jones to my nine-year-old...since he thinks he knows all about him thanks to SpongeBob. Okay.
Spoilers within, so read at your own risk.
and aside from a rant about filmmakers who seem unable to resist the temptation to masturbate with very long, if remarkably well-staged, fight/action scenes, just because they know boatloads of people are going to buy tickets, I loved it.
Loved New!Scruffy!Norrington, maybe the most, and loved Davy Jones and his slimy Tentacles of Doom (not to mention his oh-so-very-goth Organ of Doom, and yes, I mean the musical instrument). Loved the obeah and her treehouse, loved (and by loved I mean love to hate) the new villain, Beckett. Very suavely evil and dripping with self-assurance and condescension. Well-plaued. Jonathan Pryce broke me, wigless and desperate. Jones's crew was nicely icky, although most of them seemed to have been evil from the get-go, rather than bitter and resentful of their fate. Bill Turner's appearance was a lovely surprise, and Stellan Skarsgaard played him beautifully.
Sparrow seemed a bit more mincing in this one, which surprised me, but I haven't watched The Black Pearl in a while. I was also surprised by how often he was truly selfish. The metaphor of the compass and heart's desire was either a misdirect or not handled very well, I think, although I loved the fact that he returned to the Pearl only to have Elizabeth chain him to the ship to face his death.
Elizabeth and Jack's attraction seemed to come out of left field and was presented with a whole hell of a lot of shorthand. The triangle between Sparrow, Will, and Elizabeth was always there, but Elizabeth's sudden curiosity was hard to swallow. "I thought I'd be married by now" as a come-on? Also, as if being married to anyone was good enough, if it meant she could finally find out what all the sexual fuss was about? I didn't buy it.
I'm nitpicking more than I thought I would. I really enjoyed it -- the scary bits and the funny bits especially. The extended action sequences grated on me, but they always do. I don't need to see things blown up (or, you know, attacked by giant squid) as much as the next girl, I guess. The giant hamster wheel, as others have called it, was funny for about a minute and a half. Same with Jack escaping the natives disguised as a giant shish kabob. In all, I thought there were one too many storylines included, although if you asked me to pick which one to toss, I don't think I could. They did entwine them pretty efficiently, and I wouldn't get rid of Scruffy!Norrington for the world.
So much stayed with me, even overnight -- the image of Elizabeth kneeling in the rain at the beginning, and the surprise appearance of Barbosa at the end. Elizabeth's wedding dress floating in the sea. Jones pounding at that organ, with the dark cathedral of his quarters arched above him. And of course all the little refences and jokes, the Laurel and Hardy pirates (I can't remember their names) "saving" the ship, the running joke of the rum, the dog with the keys.
If anything, my biggest nitpick is the ending. It's unfair, I think, to end a movie on a cliffhanger (as if anyone in Hollywood cares about fair, I know), because I really believe each film should stand on its own. This one can -- only if you're willing to see the next one to find out what happens to our band of merry and not-so pirates. And, you know, I am, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-16 05:31 pm (UTC)And I'm happy you enjoyed it!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-16 07:58 pm (UTC)I'd love to see it again, preferably in a more comfortable theater. I don't know -- I can nitpick, but in the end I loved it, because it is mostly what I expect it to be. Swashbuckling, love, adventure, comedy, et al. I feel the same way about Harry Potter -- first and foremost it's going to be a fun, fantastic read. It's easier for me to make more of the themes and symbols and meanings in Potter, but that's true for me with most books over movies anyway. I think there's a lot in Pirates that resonates on a lot of levels -- it's just that some days I'm more willing to sit back and simply enjoy the pretty. ;-)