Author:
Susan
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Date Posted: 01:55:29 07/14/03 Mon
Just saw the movie tonight. (Am I the only one here who's seen it yet?) I thought it was pretty good overall, and I really enjoyed the extended ride. They really paid attention to detail, making you feel like you're really in the 1720s Caribbean--apart from a few inaccuracies that jumped out at me (only because I've done way too much reading about pirates) ... For example, they seemed pretty liberal with the candles aboard the ships, even in rough seas, when, in real life, fire aboard a ship was a constant hazard and was very carefully controlled. (Smoking was forbidden for that reason.) Also, even though it's repeatedly acknowledged that women were "bad luck" aboard pirate ships, not only is a female prisoner taken, but one crew has an undisguised female crew member. It seems unlikely that there would be not one but *two* pirate ships with women aboard in the same vicinity. (That was usually part of the ship's articles, but another thing that surprised me was all the talk about the "pirate's code" and the right to parlay, which says prisoners were always allowed to speak to the captain before being executed. I'm surprised I've never run across the concept in all my reading about pirates. I thought each individual pirate ship had its own rules, not that they all belonged to some sort of pirate federation.) I've also read that they usually didn't refer to themselves as "pirates," which not only had negative connotations but could put them in danger of being hanged if overheard.
The movie was kinda long (2 hours and 10 minutes, plus credits), but, unlike some reviewers, I didn't think it was too long. The story kept moving--although, maybe it's just me, but I did find the plot difficult to follow in a few places. (For example, toward the end, with three different crews, it was hard to keep track of who was aboard which ship and how they got there--seems like everyone kept changing places!).
Also, it was sometimes difficult to understand the dialog--and it was usually the punchlines/snappy comebacks that I missed! Johnny Depp's character, Captain Jack Sparrow, is supposed to be slightly mad, but often his excentricities consisted of just slurring his speech a lot. (It didn't help that the sound seemed to be muffled.) Otherwise, I thought he was pretty good. His character is a lot like Long John Silver--beguiling, clever, and always on whichever side can benefit him. He gets a lot of his fashion sense from Blackbeard. (They never do explain where the eyeliner comes from!) And there's a little bit of Errol Flynn thrown in, with all the swashbuckling and derring-do.
As the romantic lead, I thought Orlando Bloom suffered from a severe lack of charisma, and the female lead, Keira Knightley, seemed a little too delicate to be convincing as the rebellious and resourceful heroine.
My favorite, of course, was the villainous Captain Barbossa, played by Geoffrey Rush, the character most influenced by Robert Newton. My only complaint was that he was too restrained! He could have been a bit more colorful in more ways than one (not only was there too much grey in the night-time scenes, but the lack of contrast made it hard to see what was going on at times). IMHO, he should have been more over the top or at least gotten a lot more screen time. His were by far the most interesting scenes.
In an obvious homage to Robert Newton, Rush actually gets to utter the "Arr" word once (the only occurrence in the film)--and often seems to be straining to avoid using it more liberally! Overall, he could've been a lot more dastardly, especially since, unfortunately, I doubt we'll be seeing him in the sequel.
In short, I'd have liked to have seen a *lot* more of Geoffrey Rush Versus Johnny Depp and much less of Orlando Loves Keira.
Other than that, there was *lots* of great swashbuckling, and, if you're a fan of the ride that started it all (inspired by the 1950 film that started it all, naturally!), you'll get a kick out of seeing some of its scenes acted out by live actors, and keep your ears open for some its memorable lines. ("Strike yer colors, ye bloomin' cockeroaches!" Barbossa yells. Etc. They even sing the "Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me" song a couple of times.) Also, I thought the music (by Hans Zimmer) was awesome.
BTW, be sure to sit back and enjoy the music till the credits are over so you can catch the *real* ending of the movie! (Yes, there are rewards for us compulsive credit watchers.)
Overall, I'd give it an 8 out of 10.
OK, your turn ... I'm dying to know what other RN fans thought of it.
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