“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney Pictures)
Depp Charges the Final Installment
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy comes to a close with the latest segment “At World’s End.” This final installment is the best of the three movies because it combines more adventure, more comedy, and more romance with the magic that is Johnny Depp. Still you better have studied the first two movies’ plots because there is no recapping here. The moviemakers assume the audience knows the backstory so off they go.
Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and Barbarossa (Geoffrey Rush) track down Chinese pirate leader Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) and ask his aid in taking them to the land of the dead at the world’s end. Meanwhile Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is working on getting Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) involved. The goal is to go to the land of the dead and bring back Jack Sparrow (Depp) who is trapped there.
Of course the treacherous Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander) is in constant pursuit and has some dirty tricks up his sleeve. Plus Will is not really out to help Jack but rather wants to rescue his father from Davy Jones’ ship. As you can tell there are plots and subplots galore in this movie and it is almost impossible to keep them all straight.
The secret to enjoying the movie is just to go with the flow and let the plot take you where it will. It is more important to listen out for the one liners that fall from Jack Sparrow’s mouth. Depp tosses them off with a devil may care attitude and it makes for hilarious moments in the movie. But he is not the only funny one. There are some lesser characters who also get in some laugh-getting moments.
Plus Keira Knightley has never been more beautiful than in this film. She and Bloom recapture the ardor of Will and Elizabeth’s love and serve it up with gusto. Even in the midst of battles at sea there is time for romance.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
When I saw the first “Pirates” I was mildly entertained because I wasn’t expecting much. The second “Pirates” disappointed me because I expected it to be oh so much better than it was. This final segment of the trilogy amazed me because I was expecting another dreary film like “number two” and it isn’t. It is long – two hours and forty something minutes – but it has to be to get it all in there.
The ever delightful Depp and his cast of truly brilliant actors make this “Pirates” a rollicking, romantic extravaganza of fun. Don’t expect to understand it, but do expect to enjoy it.
One word of information. Stay until the end of the credits as there is a key scene there that will impact your enjoyment of the movie.
I scored “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” a treasured 7 out of 10.
