pirates

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

U.S. Release Date: 5/25/07
Running Time: 2:48
Rated: PG-13 (Violence)

Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Chow Yun-Fat, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy, Jonathan Pryce, Kevin R. McNally, Tom Hollander, Naomie Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Lee Arenberg, Mackenzie Crook

Director: Gore Verbinski
Screenplay: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
Music: Hans Zimmer
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End contains all the pieces that made The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man’s Chest successful—a killer cast, snippets of comedy, and lots of adventurous action. Sadly, At World’s End is nothing more than a money-grubbing sequel that tries to outdo its predecessors with more ships, cannons, characters, and parlays. In addition, the film forgot one important rule: avoid mediocrity.

When we last left Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), he was condemned to Davy Jones’ locker for eternity. Not for long.

As the Black Pearl descends off the edge of the map, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Will (Orlando Bloom), and the resurrected Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) attempt to rescue Captain Jack from the void of the locker. With assistance from the mysterious Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris) and a pack of other pirates, all involved must unite the nine pirate lords to help defeat Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and the East India Company.

With At World’s End now part of the trilogy, it seems as though the Pirates vehicle was stuck in a ditch after Dead Man’s Chest. Even though the gas is applied in At World’s End, the wheels spin and the car goes nowhere. In the end, the characters converge and a few unexpected twists occur. Blah, blah, blah...

This is what happens when sequels attempt to one-up their predecessors; the result is clutter and chaos. Either everyone involved had too much rum in their system or too much greed in their hearts in making Pirates 3. Walt Disney Pictures’ eye was on the prize not the production. To boot, throwing in Keith Richards, as Captain Jack’s father, only adds cameo cash-in value.

Production miscues aside, At World’s End most ill-advised inclusion is in gathering up nearly all the pirates in existence and putting them on display in a hardly “epic” sea battle. This results in previous villains either changing sides or not appearing as villainous. For instance, Captain Barbossa is now on Captain Jack’s side, Davy Jones looses his wicked intimidation factor by becoming a sap, and the film’s largest threat becomes Lord Cutler Beckett. Sheesh, talk about lacking a threatening antagonist.

In general, Pirates 3 is a cop-out of a third installment. While it’s hefty on budget, it’s slim on quality entertainment. Proof positive of this fact is the Captain Jack hallucination scene; while it’s distinctive and well-directed on its own, it’s also boring and out-of-place amongst the storyline. This sequence comes off more as a short film randomly thrown into the mix than a means of introduction and character development.

To put it lightly, At World’s End is an overly long disappointment; its near three-hour running-time could have easily been trimmed down to two. While the film sporadically impresses and delights, it also simultaneously stabs what the first two films managed to accomplish in the heart.

Post script: don’t miss the footage after the end credits. There is a flash-forward to the future, and one would think that this ten-year jump in narrative closes off the possibility of any more sequels from being told. Maybe not. Who knows? In my opinion, there is one more story to tell. That story is how the pirates arrived at Disney World in Florida. Ironically, that’s where Captain Jack seems to be headed at the end with his map in hand.