The Best of the Series

Rating: 8/10 (1 June 2012)

Anyone who says that At Worlds End is a stupid film is very correct. It's completely ridiculous in parts and poorly acted in others; it strains under the weight of its own idiotically high budget; certain scenes truly baffle the mind, and will certainly beg the question of how a trilogy about pirates ended up going to these places.
Here's the thing though: it doesn't pretend it doesn't know how ridiculous it is for even one minute. Rather, At Worlds End revels in its stupidity and blows it up to a scale that dazzles on the big screen. The story may be convoluted, but its a good, strong story nonetheless; Keira Knightley really isn't suited to her role in this film, but its brilliant to see how confidently she is used as Elizabeth Swan; the same goes for Orlando Bloom - he's there because he's there, and for no other reason; the villain, Cutler Beckett, is perhaps the best aspect of the film, and provides a solid antagonist to hinge the film around.
Furthermore, to deny this film of the accolades it deserves for is visuals because of its ridiculousness would be frankly criminal when you consider just what an incredibly well shot film this is, and how visually appealing it is. The CGI is gorgeous, and has aged absolutely seamlessly, certainly outdoing the more recent additions to the POTC series. The battle in the Maelstrom is a real standout, as well as the cinematography for the destruction of the HMS Endeavour.
Much of this odd and very subjective brilliance is down to its nature as a film. It's the ultimate incarnation of the Pirates Of The Caribbean film; a thoroughly Hollywood-ified version of the 18th century Caribbean that glosses over historical accuracies for the sake of entertainment. Only here, it goes further. Rather than trying to be overly serious, or indeed to take itself seriously in any way, it drops all pretences and just goes for it, with the logic seemingly being "if they're gonna criticise this film for the uniforms that the British Navy personnel are wearing and the plausibility of getting from Singapore to the Antarctic in a matter of days, we may as well go all out and a scene where the Black Pearls is carried by hallucinatory crabs over some salt flats whilst Johnny Depp eats peanuts.
This film is so stupid that it ends up being so brilliant. Its Hollywood trash with a proper high quality finish. Big screen entertainment that gives you a bit to mull over on without forcing you to think about what you're watching. It knows you think its stupid, and it carries that and runs with it. The most remarkable achievement though is how, amazingly, it doesn't end up being a huge, catastrophic mess, but rather one of the most entertaining, most visually appealing and most well executed big screen blockbusters ever made.