A Brave Finish

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2007)

After a year of anticipation, I finally got to see the final chapter of the Pirates trilogy. As a die-hard fan of the series, I had high expectations, and this one definitely met them. I thought it was visually stunning and had a storyline far superior to Dead Man's Chest. Although At World's End didn't have much new to add, it did have the hefty task of wrapping up all the loose ends (and there were quite a few) that Dead Man's Chest produced. It did this wonderfully. The graphics and visuals, as usual, were stunning. One element of the movie that I really liked was the writers' technique of dividing the audience's sympathies. There wasn't one villain that I could intensely hate in one scene but then feel very sorry for in the next. One thing I didn't like was Keith Richards's cameo. It was so publicized and highly anticipated, but in the end he was given so little to do and some people in my audience didn't know that the man was Jack's father. The writers were definitely brave in writing a bittersweet ending that is definitely not happy or Hollywood-perfect. I also liked that they brought back Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa. He added great comedic presence. All in all, this is my second-favorite of the trilogy and I loved it.