Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End Review

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2007)

The movie begins with a hanging. The sky is black and the scene is ominous. People cryingbrought to the gallows, in rows. The executioner is relentless, pulling the lever. Moviegoers get a view of the rows of feet hanging limply after the life has been strangled out of them. And a little boy, not older than ten, is brought to the gallows. He sings. He dies. And the signal to call the Brethren Court has happened.
So starts director Gore Verbinsky's third installment in the Pirates trilogy. With loads of amusing humor from old friends Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and enemiesCaptain "Hector" Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), this movie was sure to prove an exciting end to the series.
Pirates had its moments, to be sure. Jack Sparrow and his ridiculous stand-up comedy lines, bickering pirate friends. The list goes on. Unfortunately, so did the movie. After a whopping 2 hours, 39 minutes (not counting the 9 minute credits), I left the film with more questions than answers. First, after such a well-crafted and dark entrance, the movie was sure to be good. Perhaps Gore Verbinsky has never heard the statement beforeI found it once on a fortune cookie: It is good to begin well, but better to end well. Yet I will not even venture to say that if you enjoyed the first two movies you'll enjoy this one. Because after watching and having fun with the first two installments, this one did not ring true for me. Secondly, the film was just too long. I found myself shifty in my seat occasionally, wiping my buttery hands on the coldness of the metal panels on the sides of the seat. It is disappointing that I can remember the many distractions of my experiencea good movie should wipe those from the mind.
The action was brilliantly done. The fight scenes were also very realistic, with the camera swerving in and out at hundreds of different angles. Nevertheless, for such realism (disregarding the fact that supernatural individuals were crossing swords and any other item they happened to have to fling at one another), there is a cost. These said scenes were confusing to view, and occasionally dizzying to my mind. It is very difficult to distinguish what is happening, besides the occasional pan-shot. At these rare moments, I found myself finally swallowing the whole pictureonly two seconds later it's again jolted from my view. Overall, I found this to be irritating and dissatisfying.
If you could pin a theme to this movie, it would be: "Take what you cangive nothing back." It seems to be the theme and code of what the pirates govern themselves with. However, another as a general rule (and theme, as so to provide a tie-in) to directors trying to break tradition: do not end a trilogy with more questions. It's a bad idea and really annoys film-goers.
Since I've been dwelling on mainly negative aspects of the film, stay for the credits if you wish to see a two minute scene. I will not disclose the content of it here. Also, Han Zimmer's score was fantastic. The man is a genius, and is almost god-status to me now. I stayed for the credits expecting a scene at the end, but the real reason that kept me glued to my seat (or bouncing in it, whichever you prefer to partake in) was the incredible, powerful and awe-inspiring music of Mr. Zimmer.
To sum things up, this movie has an identity crisisit gets lost in the glorification of action and adventure, and loses sight of what made the first two truly enjoyable. Verbinsky combined a little action, love, humor, suspense, plot-twists, supernatural curses, gold, dialogue, and rum to make the moviegoer leave the theater laughing and talking. Pirates 3 had major imbalances of many of these, and the combinations proved fatal to the life of the movie.