Not At Wit's End Quite Yet

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2007)

Let's start off with this. It's not that bad. There's the basic summary. Now for the long version....
I walked into this film worried about it. Would it sink to the unbelievable low of 'Spider-Man 3', or would it be a fine, flavorful piece of entertainemnt, ala 'Shrek the Third'? It turns out this threequel winds up somewhere in between those two films on my list. 'At World's End' is not nearly as cringeworthy as Spidey, but it lacks the special sauce that make the Shrek threequel such a great summer surprise. The main problem is the plot. This film picks up where the last one left off, with the crew of the Black Pearl hunting for Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, carrying the film as usual), who is trapped in a strange purgatory full of crabs (hey, I don't make this stuff up). It's an interesting idea that gives FX greats ILM plenty opportunity to dream up plenty of eye candy, but the fact that Depp doesn't appear for the entire first quarter of the film hurts the story's momentum greatly. Instead, we are treated to more of the semi-romance between Keira Knightley and Orblando-scuse me, Orlando Bloom, and the introduction of a disappointing new baddie, Sao Feng (Chow-Yun Fat, whose spiritual demeanor does not lend itself to roles of mustache twirling villainy). When we finally do pick up with Captain Jack, it's a breath of cinematic fresh air, and, for a while, the film returns to the anything-goes, tossed-in-the-air style that made parts 1 and 2 of the series great marvels of escapism. But than, as the film reaches its final stages, it becomes a cluttered, dull heap of subplots. So much time is spent on the needless backstories of characters like Tia Dalma (an obnoxious role played with Rasta-esquire fervor by Naomi Harris) and James Norrington (Jack Davenport does what he can), that the script begins to kill of characters at random in a sloppy attempt to divert back to the main plot without leaving the many smaller stories open-ended. But for all it's storyline complexities, the film's ending practically screams "Pirates 4!". If one can ignore the story long enough to appreciate the other aspects of the film, they will find imaginative visuals, some strong performances, and a final action setpiece among the best ever committed to celluloid. But in a film that is part of a trilogy promising escapism, a convoluted plot shouldn't be a problem. A solid film, though the worst in the 'Pirates' trilogy.