Great fun but the script is a travesty

Rating: 4/10 (2 June 2007)

These movies are silly. It's not a criticism, just a fact. They are silly and goofy and light. They utilize juvenile humour, harebrained gags and far-fetched scenarios and ideas. And the films are completely dripping with clichés and kitsch, especially the third installment. But all these elements  which I would consider glaring flaws in any other film  are forgiven simply because I wouldn't expect anything different from this genre. The key is that the trilogy never takes itself seriously. It basically announced, right off the top from the first film, that it would be a silly, light, wacky, action-packed action-adventure-comedy. So you're actually looking for the silliness, the lame gags, the juvenile humour. This is not a movie I would expect deep character development from, or even basic movie logic. I expect to have a swashbuckling, action-packed, light, entertaining and just plain fun and enjoyable time at the cinema when I see this  nothing more, nothing less.
In most fields, At World's End delivers unquestionably. It contains action scenes and set pieces that completely dwarf those in the first two installments. The final showdown is worth the admission price alone. Because of the film's nature and edifice, which may be the loosest and broadest of any film, the creative team can essentially do whatever comes to their tremendously creative minds  in all the fields. Indeed just thinking of and constructing these set pieces requires an immense sense of creativity and a complete disregard of logic or physics.
In actuality, the Pirates of the Caribbean films are a dream come true for the creative fields of film-making. Production designers and costume designers essentially have total and utter freedom; because the film is set in a pseudo-fantasy period setting, they basically can design whatever wacky ideas come to mind. Indeed the production and costume design in this film is second to none, completely incomparable and totally unconventional, but looks absolutely fantastic and is wildly creative. The designs of the Singapore city and especially of the Shipwreck Cove construct  entirely made of wrecked ships all stacked and piled up into these massive towers  are astonishing and dazzling. The same can be said of the costume design, which is just fantastic and incredibly imaginative.
The film is also a complete masterwork in the technical fields, especially in the special effects sphere. The filmmakers spared no expense and hired the best effects team Industrial Light & Magic had to offer  and the result is more than obvious on screen. The practical and model effects are almost as impressive as the mind-blowing, completely unbelievable CGI work, which just looks completely realistic, absolutely convincing and is integrated perfectly into the actual footage more so than any other movie of this type in recent years. Even Spider-Man 3 had some dodgy and unconvincing CGI work  Sony's mistake was insisting on creating their own effects instead of hiring an external (and more experienced and professional) company to deliver the high-expectation goods. Well, At World's End more than delivers in this department, so much so that the effects that were so mind-blowing in the second installment, Dead Man's Chest (namely the fish-pirates and Davey Jones himself) are almost taken for granted in this film. If you think about it, these creations are nothing short of astonishing, but they're just so convincing and realistic, you don't even think about it. And that is the biggest and primary sign of good CGI work.
That said, the film has one glaring flaw that really hampers the entire experience: the script. This is the usual result of starting to shoot a movie without a finished script, but the story just feels and unfolds as if it were made up as they went along, instead of actually planned ahead of time  even more so than Dead Man's Chest, which also suffered from this problem. But At World's End is so confusing and awkward, it makes the plot in Dead Man's Chest seem actually quite logical and clear. The film essentially has one basic story element: the pirates of the world are facing extinction and band together for one final showdown against the armada of the East India Trading Company. The problem is that everything leading up to this showdown is so unbelievably confusing; it's surprising to learn that only two screenwriters worked on the script. I didn't even bother trying to follow after a while, but I'm sure that if I had I would notice glaringly wide plot holes, and that most of the characters' motives have absolutely no continuity whatsoever. For instance  considering the new information we discover about Tia Dalma in At World's End, one begins to wonder why, at the end of Dead Man's Chest, she volunteered to help the gang rescue Jack Sparrow in the first place? Indeed this is a major problem in the film, not only because it's absolutely impossible to follow or understand just what is going on at any given moment, but also because it is so unbelievably easy to create a story that makes sense. They managed to do so in the first film, and I think that a little more ironing on the creases in this screenplay and they could have reached something truly excellent. Because the general concept is great; it's just everything in-between that makes no sense whatsoever.
Despite this, the film does have some moments where it truly shines, and one scene in particular involving a certain cameo everyone had been talking about since the first film is worth all the confusion that is the film's plot and the frustration in trying to understand it and organize it in your head. Combine these immaculate scenes with the great set pieces, action sequences and amazing technical and creative work, and one is almost ready to forgive the total travesty that is the script. Almost.