A Refreshing Piece of Old Fashioned Swashbucklery

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2003)

It's not going to be the best film you see this year, maybe not even this month or this week...but it's refreshing and entertaining all the way through thanks to some smart direction, a clever script, and a delightfully off-kilter performance from the master of such turns, Johnny Depp. Here's the reasons I liked this movie so much:
1. Johnny Depp is a hoot. Jack Sparrow is by far one of the strangest yet most endearing anti-heroes ever to grace the screen. You never know if he is drunk, crazy, or cleverer than you. All of Depp's quirks and mannerisms and line readings keep you constantly off guard and entertained.
2. Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of some of the biggest film travesties ever ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor") actually hired a director who can sustain a shot, control epic scenes, pace a film, and set atmosphere without tricky camera movements or overused special effects (finally a summer movie where the effects aren't wall to wall CGI and actually seem special). By delivering this after "The Ring" Gore Verbinksi proves he is the best for-hire/hack director working in Hollywood. He's into the old-fashioned razzle-dazzle type of film-making, you know the kind that doesn't give you a headache and has some scope and where you can actually tell what is going on in big action set pieces. He can do family films ("Mouse Hunt"), horror thrillers ("The Ring"), and now big-budget action adventures. Though he shows no signs of being an auteur or having any kind of grander scheme to his work, I can't wait to see what he tackles next.
3. The film has a bloated run-time (almost two and a half hours) but it's not because it takes itself too seriously or knocks you out with set piece after set piece. You see, for the first thirty to forty minutes this film actually provides exposition and develops characters. What a novel idea! I had almost thought Hollywood forgot how to do that.
4. Last, but certainly not least, Kiera Knightly. She's got spunk, she's hot, has a British accent, and some of the most natural acting chops of any young actress working today.
It made me forget that it was based on a Disney theme park ride and that Big Jerry B bankrolled the whole shebang. All in all a heck of a good time.