Awesome

Rating: 8/10 (5 October 2015)

This is such a gem of a movie. It came out of nowhere and with little expectations, reigniting film fans' love of pirate adventures. The fact that it had no expectation contrasts with its sequels, which is why it was probably so successful. You've got the classic pirate villain (played brilliantly by Geoffrey Rush – my favourite character of the films), great CGI, and some incredibly witty scenes. Let's not forget Jonny Depp's outstanding, unforgettable and charismatic portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow. It seems he was supposed to be an appealing supporting character, and yet shoved the cliché love plot out of the way and made the film his own. Very little can be said of this film in a negative light. It was clever, witty and sharp. One of the true achievements, however, was that it wasn't too witty and sharp – it knew its boundaries, unlike the sequels. The seriousness of the situations these characters were put in felt real. Therefore, we cared about what happened to them. Despite my eagerness for the upcoming film, I can't see it topping The Curse of the Black Pearl. In fact, I can't see any pirate film surpassing one of the landmark movies of the past decade, aside from Master and Commander. Great Stuff.