Swash, buckle and camp it up!

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2003)

This was the 'surprise' movie at the close of the Cambridge Film Festival - and lived up to its billing. At no time during this lengthy movie did my attention waver . This was an occasion where the driving sondtrack did aid the pace of the film, and did not obliterate the action, but complemented it.
Johnny Depp excelled himself, archly camp for much of the movie. The fight scenes were all excellent, though my personal preference was the first one between Johnny Depp's Captain Sparrow and Orlando Bloom's Will Turner. Lots of small humourous notes - the false eye being struck by a fork being a personal favourite! I'm left wishing I could look as great as Johnny Depp does in his make-up - that stays immaculate throughout, and the energy he invests in the part makes him clearly the pivotal role in the movie, wise-cracking all the way. I'd never normally go to watch a film with this kind of story line - now, I can't wait for it to open in the UK on August 8th - go see!