Above-Average Summer Blockbuster

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2011)

The pirates who infested the Caribbean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries may, in real life, have been a murderous bunch of cut-throats, but Hollywood has generally seen them as swashbuckling heroes, as in the Burt Lancaster vehicle "The Crimson Pirate" from the fifties. "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" is a modern film in the same tradition. It is said to be based on a Disneyland theme park ride, although in this context the phrase "based on" probably means little more than "sharing a name with".
The film is set in Jamaica during the late seventeenth century, presumably before the destruction of Port Royal in an earthquake in 1692, as part of the action takes place in that city. There is, however, little attempt at period accuracy, and some of the costumes and uniforms on display seem to date from a much later period, in some cases as late as the 1770s. There are a number of other goofs; why, for example, would anyone need a warming-pan in the tropical climate of Jamaica? The plot is a complex one, which I will not summarise in full. It centres upon the rivalry between Will Turner, a blacksmith, and pirate captain Jack Sparrow for the love of Elizabeth Swann, the beautiful daughter of the British Governor of Jamaica. Despite their rivalry, and Will's detestation of all pirates, the two men have to join forces to rescue Elizabeth who has been kidnapped by Hector Barbossa, captain of the pirate ship the Black Pearl. Barbossa and his men are under a supernatural curse, laid upon them when they stole a treasure of Aztec gold. It transpires that Jack Sparrow was once the captain of the Black Pearl, but lost his command when Barbossa, against whom he has sworn vengeance, led a mutiny against him.
The studio did not hold out great hopes for the film; at one time Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner even wanted to drop the production. In the event, however, it proved an unexpected success, both critically and at the box office, and has spawned three sequels to date. The fact that a major character dies towards the end of the film might suggest that the producers were not anticipating a sequel; the character in question was miraculously resurrected in time for "Dead Man's Chest". There are, I think, two reasons for the film's success. The first is that, despite a complicated and often nonsensical plot, the story is an entertaining one which moves along at a fast pace. The film stays true to the traditions of the pirate film with some good action sequences, including an excellent hand-to-hand duel between Will and Sparrow.
The second reason for the film's success is some highly inventive casting. This was the film which first made a major star of Keira Knightley. The lovely Keira had already had a big success in Britain with "Bend It like Beckham", but was less well-known in America or internationally. In a traditional pirate movie, Elizabeth would doubtless have been played as a helpless, fragile damsel-in-distress. Today, feminist theory frowns upon this sort of portrayal of female characters, so Elizabeth becomes feisty and determined, but Keira is able to suggest an underlying fragility and vulnerability even when her character is at her feistiest. Geoffrey Rush was rather cast against type; I had always previously regarded him as the star of serious films like "Shine" or "Elizabeth", but here he plays Barbossa as a swaggering, semi-comic pantomime villain. Orlando Bloom has a difficult task; Will is, nominally at least, the romantic lead, but he is also rather strait-laced, and at times he seems rather dull by comparison with the film's real star character, Captain Jack.
For it is undoubtedly Johnny Depp who steals the film. Depp is sometimes an eccentric actor, but he is hardly ever a dull one. (OK, he was dull in "Chocolat", but then that was a very dull film). The original intention was that Captain Jack Sparrow should be played as a straightforward swashbuckler, based upon the pirates played by the likes of Lancaster or Errol Flynn. Depp, however, subverted this intention and turned Sparrow into a sort of 17th century rock star- he claims the character was based on Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones- with a slightly slurred diction and a more than slightly camp manner. To traditionalists this must have seemed like an outrageously eccentric interpretation of the role, and yet somehow it works brilliantly, contrasting nicely with the more straightforwardly masculine Will. Depp even received an Oscar nomination for "Best Actor", a remarkable achievement for an action-adventure summer blockbuster. He, more than anyone else, is responsible for lifting "Curse of the Black Pearl" well above the normal standard of such blockbusters. 7/10