I Liked This A Lot

Rating: 8/10 (14 December 2003)

I never believed I was going to enjoy CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL as I stuck it in the DVD player . After all it was produced by Jerry Brukheimer who's only real critically acclaimed film BLACK HAWK DOWN is down more to director Ridley Scott rather than producer Bruckheimer and let's not forget he also produced Armageddon and PEARL HARBOR two of the most obscene wastes of money Hollywood has come up with in recent years . In fact I would have paid good money NOT to have seen either of these films
The production team seem to have taken a leaf out of the Peter Jackson book of film making by casting hunks as heroes with Shakespearian trained actors in the supporting roles . The cast are very good . Johhny Depp was atrocious as an English police inspector in FROM HELL but here as Jack Sparrow his camp English accent is entirely in keeping with the tone of the film . It also makes good business sense too , just think of the amount of 20 something woman who'll go to watch Depp play a swashbuckling rogue . Same with Orlando Bloom who's incredibly popular with a teenage girl audience . Keira Knightley ? Yeah she's really fit but like these other much hyped English Roses such as Julia Ormand in LEGENDS OF THE FALL and Kate Winslett in TITANIC I doubt if she'll be a household name many years from now , she is good as the ballsy heroine in this though . The always under rated Jonathon Pryce is slightly disappointing probably because like so many great stage actors he's not very good with camp humour . By an ironic contrast Geoffry Rush gives the best performance as the villain , a performance that may see him get an Oscar nod as best supporting actor
There does seem to be a lot of debate as to how well this film will do at the Oscars . I very much doubt if it'll be up for best picture or director ( It is a fantasy film and this genre is always over looked by the academy ) but it does deserve a handful of technical award nominations in the fields of cinematography , editing , sound , costume design and special effects . Unfortunately it's going to be up against RETURN OF THE KING and MASTER AND COMMANDER which means a probable empty treasure chest for these pirates which is a pity
***** SPOILERS *****
No review of mine is complete without a few grumpy complaints so here they are : Once again the Brits are shown to be stupid and incompetent but that's Hollywood for you , while there's a serious plot hole at the end where it's revealed that Jack Sparrow has been suffering from the curse all along so how did he manage to stay out of the moonlight without anyone noticing his skeletal state ? And how did he manage to get drunk on rum ?
But no matter I liked this movie and I thought I'd I never say this but I hope to see the words " Produced by Jerry Brukheimer " a lot more in the future
Update - Sorrymy mistake . Jack wasn't suffering from the curse all along . Thanks to the forty or so people who wrote to me pointing this out