Good, Rollicking Fun

Rating: 7/10 (18 August 2003)

The film was about 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is getting rarer to see these days with all the arguing between studios and directors about which cut of films we see in theaters. The movie wisely does not ever take itself seriously, as pirate movies have been done many times before far better. The granddaddy of them all is The Sea Hawk, 1940, with Errol Flynn; there are subtle tips of the hat to this film in Pirates Of The Caribbean, such as the "sea monkey." The Crimson Pirate, 1952, with Burt Lancaster is a close second; there is a real nice ode to Burt Lancaster & Nick Cravat in this film. Tyrone Power in The Black Swan, 1942, is also very good. There have been very few pirate movies made in the last 20 years and those that have been made, well... which may be why audiences are welcoming this film so well this summer. Johnny Depp doesn't hurt either to get the targeted demographic into theaters. Orlando Bloom doesn't have a lot to do, playing second fiddle. Geoffrey Rush is almost choking on all that scenery he chews on. Jonathan Pryce plays his part appropriately as the really important person, who is an easily duped oaf. Keira Knightly is ravishing as the girl that needs ravishing. The funny inside joke about the corset scene is that she is extremely rail thin; I would be willing to wager the costumers had to construct a corset that had to appear to be pulled tight around her as none probably existed in real life. I thought the plot about the curse was pretty lame, but it was consistent with the overall preposterousness of the goings-on. It also served as an excuse to provide the real neat special effects, which are obligatory in any "A" budget film these days. The soundtrack contains a jolly good rousing score, which could rival the best of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. I suppose it's asking too much, but I would have loved to see more odes to the pirate movies of yesterday, such as those I mentioned above. For those of you that don't know what I'm referring to, see the above mentioned films. *** of 4 stars.