Finally, a Great Swashbuckling Movie!!

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2003)

The best thing about "Pirates of the Caribbean" is that it does THE one thing that seems to be rare in movies today - it actually tells a STORY! It is a true-blue pirate story - full of pirates, ghosts, treasure, ships battling at sea, etc. Johnny Depp is brilliant as Captain Jack Sparrow, playing his character with such a uniqueness and abandonment, he is unlike any character ever seen in American films. Geoffrey Rush's performance as Captain Barbossa is in the stratosphere - he plays his pirate character with such an evil subtleness that he is extremely convincing as a pirate. But it is the entire cast (including all the secondary quirky characters) that really makes this film. The screenplay by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio takes the audience where every pirate movie fan wants to go.
Very impressive is the direction by Gore Verbinski, for the pacing of the film is near-perfect. He did a wonderful job with the swordfighting scenes - for they are not as overly choreographed as we have seen in recent films, but they have a real touch of reality to every move. The cinematography of Dariusz Wolski is first-rate, as this movie is visually wonderful to view, as the movie-going audience becomes swept-away into another world.
"Pirates of the Caribbean" is a movie for everyone. It may not be a perfect movie, but it's a great swashbuckling movie for the movie-goer who just wants to escape. Just the performances of Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush alone are worth the price of admission. Young girls seem happy with the addition of Orlando Bloom to the cast, then you add the very elements that pirate fans would want in a movie, you have the perfect ingredients for a wonderful time and experience at the American cinema. Hollywood should take notice - if a good story is told (and not rely solely on special effects, CGI and/or explosions), then people WILL flock to the theater every week and attendance records would be broken every year.