Highly Recommended

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2017)

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL - 2003
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley
Plot Overview: ​Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) arrives at Port Royal in the Caribbean without a ship or crew. His timing is inopportune, however, because later that evening the town is besieged by a pirate ship. The pirates kidnap the governor's daughter, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), who's in possession of a valuable coin that is linked to a curse that has transformed the pirates into the undead. A gallant blacksmith (Orlando Bloom) in love with Elizabeth allies with Sparrow in pursuit of the pirates.
The movie equivalent of the phrase 'Lightning in a Bottle'. Such a fun, inventive, creative and enjoyable movie that was seriously sensational considering it was based on a ride. It is a swashbuckling adventure and a heck of a ride from beginning to end. It is just so much fun.
The plot for the movie is overly complicated for a movie of this calibre. But if you peel back the overly complicated layers, it is a very fun and entertaining adventure at heart. I also really like the ending. It is such a perfect way to end the movie. Inventive, entertaining and fun. That is the heart and soul of the film translated into 5 minutes.
​ Johnny Depp was great in this film, back when he acted not 'stumbled onto set for all that $$$'. ​CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow is a great, fun, likable character. Again, back in the golden age of 'effort'.
I am really not a fan of Orlando Bloom and I do not see the appeal of him as an actor. He wasn't that great in this movie and neither was the character. Turner wasn't likable, funny or entertaining. He didn't fit with the movie tonally and was just a bore to watch. Keira Knightley was good as Elizabeth Swan. I bought her performance for the most part. As far as her character goes, Swan was just a generic love interest for the first half but as she slowly becomes an empowered and strong female character, I really liked her. One thing I could really have done without was the love story between Bloom and Knightley. It wasn't even that well done and love is the LAST thing on my mind when I think about Pirates.
​ Geoffrey Rush is incredible as Captain Hector Barbossa. You can tell he was having so much fun and relished every moment in the film.​ As an antagonist, Barbossa was both threatening and funny, which blends the world of pirating and this film's tone perfectly.
​ Other supporting roles, such as Mr Gibbs(Kevin McNally) and James Norrington(Jack Davenport) were all pretty good and they were at least interesting.
​ The effects are pretty impressive and look decent. Not realistic but they have a fun, goofy nature to them which I think fits in tone with the overall film. The cinematography in the movie was very good and it looks very nice. The editing can sometimes get a little dodgy, especially during some fight scenes. Thankfully, it isn't that frequent and the action was still thoroughly enjoyable. Both the costume and set design were excellent. And the score for this movie is one of the most memorable scores since the year 2000.
The humour for this movie works very well for the most part, with Depp and Rush being clear standouts for it. ​
The action is, when you can see it, very fun and inventive and enjoyable to watch. Clearly a lot of effort was put into it and I applaud the actors because I think they did their own sword fighting and whatnot.
​ The Curse of the Black Pearl is a very fun ride from beginning to end and I can highly recommend it. It is definitely worth a watch. I'll rate this film 8 'Savvys' out of 10.