Swashbuckling action flick is a good summer blockbuster.

Rating: Null/10 (23 August 2003)

I have to admit I was hoping this film would be bad. Never really been a fan of pirate movies, and judging by the trailers, I thought this would be phoney and shallow. `Pirates of the Caribbean' has been receiving mass critical praise since the opening week and I can see why. It has that certain charm about it which is very hard to resist. The plot follows a very familiar outline, but the film comes to life in the swooping visuals and brilliant fight scenes. Essentially, `Pirates' is a B movie but a rather good one at that. While it is immensely enjoyable, is this really a five star movie? It's a big-budget large-scale blockbuster in the vein of `The Hulk' and `Terminator 3' but it hardly pushes the limits of cinema.

The movie is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer- the helm behind similarly themed efforts such as `The Rock' and `Pearl Harbour'- so I can't say I'm surprised that there are so many big bangs throughout. Technical credits are top-notch all across the board. The cinematography, in particular, is a huge stand out. The CG work is good as well, but over showy in parts. Case in point is the scene in which Geoffrey Rush (Captain Barbossa) turns into a skeleton and then drinks alcohol that we see as if we were wearing x-ray specs. While the animated work for that scene is good, the `It's-the-21st-century. -Look-what-we-can-do' effect comes across in an overtly preachy way. But this part is brief so there's no need to go into too much detail with it.

And as your classic adventure movie, there are the three main characters- the hero, the significant other and the hammy villain. Also in there is a jilted lover/ hero #2, but he's perfectly relevant to the plot. Of course, the media are constantly saying `the film has everything! Action, comedy, drama, romance'- virtually 90% of all movies have all those factors. As I said, it all comes down to the action. The cheesy jokes, romantic subplots etc. are okay, but hardly what `Pirates' will be remembered for.
Johnny Depp has the charisma and quirkiness to carry the role of Jack Sparrow. Better yet, he makes the role his own. With the offbeat swagger and cheesy one-liners, no one could have executed the role better. And the hammy villain is perfectly portrayed by Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, who does this comic-style part just as well as the tougher ones. Keira Knightley (I hate that name) would seem like the perfect stereotype, but her character is well written and she brings life to- what could have been- a very flat performance. But Orlando Bloom seems out of place. His character has no charisma, no characteristics, no quirky one liners. And the lines are delivered without credibility. There's such thing as `playing it straight', but this is more wooden than the plank which he walks off of.

And while the closing moments may go on for a bit too long, there's enough treasured moments to be able to forgive all that. And while there is no emotional core that elevates above the level of `a flashy action packed adventure-fest', you probably shouldn't expect one. So if you want an old-fashioned crowd pleaser, you won't go far wrong with `Pirates of the Caribbean'- a film which I'm almost ashamed to say that I enjoyed. My IMDb rating: 6.9/10.