Pirates of the Caribbean 3 movie review

I liked Pirates 3 (At World’s End). Not as thrilling as the first (which I saw three times) and not as bad as the second (which I found difficult to sit through…thank god for those cushioned seats!).

I probably enjoyed Pirates number 3 because (it hasn’t got all that many good reviews) I tried hard not to compare it to the first one. If I had, it would have not lived up to my expectations. Another reason I liked it was that Johnny Depp (can’t help it, he is my favorite actor) was good and he was funny. He saved the movie from deteriorating into a confusing saga of convoluted sub-plots. However, I got to admit that Depp is getting repetitive in his role of the pirate Jack Sparrow. There’s nothing new at all, and the freshness is gone. I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy Pirates 4- if there is one.

The movie begins with Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley) rescuing Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from Davy Jones’ Locker, a mysterious hell where one can go mad, which Sparrow almost does. But as he already slightly mad, one doesn’t take his bizarre behavior (he sees many avatars of himself) too seriously. From then on its a mission full of suspense and intrigue as all of them try to wrest and stab Davy Jones heart and also try to organise all the pirates into one army to fight the enemy. But the Octopus Pirate Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) turns out to have made a deal with the enemy.

Everyone has his own selfish agenda, except for Will. He is a true hero because he wants to save his father even though it will mean that he will have to ferry the dead for as long as ten years, instead of his father. This could mean the end of his romance with Elizabeth…and there are some poignant moments here. However the scene where he proposes to Elizabeth in the midst of a heated battle is a bit over the board. And kind of reminiscent of other movies.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Elizabeth being crowned first as a Pirate and then as the Pirate King. It was a treat watching her prancing around in high boots and acting the toughie. No, not just acting. Elizabeth, everyone finds out, is made of steel.

The ‘sets’ in the movie are superb, specially the one in Singapore or even the place where Jack is trapped in hell on a bleak icy landscape with just his ship for company. The characters, straight out of a fantasy, do not disappoint either. Each one of them wierd and fantastic, with a peculiar and strong personality of his own. The battle scenes on the ship are deftly done, like in the earlier movies. The director, Gore Verbinski has managed to whip together a technically superior movie and cobbled together a medley of believable ‘human’ characters, even if they weren’t all human.

Many reviewers have been critical of the length (2 hours 48 mins), but used as I am to Bollywood movies I found the length tolerable. There was action almost throughout.

Overall, the movie was worth a watch. The ending however was not all happy, and left one wondering if the producer has a sequel in mind. I think he (Jerry Bruckheimer) should forget about it. Three are enough.