For I have seen the Pirates of the Caribean and the verdict is……meh
The most common complaint about Pirates seems to be that the movie contains too much action and not enough character development, and furthermore that the characters themselves (Notably Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley) are dull. While I found the movie underwhelming, I disagree with both of these criticisms.
First off, Orlando Bloom’s character isn’t supposed to be terribly compelling; he’s the straight man to Depp. He just needs to serve as a counterpart to the kookiness and get the girl at the end. The problem lies in the fact that the movie doesn’t allow Bloom to do this, instead separating the two for virtually the entire film. The movie also fails to use the possibilities inherent in the Norrington-Bloom-Knighley-Depp quadrilateral to its fullest effect.
In terms of the actions within the film, the problem, in my eyes, is not that there is too much action rather that the action is the wrong kind. Instead of good old-fashioned swashbuckling, we get a variety of outlandish stunts that seem more concerened with being over-the-top than actually making sense or looking cool (how many times do we need to see people in something circular getting rolled all over the place?). If you go back and watch the first movie you’ll notice a much different tone in the action.
Although I’ve leveled a lot of criticism at Pirates, it’s not actually that bad of a movie, certainly worth a rental. The special effects are pretty sweet and Depp is, as always, amusing. Davy Jones and his fish people are also rather well done, although not as distinctive as the skeletal crew from the first film, mostly due to the fact that they get less screen time and, well, are fish people. On the whole, the movie is well done as well with some cool sets, notably the voodoo ladies hut, and Verbinski is certainly a fine director (The Weather Man was quite good). However, as someone who loves movies about the Age of Sail (Master and Commander = teh 1337 r0×0r) I wanted more. The movie just seems to be missing something.
Although I have to say any movie that features my favorite monster, the Kraken, gets bonus points from me.
