![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castaliaArrr! And other pirate type phrases. Saw PotC today with my mum at the 1:00 matinee! I enjoyed it thoroughly and am completely in love with Captain Jack Sparrow.
Well, unlike most people, I didn't get the previews for either Hidalgo or The Last Samurai. Instead, I got previews for Second-Hand Lion (or something like that) starring Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Haley-Joel Osmond (looked cool, I might see it); a new Disney movie about some sort of tribal dude who gets transformed into a bear; and some others that were kinda boring, so boring in fact that I've forgotten them entirely. Oh well.
Anyway, on to the pirates. I was glued to the screen right from the start, beginning with the nicely creepy prologue bit. Then it jumps ahead timewise to Port Royal in what I'm going to guess is sometime early in the 18th century. The movie implies that it's toward the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, so I'll say around the 1720s or so. Lovely setting, and I particularly liked the costuming. Plenty of lobsters scattered around, looking festive in their red uniforms.
I liked Governor Swann and Elizabeth Swann right off. Jonathan Pryce does a good job throughout, lending some comedy to the movie without being a buffoon. I'll say now that I give major points to Kiera Knightley for portraying a female character in an action movie I actually liked. There are a few times when I wish she'd stop screaming, but she does rally round and start to kick some ass. Wilting flower, she is not. Bravo, Elizabeth.
On to Orli. I rather liked Will Turner as well; even though he's a pretty standard underclass hero type, he had just enough facets to be interesting. Orlando also gets to display his excellent swordsmanship - out of all the actors, I'd say he has the most skill in that area.
Now for the real reason everyone should see this movie. I've never really paid much attention to Johnny Depp before, but this role has converted me.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ealgylden put it best in her review - "His performance is so funny, so clever and so... just... weird, that it kidnaps the entire movie and holds it in its thrall."
That's it in a nutshell. He's just ineffable. Depp was evidently given a lot of leeway to develop the character as he saw fit, and what a job he's done. The *walk* is just amazingly cool. It's sort of a combination of the type of rolling gait any long-time seafaring man would have plus a flouncy strut, resulting in an effect that's both sexy and thoroughly gay. Add to that the dreadlocks, the eyemakeup, his costume (including jewelry and other metal that clinks when he walks), and the rest of the body language (facial expressions, gestures, accent, and other flourishes) and you've got the coolest pirate to hit the silver screen in decades. A drunken drag queen. As others have pointed out, he not only chews the scenery, he makes a four-course meal of it. From his adorably quirky entrance to his triumphant exit, he steals the show.
The plot requires you to give yourself up to the fantasy of the story, and it's wholly satisfying when you do. I loved Captain Barbossa and his un-dead crew, who embodied everything evil pirates should be: ugly, cruel, vicious, and avaricious. They also had their comic scenes, but my favorites were the creepy "skeleton-mode" sequences, especially the underwater advance towards the end. Brilliant.
Speaking of Captain Barbossa, he's a fitting match for Jack, as he eats nearly as much scenery. Geoffrey Rush is the perfect pirate villian and was obviously having a great time in the role.
In regards to the technical/historical stuff, this maritime buff was quite pleased. The ships were absolutely gorgeous, from the speedy little vessel (I think it might've been a frigate...now I can't remember how many masts it had...might've been a brig or brigantine, or maybe a snow...or perhaps a three-masted square-rigger...must find some pics to make sure) Jack commandeers, to the larger ship (possibly a 74, but maybe not that large, couldn't tell) Norrington commands, to the delapidated Black Pearl. I wasn't quite as happy with the cannon work (the recoil looked a trifle slow, and some of the fort guns seemed to be manned by too few men) but the overall effect of the battles made up for it. There's an amazing sequence between the Black Pearl and the fast-ship-whose-name-I-don't-recall where they face broadsides and let each other have it. I totally squeed out loud when I saw them use chain shot, which I don't think I've ever seen before in a movie. Very cool!
They did very well on the little details as well - such as having cannon in the captain's cabin - but for some reason didn't include much nautical jargon. I know it can be completely incomprehensible, but I would've liked to have heard more of it. I also rolled my eyes at the "walking the plank" scene, as walking the plank is one of those odd associations that don't have much basis in reality. Walking the plank was quite rare, as far as we know, but has been forever linked with pirates, perhaps due to Barrie's Peter Pan and a few paintings depicting such scenes. Still, they were only made to walk the plank with the purpose of marooning, so it's forgivable.
Probably the best fight sequence is the sword duel between Jack and Barbossa in the cave. The effects dept. earned their paychecks here, with the characters dancing in and out of the moonlight, necessitating numerous shifts between human form and skeleton form. Impressive.
The music...what can I say about the music? I hadn't heard much of the composer before this movie, but I'm quite pleased with his results. Lovely brass, lovely drums, and some lovely slow bits as well. Reminded me of the Muppet Treasure Island score in some ways (more of the Hans Zimmer influence there). Damn Disney for delaying the release of the CD, b/c I want to buy it.
I hadn't mentioned him much until now, but by the end I was rather fond of Commodore Norrington. He was supposed to be, if not a bad guy, then an inconvenient killjoy, but for a character who had to come out the "loser" he took it with remarkably good form. He was obviously an honorable officer in His Majesty's Navy, who saw to his duty and honestly cared for Elizabeth. Cute, too. I like him.
I must say, although I was expecting this to be the first big slashtastic movie of the summer, I didn't really see much opportunity for slash, at least not between Will and Jack. There are a few moments towards the end, with Will risking pretty much everything to save Jack's life, and the two of them fighting back to back, but, likeealgylden, I was convinced Will did indeed love Elizabeth, while Jack was in love with his ship (and possibly himself).
However, there was an equivalent to the gay rhinos from Ice Age, two even! Throughout the movie, we see a pair of bumbling lobsters (names unknown) and a pair of equally bumbling pirates (names also unknown, at least by me) who are never without each other. Not the most fetching pairings, but obvious nonetheless :) They did leave the movie open for a sequel (which I'm told has already been planned), so perhaps we could let Jack have Norrington. The good Commodore will most likely be chasing him in the sequel anyway.
This movie has renewed my faith in movies set at sea. I often lament the lack of good sea epics these days, but perhaps the trend is changing. I doubt pirates will ever lose their romantic, enchanting appeal, nor is European naval history lacking in heroes or exciting battles. If the new Patrick O'Brian movie, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, succeeds as well, we may be able to keep this genre afloat.
Well, unlike most people, I didn't get the previews for either Hidalgo or The Last Samurai. Instead, I got previews for Second-Hand Lion (or something like that) starring Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Haley-Joel Osmond (looked cool, I might see it); a new Disney movie about some sort of tribal dude who gets transformed into a bear; and some others that were kinda boring, so boring in fact that I've forgotten them entirely. Oh well.
Anyway, on to the pirates. I was glued to the screen right from the start, beginning with the nicely creepy prologue bit. Then it jumps ahead timewise to Port Royal in what I'm going to guess is sometime early in the 18th century. The movie implies that it's toward the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, so I'll say around the 1720s or so. Lovely setting, and I particularly liked the costuming. Plenty of lobsters scattered around, looking festive in their red uniforms.
I liked Governor Swann and Elizabeth Swann right off. Jonathan Pryce does a good job throughout, lending some comedy to the movie without being a buffoon. I'll say now that I give major points to Kiera Knightley for portraying a female character in an action movie I actually liked. There are a few times when I wish she'd stop screaming, but she does rally round and start to kick some ass. Wilting flower, she is not. Bravo, Elizabeth.
On to Orli. I rather liked Will Turner as well; even though he's a pretty standard underclass hero type, he had just enough facets to be interesting. Orlando also gets to display his excellent swordsmanship - out of all the actors, I'd say he has the most skill in that area.
Now for the real reason everyone should see this movie. I've never really paid much attention to Johnny Depp before, but this role has converted me.
ealgylden put it best in her review - "His performance is so funny, so clever and so... just... weird, that it kidnaps the entire movie and holds it in its thrall."That's it in a nutshell. He's just ineffable. Depp was evidently given a lot of leeway to develop the character as he saw fit, and what a job he's done. The *walk* is just amazingly cool. It's sort of a combination of the type of rolling gait any long-time seafaring man would have plus a flouncy strut, resulting in an effect that's both sexy and thoroughly gay. Add to that the dreadlocks, the eyemakeup, his costume (including jewelry and other metal that clinks when he walks), and the rest of the body language (facial expressions, gestures, accent, and other flourishes) and you've got the coolest pirate to hit the silver screen in decades. A drunken drag queen. As others have pointed out, he not only chews the scenery, he makes a four-course meal of it. From his adorably quirky entrance to his triumphant exit, he steals the show.
The plot requires you to give yourself up to the fantasy of the story, and it's wholly satisfying when you do. I loved Captain Barbossa and his un-dead crew, who embodied everything evil pirates should be: ugly, cruel, vicious, and avaricious. They also had their comic scenes, but my favorites were the creepy "skeleton-mode" sequences, especially the underwater advance towards the end. Brilliant.
Speaking of Captain Barbossa, he's a fitting match for Jack, as he eats nearly as much scenery. Geoffrey Rush is the perfect pirate villian and was obviously having a great time in the role.
In regards to the technical/historical stuff, this maritime buff was quite pleased. The ships were absolutely gorgeous, from the speedy little vessel (I think it might've been a frigate...now I can't remember how many masts it had...might've been a brig or brigantine, or maybe a snow...or perhaps a three-masted square-rigger...must find some pics to make sure) Jack commandeers, to the larger ship (possibly a 74, but maybe not that large, couldn't tell) Norrington commands, to the delapidated Black Pearl. I wasn't quite as happy with the cannon work (the recoil looked a trifle slow, and some of the fort guns seemed to be manned by too few men) but the overall effect of the battles made up for it. There's an amazing sequence between the Black Pearl and the fast-ship-whose-name-I-don't-recall where they face broadsides and let each other have it. I totally squeed out loud when I saw them use chain shot, which I don't think I've ever seen before in a movie. Very cool!
They did very well on the little details as well - such as having cannon in the captain's cabin - but for some reason didn't include much nautical jargon. I know it can be completely incomprehensible, but I would've liked to have heard more of it. I also rolled my eyes at the "walking the plank" scene, as walking the plank is one of those odd associations that don't have much basis in reality. Walking the plank was quite rare, as far as we know, but has been forever linked with pirates, perhaps due to Barrie's Peter Pan and a few paintings depicting such scenes. Still, they were only made to walk the plank with the purpose of marooning, so it's forgivable.
Probably the best fight sequence is the sword duel between Jack and Barbossa in the cave. The effects dept. earned their paychecks here, with the characters dancing in and out of the moonlight, necessitating numerous shifts between human form and skeleton form. Impressive.
The music...what can I say about the music? I hadn't heard much of the composer before this movie, but I'm quite pleased with his results. Lovely brass, lovely drums, and some lovely slow bits as well. Reminded me of the Muppet Treasure Island score in some ways (more of the Hans Zimmer influence there). Damn Disney for delaying the release of the CD, b/c I want to buy it.
I hadn't mentioned him much until now, but by the end I was rather fond of Commodore Norrington. He was supposed to be, if not a bad guy, then an inconvenient killjoy, but for a character who had to come out the "loser" he took it with remarkably good form. He was obviously an honorable officer in His Majesty's Navy, who saw to his duty and honestly cared for Elizabeth. Cute, too. I like him.
I must say, although I was expecting this to be the first big slashtastic movie of the summer, I didn't really see much opportunity for slash, at least not between Will and Jack. There are a few moments towards the end, with Will risking pretty much everything to save Jack's life, and the two of them fighting back to back, but, like
ealgylden, I was convinced Will did indeed love Elizabeth, while Jack was in love with his ship (and possibly himself).However, there was an equivalent to the gay rhinos from Ice Age, two even! Throughout the movie, we see a pair of bumbling lobsters (names unknown) and a pair of equally bumbling pirates (names also unknown, at least by me) who are never without each other. Not the most fetching pairings, but obvious nonetheless :) They did leave the movie open for a sequel (which I'm told has already been planned), so perhaps we could let Jack have Norrington. The good Commodore will most likely be chasing him in the sequel anyway.
This movie has renewed my faith in movies set at sea. I often lament the lack of good sea epics these days, but perhaps the trend is changing. I doubt pirates will ever lose their romantic, enchanting appeal, nor is European naval history lacking in heroes or exciting battles. If the new Patrick O'Brian movie, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, succeeds as well, we may be able to keep this genre afloat.