So, Pirates 2...

[castalia]

Went and saw PotC2 this evening in Llandudno with the usual crowd. I'm still deciding if I liked it or not.

No, really. I dunno, maybe it's due to my cold and feeling so ill lately, but I can't muster up very much squee for this.

Okay, I have lots of squee for the Kraken. A lot.

Norrington gets the next greatest amount of squee. Norrington was hot and dirty and bitter and I loved him. I'm still not sure what he was on about at the end there, why he'd take the signed papers back to Beckett and what reason he'd have for giving him the heart, but I'm going to trust he has a very good reason.

I dunno, I just had a lot of issues with this movie. It felt...rambling. Like all the threads weren't tied together very well and it went on a bit too long for the second movie in a trilogy. I didn't like the whole cannibal island thing (ouch, racial issues much? That was horrible.) or Jack being so willing to condemn 100 souls to save his own. I didn't like the lack of Anamaria, or how her "replacement character of color" had such a stereotypically strong accent that I couldn't understand half of what she said. I didn't like the excessively drawn out sword battles with the three boys and the wheel thing (really guys, just shag already), though it did give us some amusing reaction shots.

I really disliked the way they negated Norrington's gracious acceptance of Elizabeth's choice of Will in the first movie by having him blame Will for his misfortune in this one. Come on, she and Will are engaged, so do we really need all three male leads fighting over her once again?

It's the 2nd movie in a trilogy, so I suppose one can expect it to be the dark one, but damn, are they sure this was for kids? They sure went for the gore in the beginning (birds ripping out eyes? Ugh.) and there was a lot more visual death in this one. The main characters were all very dishonest and selfish and there was a lot of backstabbing going on - well, even more so this time - which makes them interesting, yes, but not very admirable.

The tri-cannon thing annoyed me. Just, no.

Where was the snappy dialogue this time round? Sure, there was some good stuff, but the bulk of it was reworked from the first movie. I wanted some new, highly quoteable stuff.

I suspect I won't have my opinion fully formed until the third movie comes out and all these threads can be tied up properly. So far I'm just a bit disappointed by what they've done character-wise and the plot didn't seem very coherent.

I did love lots of things about the movie, if not the movie as a whole. I liked Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, whee!), though he and his crew gave the film more of a monster movie feel to it than a pirate movie. I loved Pintel and Ragetti. I loved the effects and the really great CGI (Davy Jones' head, especially, the face had so much texture!). I loved Jack's entrance, b/c Jack always has to have a great entrance. I liked Bootstrap. I even liked Gov. Swann a lot more this time round.

I missed my gay lobster OTP.

The music = blah. Hans Zimmer, how very unoriginal of you. Yes, I liked hearing the PotC theme again, but there was a decided lack of new and shiny things.

Barbossa showing up was so not a surprise but I still squeed anyway. Yay, Barbossa! Eating an apple, even! Bless.

So yeah, mixed feelings. Lots of squee for the Kraken and for Norrington, a bit iffy on the rest. But still looking forward to part three, and maybe a second viewing when I'm not feeling so blah will make me like it more.

Oh yeah, highlight of our trip to the cinema? Tom got into Finn's fancy dress party warddrobe stock and dressed as a pirate for the night - he's the type who can really pull it off, and he makes a habit of dressing up for movies. It got us special treatment at Pizza Hut, which was helpful. Then right before the movie there was this long pause of silence in the theatre so Tom waited until just the right moment to let a nice loud "arrrrr!" which cracked up the entire audience (it was a full house). Just perfect timing.

Obviously missed Dr Who tonight in favor of Pirates, so will watch tomorrow. Am remaining unspoiled, so flist is off-limits. Am also still sick, so really must go to bed now. I get a lie-in tomorrow!

Comments

[gritkitty.livejournal.com]

Your response to the movie is far better thought out than mine. If I'd written one. I think the gist of my post was squeee!

I am totally with you on the Norrington love. And I am willing to see where he goes in the third movie. I liked that he was so bitter and ruined. Takes the polish off him, and isn't that just what we Jack/Norrington shippers want to see? See him pay a little for his ambitious stick-up-the-butt attitude in the first movie? And when I say "we" I mean me, hah, and when I say "pay" I mean "take it from Jack." I hope Norrington doesn't remain all bad because he *did* accept his loss of Elizabeth, but I don't want him to be all good, either. Because it's still up to him to catch pirates.

I'm sooo with you on the three-barrel cannons, too. Too cheesy even for this movie (and that's saying something).

As for the stereotypes, the frenetic action, and even the microwaved leftover banter, none of that put me off. I sort of expect it; it's like meta commentary on a lot of things, in a way. Disney, for one. *snerk* But the movie is all about "over the top," and boy, did it deliver.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

Aw, I liked his stick-up-the-butt attitude, if only b/c he was totally put in the role as the "guy in the way/bad guy" role and yet was clearly the best man around. I like taking the shine off him, but I do still want him to be mostly good. Though damn, to see him as a privateer? That is quite a shiny carrot to dangle in front of this fangirl...

I'm just so curious to see where this will be going in the next film. I really hope they'll pull it off. I don't want this revival of pirate movies to die any time soon.

[deborak]

Tandem reply to both gritkitty and castalianspring as I'm not at home and I'm drowning trying to seize stray moments to keep up with LJ . . . we saw it last night.

I was not a big fan of movie #1, so there wasn't a large potential for disappointment here. Norrington has always been the only character I liked, so I really enjoyed seeing him have a bigger role and win the prize at the end. I thought the tri-barrel cannon was totally cool. Why not? It's not like the rest of the ship had any realism to it. I really liked the bayou witch, maybe because I didn't have trouble understanding her accent at all. I don't remember what became of Barbarosa in the first film, so his reappearance was unremarkable for me, beyond wondering where the hell he's getting granny smith apples in the tropics.

I was also having terrible deja vu about most everything in this film because so many plot elements were similar to my Peg Dick comic of ten years ago. Everything from the kraken fight to the natives to the snarky remarks about "sharing the dress" so I think that depressed me quite a bit.

[yunitsa.livejournal.com]

the three boys and the wheel thing (really guys, just shag already)

Hahaha, that's exactly what I was thinking. And yay, Norrington!

Have just got back from seeing it and full of squee, though with reservations somewhat similar to yours. Need to do a post of my own about it soon...

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

Norrington really stole the movie, from the reactions I'm seeing on my flist. I'm so glad to see him getting so much love this time round!

[cimmerianwillow.livejournal.com]

I've seen several responses alot like yours on my flist. There were some unqualified "omg i loved it!" reviews of course, but a lot more with mixed reactions. Don't know when i'll get to see it.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm seeing mostly mixed reactions. I wish I could see it with you, b/c I'm dying to chat with someone about it but although some friends here are geeky enough to talk about the meta implications of the sequel, there's no one who would listen to my thoughts on the slashy implications of the new Sparrington dynamic. Argh!