PotC: At World's End (reactions, spoilers!)

[Mouseferatu]

Piratey night tonight.

I liked At World's End. I did. It's a good movie.

But that said, I think it's the weakest of the three. It just lacked some of the spark of the previous two, and it could have used some tighter editing. There were a few points where it felt a bit ponderous.

Still, the least good of a great trilogy is still pretty good. And the action set pieces are friggin' amazing.

A few warnings, though. First, don't assume you can turn your brain off. While I don't understand the critics claiming it was "impossible to follow"--I can only assume they were drunk--it does require that you pay attention and piece some things together.

Second, it's even more "out there" than the second movie was. The first Pirates movie was a period action movie with a heavy supernatural element. This one? This is a fantasy movie, pure and simple. The fact that it's set in a different time period than most doesn't matter; it's no less a fantasy than Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia. I think that change in feel may bother some people. Even I, huge fantasy fan that I am, took some time to get used to it.

I think there's room for more in the series, and I believe I read that Depp was up for it. But if so, it needs to focus on Sparrow, Barbossa, and some new characters. No more Elizabeth, no more Will. Their stories are done, fully and completely. We need never see those characters on screen again.

But there's more fun to be had with Jack and Hector.

Overall? I'd give it a 7, maybe 7.5, out of 10.

 

[Hypersmurf]

There were parts that were too long, and the Jack-talks-to-himself scenes didn't work for me.

The fight in Singapore - unlike most other fights in the films so far, I thought, but like so many of Hollywood's fights today - was filmed too chaotic and close-in to really appreciate any of the action.

I didn't care for Giant Calypso at all.

I think I'd agree with "weakest of the three".

That said, I'd go see it again Monkey Jack stole every scene he was in I loved the layers upon layers upon layers of betrayals. And the last forty-five minutes or so were pure unsullied awesomeness - despite having just as much chaos as the Singapore fight, it didn't get so messy that you couldn't follow stuff.

Someone made a comment when the trailer came out, with the Pearl and the Dutchman circling the Maelstrom shooting at each other - "I wanna play in that game!" Having seen the whole sequence, I see no reason to dilute that sentiment

-Hyp.

 

[Remathilis]

Good movie. HATED the ending. (Course, I missed the after the credits part, but it did little to redeem the ending). I guess I emotionally invested too much in all those characters to have THAT be their fates.

Reminds me of Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions. Good movie dragged down by sequels trying to do too much.

I've sounded off. Later.

 

[Aeolius]

I'd agree that, while the movie was awesome, it was the weakest of the 3. Granted, if you consider it to be "Pirates 2.5", it works a lot better. I'd see it again in a heartbeat. I'll be getting the soundtrack and DVD, when available.

There were scenes that seemed to drag and others where you dare not blink, for missing the action. I'd agree that, should the series continue (PLEASE!!!), we've seen the last of Will and Elizabeth. I'll miss Tia Dalma. Davy Jones showed us how to get around Will's new "limitation", at any rate.

Notice that Keith Richards is credited with one of the songs, in the end credits. Odd that only a handful of folks stayed around for the obligatory final scene.

Here's hoping that Disney World makes a ride based on the action scenes in THIS movie! capsizing ships, maelstroms, riding inbetween the Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman... now THAT'S a ride!

 

[DonTadow]

I liked it a lot, and comparing it to the previous three, it does come in three, but they were all good to me (2 is the best to me). No new villians were introduced which knocked it down. It ended very well though, I thought. I'm glad there was no Disney happy ending.

A solid 8 for me. I went in with low expectations after getting my hopes up for spidey 3. I didn't find the plot too hard to follow, but apparently a lot of reviewers did. It's a popcorn summer movie, how hard could it be. Apparently critics like if you don't explain something (ala spidey) than spending time to describe and explain it.

I hope that we see a sequal but Will and elizabeth's story is over. I thought the ending suited well. They still love each other and are together but sometimes destinies go different paths. The key is can they make a different movie than the first three with just Depp (who did say he'd be up for a fourth) and Barbosa. I hope so.

BTW, what happened at the end of the credits. It was 3 in the morning and though i was tempted to stay i could barely hold my eyes up.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Saw this last night and I gotta say I didnt think that it draged at all. I'm not surprised that movie critics couldnt keep up with the story (these are some of the same people who couldnt follow the first Mission Impossible movie, which had a fairly linear and typical espionage plot) it actually requires you to piece things together often at the same time that some of the characters on screen are doing the same thing.
Much of the setup from the 2nd movie is paid off here also I liked the the nods to things from the first film.

Dead Man's Chest and At World's End are really one film and before you sit for At World's End you should sit for the first two just prior to see where all the pieces fit. Whether you like HOW they fit is up to personal preference but this film was a nice conclusion to Will and Elizabeth's story.

And the fight around the Maelstrom was FRAKKING AWESOME.

I do have one or two dissapointments primarily having to do with the handling of one of the heavies from Dead Man's Chest but other than that I liked it. ALOT.

 

[Remathilis]

BTW, what happened at the end of the credits. It was 3 in the morning and though i was tempted to stay i could barely hold my eyes up.

Spoiler:

Spoiler

Will comes back to the beach, ten years later, to meet Elizabeth and Willy the third

 

[Kunimatyu]

The movie was a chaotic hunk o' junk with issues, but that's not to say it wasn't entertaining.

The "Locker" scene felt completely out of place, as did "Attack of the 50-Foot Tall Woman". The maelstrom scene was kickin' rad, and oh yeah, DAVY JONES MINDFLAYED SOMEONE. You KNOW that was a D&D shoutout!

In general, Davy was completely awesome in this movie - I loved his leering "do you fear death?" whenever a character was brought to the brink(though it would have been cooler if someone had taken him up on it), and his swordfight was amazing.

I did not like the "multiple-Jacks" scenes - I don't think we really needed to know why Jack is so crazy - but Barbossa stole the show in every scene he was in -- it was easy to see why the crew abandoned Jack for him at the end.

The "Calypso" and "nine pieces of eight" MacGuffin stuff should never have been in the film, especialy as they weren't even hinted at in the second. I also wasn't wild about the Pirate Lords setup, it felt way too forced - pirates don't have big organizations!

In general, I think the movie would have benefited from being less fate-of-the-world -- there was plenty of drama and pathos just in the stories of the main characters, without a global East India Company plot.

 

[DonTadow]

Spoiler:

Spoiler

Will comes back to the beach, ten years later, to meet Elizabeth and Willy the third

Awesome. Tragic and happy all at the same time.

 

[jonathan swift]

Count me as another one who really liked it, though I'll say it was my favorite of the three. I really liked the focus on Will as in both this and the second movie he was by far my favorite character.

Bring on the fourth one, fountain of youth indeed.