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

[John Q. Mayhem]

Spoiler

Hmmm...and she didn't seem to have aged at all in that 10 years...

 

[Elf Witch]

Spoiler

Hmmm...and she didn't seem to have aged at all in that 10 years...

That's true but she was only around 17 at the start so she is now around 27 a lot of woman do 't age that much between those years.

 

[Hypersmurf]

In that case I sure hope he wasn't alive when 'ol Bootstrap removed his heart with that knife.

I think the stabbing of the heart is simply done to remove the old Captain of the Flying Dutchman and is also a kind of declaration of intent. The actual becoming of captain isn't solidified until your heart is removed and placed in the chest.

That's just my interpretation of what I saw of course.

Hmm. I saw him as already being the Captain, with his first duty being to put his heart in the chest.

So removing the heart wouldn't kill him (unless Bootstrap slipped with the knife).

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

According to the film's writers, the curse of The Dutchman is broken if, after the ten years, the captain's lover remains faithful.

Huh. I didn't get that at all; I got that the Dutchman was a duty, not a curse; the 'curse' (all that fishiness etc) only came on if the captain eschewed that duty.

The faithfulness of the lover had nothing to do with the curse directly; it was merely that Calypso's unfaithfulness led to Jones skipping out on his job. It was Jones' rebellion that led to the curse; Calypso was merely a contributing factor.

-Hyp.

 

[Aeric]

According to the film's writers, the curse of The Dutchman is broken if, after the ten years, the captain's lover remains faithful.

That's ridiculous. They established in this movie that Davy Jones wasn't cursed so much as burdened with a responsibility. He was supposed to ferry the dead to the afterlife. If the "curse" is broken, then who's going to do that job?

Also, the green flash was said to indicate a soul's return from the (land of the) dead, and since Will wasn't dead in the first place, it wasn't significant in that respect. It seemed to indicate that someone crossed the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead, one way or the other. There was a green flash when the Dutchman disappeared with Will for the first time, supporting this theory.

A lot of this movie was confusing. For example:

Sao Feng talking to Elizabeth as if she is Calypso, and her reacting as if she was. Someone had to explain to me that he assumed she was Calypso by the way everyone was treating her and because she was the only woman around (Tia Dalma didn't interact with Sao Feng, IIRC). BUT, as one of the nine Pirate Lords, he must have been there when they bound her in the first place. And I can understand Elizabeth being canny enough to go along with the misunderstanding in order to get one over on Feng, but there should have been some kind of initial reaction on her part to communicate this. Something like "what are you talking about? I'm not--oh! I mean, uhh...." Funny and effective, and certainly fitting with the tone of these movies.

I agree with previous posters that the whole Calypso thing was unneccessary. We already knew that Jones was in love with Tia Dalma and that she wasn't faithful to him. She didn't need to be some sea goddess for this to be important. I figured that Calypso would be AWE's new villain, and that the two fleets would have to team up together at the end to take her out once and for all. That would have been cool. All she did was create a whirlpool. Big deal.

I also found the change in story about the true nature of Davy Jones from DMC to AWE to be jarring and confusing. In DMC, he was this sailor who was spurned by a woman, and so he reacted by becoming this terrible demon of the sea. I can dig that, it goes along with the theme of curses established in CotBP. In AWE, he became this sympathetic ferryman character who became twisted because of his obsession. Why did he cut out his heart? In DMC, it was so he would never feel the pain of Dalma's betrayal again. In AWE, it was a job prerequisite for the ferryman. Was it so the captain wouldn't miss his loved ones? It obviously didn't work in Jones' case, since it was his feelings that twisted him into the monster he became. Jones' dereliction of duty didn't make sense, either. There were the floating bodies which were supposed to be guided by Jones to the afterlife, but what about the ones in the boats? They seemed to be doing okay, besides, y'know, being dead.

Despite all of the confusion, there were some great elements in this movie. All of the stuff with World's End reminded me of Baron Munchausen or Time Bandits, and the crabs inexplicibly helping Jack get the Pearl back into the water led credence to his story about sea turtles, even though we know that was a tall tale. The town of Shipwreck was just plain amazing-looking, like something out of a Final Fantasy game. And the pirates we met there looked awesome, especially the Spanish pirates and, of course, Teague.

 

[Hypersmurf]

BUT, as one of the nine Pirate Lords, he must have been there when they bound her in the first place.

Er, no.

After all, Elizabeth is one of the nine Pirate Lords. Therefore she must also have been there when they bound her in the first place?

Remember, Pirate Lord is an office, that can be passed from generation to generation... Sao Feng isn't necessarily (I'd say almost certainly not) the man who held that office when Calypso was bound.

And I can understand Elizabeth being canny enough to go along with the misunderstanding in order to get one over on Feng, but there should have been some kind of initial reaction on her part to communicate this.

I also found the change in story about the true nature of Davy Jones from DMC to AWE to be jarring and confusing.

I agree with both of these points, though.

-Hyp.

 

[jonathan swift]

They mentioned in the movie that it was the original nine pirate lords that bound Calypso. It seemed to indicate that had happened a long long time before.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Give it a solid 8, I enjoyed it. It had everything I like in a movie, witty lines, action, a good plot, it did not try to be more than it was, flow, bounce, special effects and pirates. Fights were well done but I do wish there were more ship to ship battles.

 

[Remathilis]

While we're on the topic of plot holes:

Pintel: Once we're quit of the curse, we'll be rich men. And you can buy an eye what actually fits and is made of glass.

Ragetti: This one does splinter something terrible. [rubs it]

Pintel: Stop rubbing it.

but now Ragetti has been keeping one the Pieces of Eight safe all this time? If that was his duty, he wouldn't have wanted to replace it.

 

[Nyaricus]

My opinion of At World's End?

I liked it.

However, out of the three PotC movies, it was very possibly the weakest, but I wasn't a big fan of Dead Man's Chest, and it's been awhile since I watched it (which lead to some confusion over plots, but more on that later) so I'm none too sure.

I thought this movie was trying to do waaay too much in it's three-hour length. I think the whole Calypso element was superfluous to the plotline, and just added confusion to the movie's flow (the whole Chinese Pirate Lords reaction to Elizabeth and then the revelation of the true Calypso a scene or two later just seemed too fast and skipped-over). Not to mention the fact that Calypso wasn't even mentioned in Dead Man's Chest; it was just a set-up for the (yes, amazing) maelstrom scene - which was hardly necessary plot-wise. Calypso was an excuse to get in an amazing battle, and I'm still on the fence on whether it was worth it or not.

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.

I think this point was my main problem with At World's End - I could barely remember anything from Dead Man's Chest. I completely forgot that Elizabeth betrayed Jack, and thus the movie was harder for me to follow due to so much interaction between DMC and AWE.

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.

Also, this is another problem I had with the movie - while I enjoyed the fantasy elements in the movie (those crabs moving the Black Pearl were awesome!) I wasn't expecting such a big transition. It was very jarring.

cheers,
--N

P.S.

DAVY JONES MINDFLAYED SOMEONE. You KNOW that was a D&D shoutout!

I know, I totally started laughing at that part