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

[Hypersmurf]

I think this point was my main problem with At World's End - I could barely remember anything from Dead Man's Chest.

That's why I watched 1 and 2 on DVD in the days leading up to 3's release

I tend to do the same with series of novels - if it's been several years since book 3 came out when book 4 is released, I'll reread the first 3 before diving into 4...

Not looking at any author in particular, George.

-Hyp.

 

[DonTadow]

That's why I watched 1 and 2 on DVD in the days leading up to 3's release

I tend to do the same with series of novels - if it's been several years since book 3 came out when book 4 is released, I'll reread the first 3 before diving into 4...

Not looking at any author in particular, George.

-Hyp.

I did too and this helped raise my liking of POTC. Probably why i liked it more than spiderman, which i watched the first two before too, but had little to do with the previous 2 films.

 

[Snapdragyn]

Too many points scattered throughout to use spoiler tags, so skip this if you haven't seen it.










I actually liked AWE better than DMC... possibly even better than CotBP, though it's really too close to call there. I fully enjoyed the fantasy nature (I kept thinking 'oooh, that'd be cool in a game! and that! and THAT!), something I actually disliked in DMC (it just didn't sit as well with me there for reasons I can only put down as personal taste). I felt that the thematic elements were wonderfully poetic (Will stabbed with the sword made by his own hand, Calypso (goddess of the unpredictable sea) not being there for Jones after 10 years because 'it was her nature', the final tragedy of Will & Elizabeth).

There were pieces that I didn't like. Will's heart being cut out was an absolute plot error. It is revealed earlier in the film that this did not happen w/ Jones because he became the captain of the Dutchman, but was something he did to himself after Calypso's betrayal of him (or his betrayal of her; that point is intentionally unclear, but that it is unconnected to his role as ferryman isn't). Will's heart being cut out, then, is pointless at best, & at worst sets up the possibility of him being corrupted from his duty by a lack of emotion (as they've alluded to the mythical 'emotional' role of the heart before). Also, although I loved the poetic beauty of the tragic ending, I also hated it for being a tragedy -- as someone else mentioned, Will & Elizabeth's 'happily ever after' has been central to the films since the beginning, & now that is destroyed (although the Wikipedia spoiler someone linked is very interesting in that regard, & if that is actually what was intended then I can think of no other editting room cut in film history which has so drastically altered the emotional impact of a film).

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Finally got around to seeing this one. Have to give it an 8 out of 10. A fun movie certainly, but not sure if DMC or AWE was the weaker of the two films.

The whole Calypso angle wasn't really needed, especially just to set-up the maelstrom bit.

I was kinda hoping it would have been Jack that did the on-ship wedding of Will and Elizabeth, but the way Barbossa did it worked.

Also kinda bummed about Will and Elizabeth's tragic romantic ending, although that Wikipedia spoiler is rather interesting. I do agree that their story has ended. Although I have to wonder regarding the whole "Flying Dutchman needs a captain" was meant to draw upon classical myths and legends of a ferryman for the dead, and that Davy Jones was just that time period's version of the ferryman. Could have ditched the Calypso and Pirate Lords angles to go into a bit more detail. Maybe it's possible that the "heart carved out" was more due to Davy becoming cursed?

 

[John Crichton]

There were pieces that I didn't like. Will's heart being cut out was an absolute plot error. It is revealed earlier in the film that this did not happen w/ Jones because he became the captain of the Dutchman, but was something he did to himself after Calypso's betrayal of him (or his betrayal of her; that point is intentionally unclear, but that it is unconnected to his role as ferryman isn't). Will's heart being cut out, then, is pointless at best, & at worst sets up the possibility of him being corrupted from his duty by a lack of emotion (as they've alluded to the mythical 'emotional' role of the heart before).

It was well established that the captain of the FD would have to have his heart put in the Dead Man's Chest to be immortal. That was the point of the heart - it's what establishes the immortality. I took it plainly to be a the price that was paid for that immortality. I could easily see the fickle Calypso demanding this of Davy.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Will's heart being cut out was an absolute plot error. It is revealed earlier in the film that this did not happen w/ Jones because he became the captain of the Dutchman, but was something he did to himself after Calypso's betrayal of him (or his betrayal of her; that point is intentionally unclear, but that it is unconnected to his role as ferryman isn't).

Was this ever revealed by anyone other than Tia Dalma?

-Hyp.

 

[Relique du Madde]

While we're on the topic of plot holes:



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.

Not really a plot hole. During the meeting they said that the pieces of 9 were any trinket owned by the pirate lords at the time of the meeting. It's assumed that this item has to hold some significance (which is why a lock of jacks hair with a strand of beads was used).

Before the meeting Barbosa picked up Ragetti's eye and "marked it" by licking and biting it. By doing this, you could say that Barbosa was telling Ragetti that his fate is in his (Barbosa) hands and so long as he keeps the eye safe nothing will happen to him.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Not really a plot hole. During the meeting they said that the pieces of 9 were any trinket owned by the pirate lords at the time of the meeting. It's assumed that this item has to hold some significance (which is why a lock of jacks hair with a strand of beads was used).

Before the meeting Barbosa picked up Ragetti's eye and "marked it" by licking and biting it. By doing this, you could say that Barbosa was telling Ragetti that his fate is in his (Barbosa) hands and so long as he keeps the eye safe nothing will happen to him.

The Pieces of Eight were originally trinkets owned by the Lords at the first Court. Once they were used to bind Calypso, those specific trinkets were now Pieces of Eight.

Ragetti's eye has been a Piece of Eight since the first Court. The crystal that Sao Feng gave to Elizabeth has been a Piece of Eight since the first Court - it's the trinket the original Lord of the South China Sea had in his pocket at the binding ceremony.

Jack's Piece of Eight wasn't a lock of hair plus a strand of beads; it was a small metal disk that was threaded onto the strand of beads in his hair. Barbossa cut off the whole lock of hair, but he was only after the metal disk attached to it, because that disk has been a Piece of Eight since the first Court.

Those nine bits of junk have been carefully guarded and passed from Lord to successor since the first Court. Barbossa couldn't show up at the Court and decide "For today's ceremony, I'm going to say this feather from my hat is a Piece of Eight". He needed the trinket that the Lord of the Caspian Sea used in the binding ceremony - the wooden eye.

-Hyp.

 

[Taelorn76]

The whole cut out his heart thing got me as well.

They stated in AWE that Jones only cut out his heart after the first 10 years and Calypso's betrayal. There was no reason for them to have to cut Will's heart.

 

[Saba Taru]

I have to give this one a 9.5 out of 10, and here's why:

It didn't hit me until

Spoiler

they sailed through the ice on their way to the underworld to retrieve Jack from the Locker

, but the entire series was retelling the "Rhime of the Ancyent Marinere." Once that dawned on me, so much of the CotBP and DMC, coupled with AWE, made perfect sense. I went back and watched the first two to be sure I wasn't imagining it, but it really, really does fit.

With that said, AWE was easily my favorite of the three.

Saba