Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007)

Directed By: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy, Jack Davenport, Tom Hollander, MacKenzie Crook, Jonathan Pierce, Lee Arenberg, Kevin McNally, Naomie Harris, Stellan Skarsgard, Chow Yun-Fat
Released: 24/05/2007

So we come at last to the end. It’s become something of a modern phenomenon, the trilogy. But who’s to blame for this sudden trend of threequels. 2007 alone sees the release of five “part 3’s” in the summer devoid of original ideas. We’ve had the disappointing, though entertaining Spider-Man 3, and now we have the third part in a trilogy which began life as a theme park ride. So who is to blame, and should blame be associated. In recent years we’ve seen The Lord of the Rings, with its overarching narrative and Oscar winning records. We’ve also seen The Matrix Trilogy, with its seminal original followed by the unnecessary, overblown, bloated sequels which didn’t so much as create a trilogy as make you wish the concept had never existed, and then there was Star Wars, originator of this idea to have three films instead of one, who brought us the prequel trilogy. Well, with the exception LOTR, non of the above have managed the cinematic quality first bestowed us with Star Wars, and it seems that modern cinema is struggling to deliver a third instalment equal to its predecessors, and Pirates is no exception.

Although critically Dead Man’s Chest struggled to garner rave reviews, unlike Curse of the Black Pearl, it did break box office records to the perplexity of everyone. The film was a jolly rollicking good ride with some truly magnificent action sequences and special effects to rival anything ever achieved. And so with the bandwagon rolling, and rolling, At World’s End crashes into cinemas at a bum numbing 168 minutes and for the most part it’s a thrillingly entertaining little yarn. Depp is at his best; Bloom and Knightley go some way to actually acting, though Knightley lets the side down a little with an uninspiring motivational speech before the final hurrah. Rush, Nighy and Chow Yun Fat enjoy themselves thoroughly and the comedy sidekicks provide enough moments of hilarity to pull you through.

But ultimately this film, and the franchises biggest flaw are its scope. Where Curse of the Black Pearl was a breezy, unpretentious stab at the high seas, the franchise has been slowly edging its way toward pretentious epic ever since. It should never have been that kind of film. Where Star Wars, and I use Star Wars as Pirates has pilfered and pillaged, as only a Pirate can, from the franchise since embarking on the sequel voyage, kept things confined, developing the relationship between the characters, here each character is almost in their own film. Elizabeth, Will and Jack are all searching out their own desires, Barbossa is still as villainous as ever and Sao Feng seems more like set dressing than a fully formed character. There’s no sense of unity for the common good. Which is hard enough to find considering our heroes are pirates.
What is common is there enemy. A loosely based idea about some pirate laws and a desire to well, keep on pirating.

Some of the ideas are very intriguing but the overall story arc lacks any of the cohesion of the original. A detour over the edge of the world, to save Jack seems redundant when he saves himself, a scene itself which although ingenious does little justice to the fear Jack felt and terror Davy Jones inspired in Dead Man’s Chest. Especially when it takes Jack all of ten minutes screen time to escape.

The problem is simple. In trying to create an epic swashbuckling, seafaring Pirate movie they’ve lost site of what made the original so critically successful. And more importantly, they’ve lost sight of that all important trilogy arc. Which is why the character development in so disappointing. Toward the end of the film though, certain events develop to leave the film with redeemable qualities. It’s clear the writers where not worried with giving certain characters narrative conclusions you might otherwise have unsuspected. But its too little too late and the finale, a final tribute to Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow is nothing but a callous attempt to leave hardcore fans praying for another instalment. This is one franchise which needs to drop anchor permanently.

Great SFX, superb supporting cast and Depp at his crazy best, but the film lacks the narrative cohesion or trilogy conclusion it deserves and needs, to lift it from the doldrums of another mediocre entertaining instalment in a franchise which may keep on sailing much longer than it needs to.