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PIRATES review
Jul. 9th, 2006 11:19 pmI didn't want to like PIRATES 2: GET KRAKEN. I mean, I really, really didn't.
Here's the thing. I absolutely, firmly believe that no would would have given a rat's ass about the first PIRATES movie if it weren't for Johnny Depp's performance. And for the record, I still don't think the original PIRATES is the fucking second coming of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK as so many others seem to. In my humble (har) opinion, it was a C-grade movie elevated to B+ purely, purely by Johnny Depp (and Geoffrey Rush is always wonderful too, but he couldn't have carried that movie on his own).
It's much like GANGS OF NEW YORK with Daniel Day Lewis, except that Bill the Butcher was a brilliance performance in a flawed movie, while Captain Jack Sparrow was a brilliant performance in an empty movie. Fun, empty, popcorn film, that's how I saw the original PIRATES. And this summer, I honestly wanted SUPERMAN RETURNS to be the movie to see rather than a sequel (with all the pitfalls that sequels have) of a fun, empty movie.
And yes, PIRATES 2 had a number of those sequel pitfalls. I hate it when sequels run through the "greatest hits" of the previous movie, and this movie certainly does that with lines like "why is the rum always gone?" and bringing virtually everyone from the original back(even the frickin' dog with the keys!).
And yet, in spite of all this, PIRATES 2: LEGEND OF DAVY JONES' GOLD was an assload of fun.
The movie has been getting a lot of shit for being overblown, and yeah, it kinda is. The ENTIRE fucking sequence with the cannibals could have been cut, I don't care how fun it was. And by the time we started to get to the mill wheel, I was getting a little exhausted by how over-the-top it was. There could have been more places to pause and breathe, that would have been nice. If this was all the movie had to offer, as I had been expecting, then I could have just dismissed it as so many others are.
What really won me over to this movie was that there actually seemed to be (dare I say it?) character development! Seriously! While much of the plot is treading on familiar ground, the characters themselves have actually grown and evolved since the first movie! Will is now far more confident and Errol Flynn-ian than he was before, Elizabeth is more complex and fun, Sleazy and One-Eye stay true to their characters while still essentially being "good guys" more or less, so on.
Oddly, the only one here who really seems to be treading familiar ground here is Johnny Depp, who at points seems to be doing an impersonation of Johnny Depp playing Captain Jack Sparrow. Still fun, but he isn't really surprising us too much here like he was before.
As for Orlando Bloom... well, I have to say, watching Will in action made me realize why people hate Cyclops so much. He's super-enthusiastic, brave, noble, self-sacrificing, and always so utterly serious in it. I really just wanted to rip that pube-stache off his face half the time.
Stellan SkARRRsgARRRd was wonderful to behold, as always. He's such an underappreciated actor. And I loved how even under all that CGI make-up, you could still totally see Bill Nighy as Davy Jones. Not even being in UNDERWORLD 2 could take away my love of that man.
It's so funny that I should have liked this movie as much as I did. It feels like precisely the sort of thing at which I should turn my nose, and I am certain that many of you here will be disappointed in it, just because so many other people seem to be. But I really, really liked it, and especially for two more reasons above all:
( A couple spoilers ahoy! )
Here's the thing. I absolutely, firmly believe that no would would have given a rat's ass about the first PIRATES movie if it weren't for Johnny Depp's performance. And for the record, I still don't think the original PIRATES is the fucking second coming of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK as so many others seem to. In my humble (har) opinion, it was a C-grade movie elevated to B+ purely, purely by Johnny Depp (and Geoffrey Rush is always wonderful too, but he couldn't have carried that movie on his own).
It's much like GANGS OF NEW YORK with Daniel Day Lewis, except that Bill the Butcher was a brilliance performance in a flawed movie, while Captain Jack Sparrow was a brilliant performance in an empty movie. Fun, empty, popcorn film, that's how I saw the original PIRATES. And this summer, I honestly wanted SUPERMAN RETURNS to be the movie to see rather than a sequel (with all the pitfalls that sequels have) of a fun, empty movie.
And yes, PIRATES 2 had a number of those sequel pitfalls. I hate it when sequels run through the "greatest hits" of the previous movie, and this movie certainly does that with lines like "why is the rum always gone?" and bringing virtually everyone from the original back(even the frickin' dog with the keys!).
And yet, in spite of all this, PIRATES 2: LEGEND OF DAVY JONES' GOLD was an assload of fun.
The movie has been getting a lot of shit for being overblown, and yeah, it kinda is. The ENTIRE fucking sequence with the cannibals could have been cut, I don't care how fun it was. And by the time we started to get to the mill wheel, I was getting a little exhausted by how over-the-top it was. There could have been more places to pause and breathe, that would have been nice. If this was all the movie had to offer, as I had been expecting, then I could have just dismissed it as so many others are.
What really won me over to this movie was that there actually seemed to be (dare I say it?) character development! Seriously! While much of the plot is treading on familiar ground, the characters themselves have actually grown and evolved since the first movie! Will is now far more confident and Errol Flynn-ian than he was before, Elizabeth is more complex and fun, Sleazy and One-Eye stay true to their characters while still essentially being "good guys" more or less, so on.
Oddly, the only one here who really seems to be treading familiar ground here is Johnny Depp, who at points seems to be doing an impersonation of Johnny Depp playing Captain Jack Sparrow. Still fun, but he isn't really surprising us too much here like he was before.
As for Orlando Bloom... well, I have to say, watching Will in action made me realize why people hate Cyclops so much. He's super-enthusiastic, brave, noble, self-sacrificing, and always so utterly serious in it. I really just wanted to rip that pube-stache off his face half the time.
Stellan SkARRRsgARRRd was wonderful to behold, as always. He's such an underappreciated actor. And I loved how even under all that CGI make-up, you could still totally see Bill Nighy as Davy Jones. Not even being in UNDERWORLD 2 could take away my love of that man.
It's so funny that I should have liked this movie as much as I did. It feels like precisely the sort of thing at which I should turn my nose, and I am certain that many of you here will be disappointed in it, just because so many other people seem to be. But I really, really liked it, and especially for two more reasons above all:
( A couple spoilers ahoy! )
