Movie Review - Pirates of the Carribean 3, At World’s End

Pirates of the Caribbean was an apt finish to a totally awesome cinematic trilogy. Everything that you would want to see in a movie was in this one, unless you are into mindless gore. The acting was superb, the sets mind boggling, the script a work of masterful wit. I am so glad I saw it before all the critics came out and added their two cents worth of sulphuric acid to it.

(A side note on that – Why do movie critics always have to hate everything that isn’t controversial, deep, about homosexuality or politics? Have they forgotten that movies exist to entertain, to help us escape to another dimension, relax and recoup our resources? I am tired of all these people who take what little jargon their “Film Appreciation” professor taught them at college and hurl it back at us. Get an original thought, people!)

Ok, that said, I want to draw out everything I loved about POTC. And then the one thing I hated about it.

Reference to Singapore
If Singapore really had half the colour, personality and sheer force of will as the Singapore portrayed in this movie, we would be really something! The head honcho pirate (Chow Yun Fatt) was amazing with his crisscrossing battle scars and penchat for steam (which is kinds weird. Who wants more steam in the tropics?). I hope the reference does everything for our country as the STB hopes it will do and I hope the tourists who come as a result of this movie aren’t disappointed to find the sterile, ridiculously ordered city that we actually are.

Wit
I think the script in this movie, rivaled, if not surpassed that of the previous 2. Of course Jack’s lines are always bordering on the insane, but in this one, he has a few realy gems while blindingly sober. My favourite has to be when Elizabeth says, “It would never have worked out between us, Jack.” And he says, “Keep telling yourself that, darling.” The way Johnny Depp delivers that line…. I bet Elizabeth was wondering if she made the right choice after all.

Action and Adventure
Nothing beats some of the action sequences in this movie. I was wondering what could possible top the water wheel sword fight of POTC 2, but, yep, they came pretty close. Some of the fight scenes were actually the breather in the movie, the light hearted moments that takes away the tension of the main plot. The fight in the pirate court was one such scene, and the mindless skirmish actually helped focus the decision taken right after it. Well done, Jerry.

But…
Ok, now for what I hated. Pirates are about men. I am not sure if women were known to have their own ships or whatever, but I know that one of the laws of piracy was “No women on board.” So how does Elizabeth Swann turn from being the damsel in distress to the “distressing damsel”, as Jack Sparrow so aptly put it. Putting her in a place where she not only calls the shots, but gets old, battered, hardened men to follow her lead, is less than unbelievable, it borders on ludicrous.

Was this some half baked effort by the powers that be at Disney to bend over backwards and ensure sexual equality? Are they trying to make up for all the heroines of old who were dressed by birds and rescued by knights? I am sorry, but this “Look, we are for women’s rights too” statement in this movie just didn’t work for me.

My disbelief cannot suspend that much.