Pirates 2: Dead Man's Chest (Spoilers ahoy)
POSTED BY: Cybersnark
UPDATED: Friday, September 1, 2006 03:58
VIEWED: 12241
PAGE 1 of 4
It was good.
Which, considering how awesome the first one was, is kinda a disappointment.
Where the first was an adventure movie with fantasy elements, this was more of an outright fantasy with adventure elements. It has "Hollywood Blockbuster" written all over it, from the cartoonishly ridiculous stunts and fight sequences, to the contrived humour, to the substitution of slapstick for any actual wit.
I was willing to suspend disbelief at the beginning, with the escape from the cannibals, but the island fight sequence (where they actually retrieve Jones' chest) just ruined it for me, reducing a cinematic great to merely "okay." It had one of the same flaws I saw in the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel in RotS: the ridiculous "we're in mortal danger but we hate each other so much we'll keep fighting anyway." I hope this isn't becoming a movie trend like the shakeycam and the extreeeeeeeeem close-ups. 
My other big beefs with that particular sequence was that it (A) required all the characters involved to be stupid, and (B) required us to ignore the personalities established in the previous movie and first half of this one.
Select to view spoiler:
Elizabeth acts (just for this scene, and nowhere else) like a spoiled and unreliable brat. Will, Jack, and Norrington become mindless, unskilled thugs who don't bother to keep track of the woman all three of them claim to love, and whose hatred for each other cancels out their own considerable survival skills. Elizabeth sees the chest being stolen (by two morons who seem to have forgotten that they just saw the Dutchman approach and submerge), then does an overwrought comedic double-take, and then sets out on a chase sequence without having brought a weapon along.
(After which Pintel and Ragetti, having previously established themselves as resonably functional [well, Pintel's useful. Ragetti is a half-wit] and atypically decent folk, suddenly turn on her for no other reason than that, hey, she's a woman. Then they demonstrate their never-before-seen hand-to-hand skills against Jones' pirates, apparently holding their own despite having only two swords [and no guns] between them.)
I gave up on it about the time Will and Norrington end up on top of the waterwheel (and Jack gets smashed into the wheel without actually taking any damage). We're to buy that, even without the key that brought them here, these two hate each other enough to ignore the fact that they're stuck atop an escaped waterwheel, and that they can maintain their fight while doing gymnastings around and in the wheel as it caroms about the island.
I'd expect Norrington to try something that daft, but Will is (everywhere else in both movies) depicted as a level-headed (if naive) swashbuckler.
Looney Tunes has a better grasp of physics than this whole sequence demonstrated.
Further, in any sequence like this, the actual fight choreography will suffer. Will and Norrington's skilled swordplay (established in the first movie) is reduced to wild slashes at each other as the actors are flung about on their wire-rigs. Again, the same kind of crap can be seen in RotS, when Anakin and Obi-Wan are duelling in the midst of an exploding refinery and erupting volcano --hacking away at each other as the battlefield disintegrates around them.
This mess did not belong in the middle of an otherwise great movie.
A better version would've had Will drop or sheath his sword and scramble clear of the wheel (Norrington can keep trying to stab him until he gets tossed away or crushed by the wheel), then engage Jack in a duel of wits. Meanwhile, Elizabeth would've confronted Pintel and Ragetti before they could get anywhere with the chest, leaving them to explain themselves with more wordplay.
--Hell, a better movie wouldn't have had any need for the waterwheel sketch at all, because everyone's priorities would have re-established themselves when Will explained about the Dutchman having just arrived. Our heroes would then have withdrawn into the island jungle to throw
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Personally, I liked it, but if I compare it to the first, yeah, it really comes up short.
Then again, it is a sequel, and the middle of the triology, so I'm reserving judgement. In my opinion, The Two Towers was go se compared to Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King, but when you watch all three movies in a row (don't laugh, my best friend and I did that once, aided by several cases of Jolt.) it's like watching one very long, and very awesome movie.
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wow, first negative review ive heard. I personally loved it and can't wait to see the third.
"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."
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One of the crew says Shiny.
And then Captain Jack says Shiny.
And something with the word Hold in the movie. But I can't remember what.
and FloraBunny noticed this:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=22130&m=335189#33518933518
9
Here there be pirates...
Quote:
Originally posted by FloralBunny:
deepgirl187 wrote (in part):
But what I really noticed was how they both relate to their ships. To them, their ships are a part of them, a part that would hurt to lose. The importance they place on their ships is not something others can always understand, and is often something that gets them into trouble. But still they remain devoted to their respective homes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was watching my PotC1 DVD one day right after
getting a Firefly fix, thinking how much I like
both my Captains. I took this down:
"It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and
sails -- that's what a ship *needs* -- but what
a ship *is* -- what the Black Pearl really *is*
-- is freedom.
It goes right along with Mal telling Zoe "Won't
ever have to be under the heel of nobody ever
again." (Hope I haven't hashed that line)
Out of Gas
Mal: "And try to see past what she is and on
to what she can be."
Zoe: What's that, Sir?
Mal: Freedom is what.
...
Mal: "And never have to be under the heel
of nobdody ever again."
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***SPOILERS***
I too was a little let down. There seemed to be a lot of things that felt very forced. And they took all the character relationships from the first one, and totally wrecked them in this one.
First off Elizabeth, although totally kicking ass in the swordplay, was otherwise useless. And also totally hot in the pirate uniform, but no matter.
And they turned Jack into this totally self centered coward who decides to run away from everything. Oh right, he went back on the Pearl however, to...uhh...shoot a rifle? It didn't seem like a lot of redemption to me. And then Elizabeth ties him to the boat by kissing Jack, making the Elizabth/Will relationship all awkward.
But I will say this. Davy jones is so awesome. The Flying Dutchess, her crazy crustacian crew, and the Krakon were just wonderful. Along with Bootstrap Bill, I thought that was a nice touch.
But here's what i think would have made it better. If Jack decided to stay on the Pearl on his own accord. That would make his death so much more dramatic and exciting, because he doesn't seem worth saving because of his selfish moves during the whole movie.
All in all it was ok, and I cannot wait for the third one to come out, but only because of Barbossa. That man does indeed love his apples! Yar!
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Let me say that I was a great fan of the first movie and had relatively high expectations for this sequel. But alas, I left the screening last night with an opinion of the movie much like that of Cybersnark: It was a good movie, but not quite as good as the first.
As a guy, I truly enjoyed parts of it from the swordfights to the battle with the Kraken, but much of it was very unbelievable. As Cybersnark pointed out, it seemed that the movie somehow ignored the laws of physics and human endurance in order to achieve this action. If the swordfight that Cybersnark refers to had taken place in any other fashion, it might have been a little more believable.
Also, I'm inclined to agree that the characters seemed to act completely out of character much of the time. Jack seemed a little more coldhearted at some points than he came off as in the first. Yes, he's a pirate but he's Cap'n Jack, the pirate with a heart of gold in some sense. Will acted like the galant fool many times, rushing into a situation before using his level head that got him through the first movie. And Elizabeth seemed to move away from her 'damsel in distress' role to more of an 'independent woman' shall we say which didn't really work for her character in some sense.
All in all, like I said it was a good movie. I'd go see it again for the adventure. But I'm with Cyber in that I hope the third will redeem the trilogy. It just seems that the writing department went brain dead at some points and decided to throw in cheap overused gags to try and make the audience laugh. Plus, I wasn't a big fan of just jumping directly into the adventure. Give me a little lead-in ya know of a happy Will and Elizabeth about to be married and Jack out on the ocean enjoying life BEFORE thrusting the dark cloud over them. Anyways, hopefully the directing and writing departments will sober up and come up with some wily, yet intelligent, ideas for the third movie.
Select to view spoiler:
And now that we have our favorite apple munching Cap'n Barbossa back, things should get pretty crazy for our crew.
But yes, I recommend going to see this movie. It's the middle of the trilogy so redemption is still on the horizon.
Keep flyin'.
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Added note: upon rewatching the original a few times this past few weeks (wanted to hear all the DVD commentaries before seeing the sequel), I've noticed that I really like Barbossa's acting.
Something about his eyes; he looks very "boyish," despite the grizzled face.
And he's not such a bad guy, really. He did intend to leave Elizabeth "Turner" alive, after all.
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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.
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First, let me say that I thought the film was fun. I've seen it twice now, and I'm comfortable saying that.
BUT, and there are some very big buts-
The gross-out effects were over the top. I don't have children, but the people beside me in the theaters for both showings I attended brought theirs. Children probably between the ages of 7 and ten, and they were crying, hiding their eyes, asking to sit on their mothers laps, screaming in terror... when it was over, one little girl told her mother, "I'm never watching this again! It was too scary!" I'm in my 30's and hid my eyes during the opening sequence with the crows.
Come on, Disney! Bruckheimer is known for great family entertainment, why did he go for the gross-out horror thrills in this one?
The Island scene was fun the second time through. The first time, I thought it was too campy, to silly, going for the slapstick instead of the honest story-telling that I think we all wanted.
The second time, I realized that I've seen the same thing in a hundred different renditions of Shakespearian comedies. This was every fight scene from "Midsummer Night's Dream", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Twelfth Night" and "Merry Wives" all rolled into a Pirate's costume and stuck on an island. Over the top, campy, and yes...even fun.
I was craving the beautifully choreographed swordfights from "Black Pearl", the elegance and grace of Depp and Bloom dancing the dance of deadly steel. What I got was, while fun, unbelievabely campy. I DID like that it was Will and Norrington on the wheel. I liked that we got to see more of Norrington's development... could have done without the PUKING though! For crissakes, was that necessary? (Davenport, darling, you are still my hero, and nothing will change that.)
Note...what did you all think of Naomie Harris???? Didn't she just blow you away? I'd heard she was in it, but I'd been avoiding spoilers and what-not, so wasn't aware what role she was taking. I kept looking for her and it wasn't until halfway through her first scene that I realized it was her! Did she even blink through that scene?
My new catchphrase, however, is "An Undead Monkey!" said as though it's the gift of every girls fondest desire.
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Well, who wouldn't want an undead monkey?
I'm curious as to how monkey-Jack is still undead. The Curse was lifted in the first one, leaving the Pearl's crew mortal --and the chest slammed closed, suggesting that all the treasure had been restored and the blood-debts paid.
I'd been assuming that the monkey was somehow caught under the banner of "the Pearl's crew." It wouldn't have been the first time an animal got caught up in human magic (remember Patches? The zombie cat in BtVS' "Dead Man's Party?")
Did the monkey steal a piece of the treasure before Isla De La Muerta "went pear-shaped?"
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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.
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