Pirates Three: A Sure Blockbuster!

Detox Tip #5: Watch Movies

Just watched Pirates of the Carribbean: At World’s End last night, with Gim (boyfriend) and Melisse (little sis).

Loved the special effects, was astonished (though by the third movie, shoulda been used to it) by how realistic Davy Jones and his part-men-part-sea-creatures crew looked. They were all computer-generated, no prosthetics save for Bootstrap Bill! Genius animators!! (One of my dreams, btw 🙂

I also loved the sweeping views of the sea – lots of richly hued sunsets and sunrises in this movie. Cinematic seascapes keep this girl happy. Hehe.

What riveted me, though, was really the pace of the story. I don’t think anybody could have afforded to get distracted watching the movie. I listened to every word uttered and still a lot of parts went lost by me. The pirate-swapping/backstabbing was more fun to watch than understand, really. I only got the parlay part, the whole Singapore part with Will backstabbing Jack, Sao Feng backstabbing Will and Jack backstabbing everyone else – that? That I got only after I read Wikipedia’s detailed explanation, hehe.

I think the plot was great, but it was maybe too much plot for a movie limited to three hours long. Lots of stuff went not much explained, that’s what I felt. For example, the death of the Kraken was absolutely random! Wikipedia explained that Beckett had actually commanded Davy Jones to kill the Kraken, but I never heard it during the movie.

Though reading Wikipedia greatly enlightened me, some questions still linger. What was really Calypso’s role in the movie? I understand Tia Dalma, and her being Calypso was a nice twist, which of course made me expect much from her. The only thing Calypso served, though, was to provide some answers about Davy Jones’ history. Calypso, in her fury, created a maelstrom, which I admit did provide a convenient plotline for serving great whirpool special effects, but aside from that, I feel her character was hugely neglected and underdeveloped. She should have helped defeat Davy Jones somehow, or maybe turned against those who freed her to try to save Jones, or something! She was freed – and then nothing. How disappointing.

Also, one bugging question: Why did Calypso not show up to meet Davy Jones ten years after doing his duty? Someone tell me! (Gim thinks maybe it was because Calypso became unfaithful to Jones, and his lover was… Jack! Hmm, may be…)

All in all, though, I loved the third installment of Pirates, despite the racy pace of the movie. The lovely scenes took my breath away and the ending was quite a surprise – not as predictable as most movies (read: Spiderman, but hey, loved the special effects on that one too). The love story between Will and Elizabeth was stirring but not overdone. Although I did feel that Elizabeth’s character was treated quite loosely – she professes love for Will but her lips often seem be to interlocked with those other than Will’s (Jack, then Norrington, then an attempt with Jack again…).

Liplocking aside, the hefty P80 entrance fee I paid for Pirates is not going to be missed. Loved, loved, loved the movie – special effects, story and all. 🙂

One complaint, though, and it’s not about the movie. It’ s about the moviehouse. I watched at Mindpro Theater, no choice, the only decent theater in Zamboanga. My gripe is that I went home last night quite shocked and so very sad. I thought that Will and Elizabeth were doomed to being able to see each other only once every ten years, forever! Not known to me was that there was a short clip at the very end of the credits that showed Will and Elizabeth meeting up ten years later, with their son! And that the significance of that was that Will was freed of his duties and free to finally be with Elizabeth! A fairytale happy ending!

And why did I miss that? Because damned Mindpro Theater cuts the credits right away!! You couldn’t even listen to the end of the soundtrack or get to read all the cast names. Grr. Isn’t that illegal or something??

Anyway, thank God for Youtub. I’m gonna be looking it up ASAP!

P.S. I finally have a high-speed Internet connection, yay! Had it installed just today. I’m sad though ‘coz I’ll be leaving soon, won’t get to enjoy it much, but at least I can now video-communicate from Manila (hoping I get myself wifi there too). Happiness all around! 🙂

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