Finally got out to see “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” back on the first weekend of this month, and I quite liked it. I really liked it, I thought it was fun and supremely escapist with excellent action sequences and truly excellent special effects. A perfect summer blockbuster, in other words. And I think it capped the trilogy nicely, while being open-ended enough to credibly be able to do a fourth movie (if, as Johnny Depp has famously said, the script is right).
In fact, I already know what the subtitle of the fourth movie should be: “Drink and the Devil.” At least, that’s from my working notes thus far. :)
And as I was thinking about it, it occurred to me that something I’d read elsewhere was true: the “Pirates” movies really are the “Star Wars” movies of this generation. (I’m talking about the Original Trilogy, of course; the Prequel Trilogy doesn’t come close.) That’s a tricky thing to pull off; I don’t think it can be done intentionally. The “Matrix” movies might have come close, but ultimately they collapsed under their own weight.
I won’t go into some sort of pedantic nerdly comparison essay between the two; suffice to say that the “Pirates” movies I can go back and watch again and again and still enjoy, like the Original Trilogy. That’s good stuff.
I think the Pirate series is similar to Star Wars, but Star Wars is a magnitude better than Pirates. There were lessons you could learn in Star Wars. What life lessons do you learn from Pirates? There was great, majestic music in Star Wars. Can you hum ANY piece from Pirates right now? (Except yo ho, you).
Star Wars had some memorable dialog. I bet you can quote me at least a dozen lines from Star Wars, probably three dozen. How many can you quote me from Pirates?
Yes, actually, I *can* hum various music from Pirates. 🙂
Dialog? The first Star Wars had some *horrendous* dialog, and the only people I know who can quote dozens of lines from the SW movies are those who have watched them over and over… and over… If you watch Pirates over and over, same deal.
Lessons? You were supposed to take lessons away from Star Wars? I think David Brin might argue with you there… 😉
The one thing I have trouble handling in "At World’s End" was the violence! I was stunned by the amount of violence and on-panel gruesomeness allowed in a PG-13 film! I had a friend who saw the flick and there were children crying throughout…crazy…but FUN!
Yeah, definitely not appropriate for kids. But stunned by the amount of violence? Hmmm I didn’t think it was excessive, at least compared to the previous two movies…
Maybe I need to re-watch the other films, but I don’t recall them going as far as: (SPOILER ALERT):
– Opening with mass hangings (including that of a child!)
– A woman getting shot in the forehead! ON CAMERA!
– A whimsical character taking their brain out and playing with it!
– A particularly gruesome death to a Brit scumbag at the hands of Davy Jones, including sending a tentacle down his throat and it popping out his nose!