As I mentioned earlier, I managed to see Pirates 3 on the first day, first show itself. The cinema was packed even though it was Wednesday evening. Not many families, mostly couples and groups of friends/colleague.
There was no inkling of what happened in the previous episodes; no flashbacks whatsoever. The movie started eerily. Mass hanging of suspected pirates and pirate-supporters set the tone for the movie. Unlike the other two prequels, this episode is dark, more into emotions and relationship. The underlying theme is love, of course. The unrequited type.
The hanging scene ends with the Pirates song being sung, thus alerting the pirates to the danger that will bring forth their extinction. The story cuts to Singapore where we are introduced to Chow Yuen Fatt’s character. Elizabeth (Kiera Knightley) and Capt Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) plan to get a ship and crew from Chow and also to steal his map that show’s Davy Jones’ Locker (that’s where Jack Sparrow is trapped after being swallowed by the Kraken in the last episode). The Locker is a surreal land of nowhere that is a prison of sorts for those not dead. Barbossa informs Chow that the “song†has been sung and thus he wants to convene the Brethren Court, which is a meeting of the top nine pirate lords in the world. Unfortunately, Capt Jack (Johnny Depp) is one of the nine lords and that’s why they need to get him back from the land of the undead. However, hot on their heels is Her Majesty’s army, led by the powerful Lord Buckett. The army attacks them in Singapore.
The team manages to escape, together with Will Turner (Orlando) who was caught by Chow while trying to steal the map. Chow provides them with a ship and crew. However, Will and Chow make a deal, unknown to others.
The team sail based on the map and finally finds Capt Jack. The journey to the other world was worth watching. So was watching Capt Jack go crazy and see his ship move on a group of rock crabs! The group convinces Jack of his current status, and return back to real world with him.
Meanwhile we find that Davy Jones (yeah, the squid fellow) is being controlled by Lord Buckett who holds his heart ransom. The Commander is confident that he is able to defeat the pirates with Davy Jones on his side.
Chow also made a deal with Lord Buckett and leads him to the group. After this, things get a bit confusing. There were dealings, double dealings, and triple dealings involving Lord Bucket, Davy, Will, Capt Jack, Elizabeth, Chow and Barbossa. Each of them double-crossed and triple-crossed one another. In the end, Chow dies and passes his position as one of the pirate lords to Elizabeth. Will makes a deal with Lord Buckett in order to save his father. Davy Jones finds out that Capt Jack is back from the dead and wants him back.
In the middle of all this confusion, we learn of a sea goddess, Calypso, who is supposed to be guardian of the sea. She was trapped in human body in the first Bethren Court. Barbossa aims to free Calypso from her human form in order to aid the pirates against their battle with Lord Buckett’s army and Davy Jones. However, this can be only achieved if all the nine lords are present and provide their “piece of eightâ€. Only Barbossa know Calypso’s true identity and it isn’t long before we know that it is Tia (Naomie), the priestess who brought Barbossa back from the dead.
Barbossa, Tia, Jack, and Will make their way to Shipwreck Island. Along the way, Jack finds out that Will is leaving a trail for Lord Buckett to follow and throws him off the ship. He is picked up by Lord Buckett and Will leads him (and Davy Jones) to Shipwreck Island.
The Brethren Court meets at Shipwreck Island, minus Chow. Elizabeth appears and proclaims herself as Chow’s successor, thus completing the Court. Barbossa puts forth his plan to free Calypso, while Jack suggests escaping from the Island and live to fight another day. Elizabeth rouses the Court by suggesting battle with the army. Jack plots and manages to make Elizabeth King of the Pirates. She leads the pirates into battle.
When they see the size of the opposition, the pirates declare truce and meet Lord Buckett, Davy, and Will. Elizabeth exchanges Capt Jack for Will and decided to challenge the army.
The pirates prepare to go for battle, and Barbossa releases Calypso from the body of Tia. Unfortunately, Calypso did not seem to be willing to help them, even though Will told her that Davy Jones (her love) was the one who betrayed her, allowing her to be imprisoned in a human body.
As the Black Pearl (Capt Jack’s ship) and The Flying Dutchman (Davy Jones’ ship) start the war, a big whirlpool is created by Calypso between them. The fighting sequence between the two ships as they get sucked into the whirlpool’ eye was great. During the fight, Will and Elizabeth get married, with Barbossa as the priest. Talk about getting married during a war 🙂 . In the final confrontation, Davy Jones mortally wounds Will as Capt Jack hold’s Davy Jones’ heart in his hands. Yet, he gets Will to stab Davy Jones’ heart, sending Davy Jones hurtling down from the ship into the eye of the whirlpool.
Since Will has killed Davy Jones by stabbing his heart, he is bound to be the captain of the Flying Dutchman and take over Davy Jones’s duties. He joins forces with the Black Pearl and destroys Lord Buckett’s ship.
Will is doomed to live forever, only able to spend a day on land for every 10 years in sea. He leaves his heart with Elizabeth and hopes to see her in another 10 years. What a sad ending. 🙁 But it sure looks ripe for another sequel!
My feeling after watching the movie is that it was a bit long (2 ½ hours). There was a lot of conflict and treachery between the characters that got the audience confused. The special effects were great as usual, to the point that it overwhelms the acting. The feeling is that the director was in two or more minds on what to focus on – the emotion, character building, special effects or the story. In the end, it became one big mashed up movie…a bit of everything, but nothing special.
Acting wise, Kiera and Depp stood out. Kiera and Orlando didn’t seem to click that well compared to Pirates 1 and 2. Depp as usual was outstanding in his scenes. His manner and dialogues were funny. If we watch his moves carefully, we can see that he plans everything well and makes it look coincidental. However, too many Depps in certain scenes were hard to take. Geoffrey also did well as Capt Barbossa, while Chow’s role was wasted. He even died halfway through the movie. More screen time was given to the bit actors who served their own share of laughter.
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knightley, Chow Yuen Fatt, Geoffrey Rush, Naomie Harris
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Acting : 7/10
Story : 6/10
Special Effects: 8/10
Cinematography: 7/10
Overall Oomphness: 7/10