Pirates of The Carribean - Dead Man's Chest
That's Captain Jack Sparrow, to give him his full moniker. 
Last night I made one of my rare forays to my local cineplex to see, Pirates of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest, the second of the Pirates... fanchise.
I guess it was a pleasant enough way to spend AU$8.50, and a couple of hours, but 24 hours later as I write this, I think that's the best you can say about the film. But let me digress.
Last night I made one of my rare forays to my local cineplex to see, Pirates of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest, the second of the Pirates... fanchise.
I guess it was a pleasant enough way to spend AU$8.50, and a couple of hours, but 24 hours later as I write this, I think that's the best you can say about the film. But let me digress.
When I was a child, I was familiar with the term 'Davy Jones's Locker'. I can't remember where or why I knew about Davy Jones's Locker, maybe it was from old movies about the sea. Or comics, or classic books like Treasure Island or Kidnapped, or... who knows? To me, and I think most of my generation, Davy Jones's Locker was a metaphor for the place sailors who drowned at sea went to. That is, you didn't go to either Heaven or Hell, you went to Davy Jones's Locker. Not that we thought an actual locker existed. Again, that was simply a metaphor for 'the deep dark sea'.
But in Dead Man's Chest, Davy Jones's Locker, is in fact a real object. In this case, a Chest, or lockable box. And the contents of this Chest, helps form part of the story for this film. Essentially the story revolves around a debt that Cap'n Jack owes Davy Jones, which Jones now wants Cap'n Jack to honour. As with most films of this genre, there are convoluted plots twists, and improbable connections linking one person with another, until most strands of the story are wrapped up neatly at the end. However, since just about everyone knows already that a third Pirates... film is currently in production, the conclusion of this film leaves it very open-ended.
Speaking of which. The film begins with what I assume was supposed to be the wedding of Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom's characters. This marriage is interrupted and never takes place during Dead Man's Chest. I'm putting my money on one of those 'and they lived happy ever after' marriages in the final scene of Pirates of The Carribean, III. Any takers?
The special effects (CGI of course), were suitably impressive, especially the scenes involving the monster from the deep, the Kraken. The headhunting natives that capture Johnny Depp look very authentic (although I missed completely how or why Cap'n Jack/Depp fell into their clutches), and there are some great set piece fights at sea.
There is also what I can only assume is a homage to Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits. In one scene in Dead Man's Chest most of the surviving crew of the Black Pearl are held captive in two large ball shaped baskets or cages, which hang suspended from some point high above them. To escape from these cages the crew swing back and forth until they are able to grab hold of jungle vines running down a nearby cliff face.
In Time Bandits, our hero's too are held captive in a large cage (see screen shot below), which is also suspended from some point high above them. The characters in Time Bandits manage to escape by securing a rope around one of the characters, and swinging him back and forth until he is able to grab hold of a second cage suspended about 20 feet away. The escape scene in Time Bandits is much more dramatic and longer, but the parallels are there. But I've digressed again.
Johnny Depp is still doing a passable takeoff of Keith Richards, but apart from playing almost every scene for laughs (and generally getting them), he doesn't have to stretch himself too much as an actor. Orlando Bloom bares most of the dramatic weight of the movie, even undergoing a flogging at the hands of his own father (don't ask, you will have to see it for yourself). And then there is Keira Knightly. Unfortunately, Keira doesn't have a lot to do in this film. I suspect that if you timed her scenes with a watch, you would find she has very little screen time, and most of this is in the last half of the film.
Actually, I had a lot of fun playing "Spot the extra's" during the movie. One of these was Mackenzie Crook who came to prominence as Gareth Keenan, in the brilliant British TV series, The Office. Then there is Kevin McNally, who I have seen many times in numerous British television dramas. Jonathan Pryce stared on one of my all time favourite films, Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Here he has little to do, as Keira Knightly's father, but it's always nice to see him onscreen. When I first saw Martin Kleeba, I thought, Wow, there's Mini-Me, from the Austin Power's movies. But it turns out Martin didn't play Mini-Me after all. That role was played by another small person, Verne Troyer, although apparantly Martin Kleeba did have an uncredited role in Goldmember as a dancer.
Oops, I've done it again -- digressed, I mean.
To sum up. This is one film, where the inevitable Director's Cut should be shorter rather than longer than the original. Preferably by a good 20-30 minutes. I found the film overlong, and while the film was certainly entertaining, I found myself wishing I could fast-forward through some of the slower scenes.
Johnny Depp is still doing a passable takeoff of Keith Richards, but apart from playing almost every scene for laughs (and generally getting them), he doesn't have to stretch himself too much as an actor. Orlando Bloom bares most of the dramatic weight of the movie, even undergoing a flogging at the hands of his own father (don't ask, you will have to see it for yourself). And then there is Keira Knightly. Unfortunately, Keira doesn't have a lot to do in this film. I suspect that if you timed her scenes with a watch, you would find she has very little screen time, and most of this is in the last half of the film.
Actually, I had a lot of fun playing "Spot the extra's" during the movie. One of these was Mackenzie Crook who came to prominence as Gareth Keenan, in the brilliant British TV series, The Office. Then there is Kevin McNally, who I have seen many times in numerous British television dramas. Jonathan Pryce stared on one of my all time favourite films, Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Here he has little to do, as Keira Knightly's father, but it's always nice to see him onscreen. When I first saw Martin Kleeba, I thought, Wow, there's Mini-Me, from the Austin Power's movies. But it turns out Martin didn't play Mini-Me after all. That role was played by another small person, Verne Troyer, although apparantly Martin Kleeba did have an uncredited role in Goldmember as a dancer.
Oops, I've done it again -- digressed, I mean.
To sum up. This is one film, where the inevitable Director's Cut should be shorter rather than longer than the original. Preferably by a good 20-30 minutes. I found the film overlong, and while the film was certainly entertaining, I found myself wishing I could fast-forward through some of the slower scenes.
I started off by saying, the film was a pleasant enough way to spend AU$8.50, and a couple of hours, and that I think that's the best you can say about the film. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, all you want from your movies (and life), is a way to relax for a few hours, and to not have to think to hard about what is taking place on the big screen -- or in your life. You could do a lot worse than watch Dead Man's Chest, but you could also do a lot better. I guess it just depends on the mood you are in at the time. |
Despite everything I've said in my review above, I really enjoyed the first Pirates... movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. You can buy the Two-Disc Collector's Edition by following the link above directly to Amazon.Com.
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On This Day In... |
| 1942: Born, Garth Hudson, keyboardist with The Band 1944: Born, Joanna Cassidy, the actress who played a replicant in Blade Runner 1977: Born, Edward Furlong, the actor who played John Connor in Terminator 2 |
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| Quote of The Day... |
I enjoy being a highly overpaid actor. |
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posted by Jim Lesses at
8:31 PM
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