Dear readers, I must apologize for all the grammatical and spelling mistakes that I have made in this review as I have written it in a rushed state of mind. Please do feel free to correct me by adding comments (not putting on the tagboard please) by clicking on comments at the end of this article.

The Pirates of the Caribbean blockbuster epic trilogy comes to a close after pillaging over US$1 billion (S$1.6 bil) across global waters in the wake of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but is the new instalment Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End a worthy one to the witty and clever humour that the first two instalments have provided?

I, Johnzzon, the avid movie reviewer, am finally back in action after a three years hiatus from reviewing to bring you his latest review on his latest favourite franchise. :)

Firstly, I must admit I'm a sucker at Hollywood Blockbusters, and you must bear in mind that this reviewer is also a fan of a lot of other "franchise movies" as well, such as Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Star Wars and many more. Yet, I must say this doesn't necessary mean I like every movie in each franchise. And so, with this in mind, I hope you do see I'm already very impartial and hopefully fair in the comments I make.

Let's start off by taking a look at the original movie behind the Pirates trilogy, The Curse of the Black Pearl. What works for me in this particular movie was how the writers and the director make it a point to know that they were creating a pirates movie, and not a movie about pirates. And not only any pirates movie, but one inspired by the original Walt Disney ride.

Hence, we get all the stereotypes of a pirates movie: walking the plank, the pirates accent, cannons, rum, and many more. Yet, we have lots of twist in the stereotypes that we find the writers like to include as little parodies that viewers may or may not catch.

And that is one thing I like. They go all out to assume the viewers are clever enough to know the homages they were paying and the parodies they were playing with. They were not afraid to say that if one didn't strike with a viewer, there will be plenty more others for that viewer.

And besides, we have a damsel not really in distress played by an actress with very good comedic timing: Keira Knightley, a weird pirate with a broken wrist and a Scottish accent played by the eccentric Johnny Depp.

This franchise is one that will be action comedies, very well established in this very first film with witty lines and eccentric characters. Seldom do we see focus on so much characters in a Hollywood movie nowadays, yet this movie is so character driven that you soon start loving even the soldiers who may have less lines than say the Tyrannosaurus Rex in Jurassic Park. (No offence to Mr Spielberg, I still like your movie)

The second movie, Dead Man's Chest, continues in this tradition, not only continuing to pay homages to traditional pirates stereotypes, but also reference itself to the first movie as well. The writers clearly have fun poking at the exact thing they wrote for the first movie.

While the action sequences may have becoming prolonged and more dreading, and the plot becoming more confusing with each character getting his/her own subplot, the performances and the script allowed me (and my friends, but apparently not the American critics) to last through the movie, very much wanting to know how the third one will end off the gargantuan cliffhanger at the end of it.

FINALLY we reach the third. The prologue sequence was moving and the buildup to rescuing our favourite Captain Jack Sparrow is fun and imaginative. It felt like I was sitting through a Hayao Miyazaki film as the ship (carrying our lovely Elizabeth Swann, handsome Will Turner and back-from-the-dead Captain Barbossa) journeyed through different terrains to reach the World's End.

When they got back to the real world, that's when I felt the writers (Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio) were running out of ideas to clear all the mysteries they left hanging at the end of Dead Man's Chest. It all turned away from the original direction the series has been moving towards. It was no longer an action comedy, and it became a brainless, or rather very confusing, journey to kill off our irritatingly cunning Lord Beckett and the tentacles-filled-face Davy Jones.

The new characters developed never had a chance to develop their stories to play a crucial role in the ultimate battle, and the old characters were receiving too much screen time repeating brainlessly what they had been doing for the past two films. Somehow, when I saw a particular character grew big when a supposedly very magical sequence started, that's when I know the movie is beginning to flop.

The twist at the end (ie, whoever is stabbing Davy Jones' heart) is rather unexpected, but somehow, it didn't matter to me anymore. I just wanted it to end, and wished there will be a fourth movie made to remind me why I loved the original movie so much.

Meanwhile, I'm lucky to have bought the double disc DVD special edition to Dead Man's Chest. Even the making of is more exciting than the second half of this third instalment.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Labels: movies