Yesterday, my family and I went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I really liked the first in the trilogy. I was greatly disappointed by the second one. The third one had some potential, but blew some things, I think. You can stop reading now if you haven't seen the film yet.Probably the biggest annoyance with the whole movie is all the buildup that comes to naught. For example, take the whole Calypso subplot. She's a ticked off goddess, who is going to make everyone pay. Well, in the end, she does nothing. Not even a scorned lover's hand coming out of the ocean to pull the ship of her choice down with her. She could have either really harmed or really helped one of the causes in the tangle of intrigue, but instead harmlessly dissolves into a pile of crabs after growing to a giant on the ship and saying something incomprehensible (to me, anyway). Sure...there's the maelstrom, but really, what does that do??? The ships aren't particularly harmed by it. It just makes for some briefly interesting graphics.
There is a lot of unfulfilled lead in. Was anyone else disappointed by how easy it was to just waltz into the land of the dead and come back out? How about the ease at which Elizabeth's father Governor Swann and Norrington are killed. And then there's the Captain Sao Feng; he was there, he was a bad-ass, and then he's gone. What's up with that? I think that random deaths of lead characters is more acceptable in a more serious drama, but in a fantasy epic, it is out of place, I think, and should be a bigger deal.
OK, so now that I've harped on what I didn't like about the movie, what did I like?
Hmm...the only moments sticking out for me right now are the scene where Will and Elizabeth are married by Barbossa in the middle of a battle. (Does a marriage performed by a pirate captain carry legal weight? Today, do couples getting married at sea have to apply for a marriage license?)
The scene with the rocks/crabs was pretty cool.
Oh, and then the kiss scene between Will and Elizabeth towards the end was pretty well filmed.
Nothing else is really doing it for me. I guess there just weren't that many memorable moments. I'm not even a great fan of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly, so it is surprising that they are the ones in the scenes that I most remember.
So, from there, did anyone stay to the end of the credits? It's a scene 10 years later, in which Elizabeth is waiting for Will (now captain of the Flying Dutchman) to return for their day together. She has a boy of approximately 10 years (probably more like 9 years and 3 months) with her. Will appears and we can only assume that he gets to meet his son before the boy gets sent away so that Will and Elizabeth can make wild passionate love.
So, now for the meta thoughts. Was anyone else struck by the fact that the heroes of the story were pirates (closely akin to terrorist with the distinction that pirates not only kill lots of innocents but also rob them in the process), and that many of the people killed by our heroes were men in uniform? I'm all for questioning authority, but that just seems a little too much. Oh wait...must suspend disbelief.
Later, my brother (age 22) and I (age 25) discussed whether we would wait for someone for 10 years as per the Will/Elizabeth arrangement. My position was no, because I need more in a relationship than 10 years of yearning with a day together each decade. He insisted that if it were true love, then one would wait. I pointed out that even Jacob in the Bible, who worked for 7 years to marry Rachel and ended up having to marry everyone else in the family first wasn't just pining away for Rachel the whole time. He had a number of wives and concubines by the time it was all over! I think that my brother is still tied into the romantic ideals from books that he reads and from movies. The fact that he is currently in a long-distance relationship with a dubious outcome probably is part of it too. I can't help but wonder if the only thing that my brother thinks is missing from the Will/Elizabeth relationship is 10 years of sex. I can't imagine that he is aware of the value of the daily interaction and support that one has in a "normal" relationship that would be missing from the Will/Elizabeth thing and still be so willing to dismiss their necessity for a long-term relationship. Also, if Elizabeth has a kid to raise, then she'd not only be worried about someone to warm her bed at night, but to help provide for the child. I think that practical considerations, both in the case of emotional/spiritual fulfillment and more economic concerns would make the 10 year wait near impossible for a normal person without a martyr complex.
