Pirates 3: At World's End

If you intend to see Pirates 3, do not read this post as it contains spoilers.


I knew Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (or, "Pirates 3," as I like to call it) was not going to be good. It was getting so-so reviews, and since I thought the second installment was drawn out and disappointing, I didn't have very high hopes for the supposed last chapter of the Pirates trilogy. Yet, I still went to go see it on opening day. The Man let everyone leave early on Friday, so I went to an afternoon show. It lasted three hours (including ten bazillion previews), so I'm glad I got it out of the way earlier rather than later in the day.

Why did I see it in the first place, knowing it was going to be bad? Because I felt like I needed to know "what happened," I wanted to see Keith Richards as Pirate Daddy, and even in the second movie I felt that Johnny Depp's performance was worth the price of admission.

So now I know "what happened," but feel a tad tricked as they definitely set it up for a fourth movie, when Captain Jack is seen looking at a map detailing the location of the Fountain of Youth at the very end. Keith Richards as Pirate Daddy was OK, but let's just say he should keep his day job as a musician. And Johnny Depp was great once again, but since there were a lot of scenes with multiple Captain Jacks, his shtick became tiresome.

The biggest surprise in the movie came at the end [once again, stop reading if you intend to see this movie!]... Will Turner (Orlando Bloom/Legolas) actually died! Or rather, he became undead and took Davy Jones' place as captain of the Flying Dutchmen. Now he supposedly can only come ashore for one day every ten years. Therefore, if they do undertake a fourth movie, I have no idea how they could incorporate two of the major characters - Will and Elizabeth. It doesn't seem like it would be realistic to make the next movie take place ten years into the future on the one day that Will can return to the human world... but it also doesn't seem likely that they would make a Pirates movie without Orlando and/or Keira in it.

All in all, the best part of the movie for me was the trailer for "The Golden Compass," as I loved that book and was extremely pleased with how the movie looks based on the preview. But that one doesn't come out until December, so I will have Harry Potter 5 to quell my fantasy fix in the meantime this summer.

- e