Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

One of the highest-grossing films of 2007 was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, taking in over $950 million worldwide during the few months it was available for viewing in theatres. With big names like Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Chow Yun-Fat heading the cast list, this is no surprise. However, moviegoers and critics alike were split as to whether or not it was worth all the buzz generated.

The follow-up to the cliffhanger ending of 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End begins with the beautiful Elizabeth Swann (Knightley), her lover William Turner (Bloom), the shockingly-back-from-the-dead former villain Captain Barbossa (Rush), and their crew of motley miscreants on their way to rescue the notorious Jack Sparrow (Depp) from the villainous Davy Jones’s Locker. They soon find that getting to this mysterious realm is more than they bargained for, and as Barbossa points out, getting back proves to be even more of a challenge. Once they’ve rescued Jack, the gang returns to Shipwreck Cove, where they meet with some of the other notable pirates of the world and prepare for the upcoming battle against the East India Trading Company, which is desperately trying to expunge the world of pirates once and for all.

            The film fell short of my high expectations. 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl probably tops the extensive list of my favorite movies, and Dead Man’s Chest isn’t far behind. Yet, I left the theatre after At World’s End feeling slightly… empty. Perhaps as a fan, my expectations were too high, but isn’t it the job of a filmmaker to go above and beyond?

            The film’s shortcomings appear to lie solely in the writing. Pirates writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have made a name for themselves in the world of film, having such movies  to their credit as Shrek, National Treasure, and Déjà Vu, as well as the preceding two Pirates films. Yet At World’s End is filled with too many unsuccessful tries at humor, lines that fall flat, and a plot that is simply too complicated for the average moviegoer to comprehend.

I often found myself scratching my head and thinking, “Whose side is Will on now?” Scenes were written that don’t seem to fit in with the rest of the film and really have no place being there. For instance, when the sea goddess Calypso (Naomie Harris) is released from her “human bonds,” she grows to an absurd height and then explodes into millions of… crabs? This seems slightly too storybook for the movie and could have been written without that “complete randomness” element. Another thing I did not enjoy was when the ship, The Black Pearl, falls off the edge of the world in an attempt to reach the Locker. The screen cuts to black and the audio from the Disneyland ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, is played. To me, this felt extremely out of place. Jokes that had already been used in the first two Pirates are recycled and thrown in as filler dialogue (or perhaps a jab at quirky reminiscence). I must wonder if perhaps, with only one year between films, Elliott and Rossio simply ran out of time and were forced to write as quickly as possible without any real thought as to what they were doing. Perhaps director Gore Verbinski was too attached to these flagrant eccentricities. I think both are at fault: the writers for weaving such an absurd storyline and Verbinski for not cutting some of it out.

With that said, there are countless other technical aspects of the film that almost make up for the sad slouch in writing. Composer Hans Zimmer goes all out with the original songs he produced to go along with the film. The music takes you on a journey in itself, evoking at parts feelings of gentle romance and fleeting adventure; unexpected betrayal and deep melancholy. The music is what pulled me out of my chair and into the world being displayed onscreen. The cinematography and computer graphics are amazing; they made things that don’t necessarily exist in the real world come to life. I know a lot of time, effort, money and pain went into the special effects, which were also on a huge scale. The acting is superb, or would’ve been, had the actors not been forced to perform such lines as “my peanut” and do things like lick rocks for no specified reason other than Jack being a nutcase. Still, the insanely gifted Geoffrey Rush had my complete attention captured whenever he came on screen, and has earned my respect and the authority to be rightly called talented. He makes such a fantastic pirate!

And that’s not to say all of the writing fell below my expectations. There were a few very emotional scenes. For instance, when Elizabeth comes to the realization that her father has died but has a difficult time wrapping her mind around this tragedy, and when she later attempts to empower her fleet for battle through a moving “Hoist the Colours” speech. The first scene of the film was brilliant. It opens on a large group of people standing in line, being prepared to be hanged. One of them happens to be a young boy who is charged with death by association with pirates. He begins a song that is joined in by more and more pirates until the whole square rings with their song. Although extremely grim, it really gives the viewer insight as to what the evil Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) has been up to since Dead Man’s Chest. The scene where we find out that Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and Calypso were once lovers was a bit surprising, although foreshadowed, and an all-together sad but beautiful moment. 

This film is one that I enjoyed for the most part but wish had been written slightly differently. I recommend it for everything else, such as the excellent set design, beautifully crafted costumes, encompassing music, and that adorable little monkey that always seems to find a way of lending a helping hand.