right brain

The movie clocks in at exactly two hours and forty eight minutes.  Throughout the movie, I could not help but think how bad my butt hurt because I kept moving around a lot.  As I was getting up to leave for the movie I remember yelling out that it was too long and someone yelled, “How did you sit through Lord of the Rings?”  Well, Return of the King, is one of my favorite movies of all time and I believe that one clocked it at around three and a half hours.  The difference is the content.  You have to have something that will totally grip your attention the entire time.  Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End had way too much going on and it became really confusing.  I had a similar problem with the second film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, but it was not anywhere near as confusing as the third flick. 

The Plot: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is obviously the third film is the largely successful series.  These movies have made hundreds of millions of dollars.  Gore Verbinski, who directed all three of the Pirates films, is also known for directing one of the scariest modern day horror flicks; The Ring.  Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End stars Johnny Depp (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Edward Scissorhands), Keira Knightly (Domino, Pride and Prejudice), Orlando Bloom ( The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Elizabethtown), Geoffrey Rush (Shine, Munich), Chow Yun Fat (I used to love watching his John Woo movies like Hard Boiled and The Killer)  and Bill Nighy (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead).  You will also be getting a rather weak cameo from Keith Richards.  This is not a spoiler because it has been widely publicized in entertainment blogs and such.  He is really only in the movie for about maybe four minutes or so.  Richards is in the flick almost as a joke, considering that Johnny Depp has openly stated that Captain Jack Sparrow’s character was inspired by him. 

I really do not where to begin with the plot of this freaking movie.  Let me say right now, that if it was not for the amazing special effects, this movie would be a complete disaster.  Plot wise, it would probably take me forever to even explain everything that is going on in this movie.  I will do my best to give you the best plot description I can, while leaving out any spoilers. 

As we saw at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Davey Jones’ (Bill Nighy) heart has ended up with Lord Beckett (played by Tom Hollander) who controls the East India Trading Company.  This essentially gives Lord Beckett the power to run the seas and Davey Jones.  Captain Jack Sparrow was eaten by the Kraken and thought to be dead by everyone.  The big twist of the second film was that Captain Barbossa was still alive and was going to crew a ship to “World’s End” to find Captain Sparrow. 

The third film picks up exactly where the second left off, which makes sense because both the second and third films were shot together.  This time around we learn about a brethren of pirates, which consists of 9 pirates from all around the world, including Captain Jack Sparrow.   Barbossa(Rush), William Turner (Bloom), Elizabeth (Knightly) and the same old crew set out on a journey to find Captain Jack Sparrow to bring him back to meet with the brethren of pirates.  The reason they are meeting is to plan an attack against Lord Beckett and the East India Trading Company, considering they have just taken over the seas.  The brethren of pirates want to gain back the seas.  Obviously, the characters run into multiple problems throughout, considering the movie was almost three hours long.  I will tell you this though, many questions are answered and there are a ton of twists. 

The Review: Overall, this movie was EXTREMELY CONFUSING but had AMAZING SPECIAL EFFECTS.  “What a predicament,” as stated by John Travolta in Face/Off.  Well, according to my scale, I tell you how you should see a movie.  Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End has an amazing LOOK, but has so-so content.  The special effects will blow you away.  I was literally sitting there with my mouth open during a couple scenes because I could not believe how mind blowing the effects were. 

I also sat there wondering why my butt hurt the entire time.  Generally, when a movie is too confusing, you kind of lose that suspension of disbelief and are taken out of the movie.  This puts me in a predicament because I feel the movie needs to be seen in theatres based on effects and sounds, but not on the quality of the picture.  I feel that a 3.5 BDK rating is perfectly fair because you can either catch the matinee or catch the rental. 

One thing that I really wanted to bring up was how DARK the movie is.  If you are planning on taking your kids, be careful.  The movie literally opens up with people being hung by nooses.  They even show a kid being hung.  There are a ton stabbings and a lot of gun shot wounds. 

If you are a huge fan of the series, you won’t be EXTREMELY disappointed, but you will be a little let down.  If that is the case for you, go check it out during a matinee.  If you are so-so on the whole series, just wait for the rental.  The movie is not TERRIBLE, but it is not great.  The main issues were the totally confusing plot and the terrible OVER ACTING at times.  Do not get me wrong, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Chow Yun Fat did an amazing.  A lot of the overacting can be credited to Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom.  There is a scene where she is giving a speech to a large group of people and she does not sound convincing at all.  Plus, all the banter back and forth between Bloom and Knightly is just ridiculous. 

The Verdict: You do not have to run out to the theatres to see this movie, but either catch the matinee or the rental, hence the 3.5 BDK ratings