'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' Review
Nominated For: Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End furthers the swashbuckling seafarer saga shortly after the events of Dead Man's Chest. William Turner and Elizabeth Swann are joined this time by a resurrected Captain Barbossa and the crew of the Black Pearl on a voyage to the world's end so they can retrieve an estranged Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker for a final confrontation with Jones, Lord Beckett, and the West India Trading Company's fleet.
Director Gore Verbinski returned for one last go-around at sea and definitely delivered on spectacle, seeing as the stormy sea skirmish alone makes for an epic engagement with plenty of memorable moments. Verbinski certainly sought to make this film in the vein of other epic threequels like
Return of the King or
Return Of The Jedi and succeeded in upping the ante of the action. This is only enhanced by the wonderful work from Verbinski's technical crew that bring the sights and sounds of the kooky Caribbean to life including cinematographer, production and costume designers, vfx artists, sound design team, and composer Hans Zimmer.
Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio maintain their position headlining the screenplay for the franchise and successfully tie up loose ends from the Pirate predecessors even if the flow of the story has to suffer a bit along the way. Admittedly, the plot is rather convoluted at times and it becomes difficult to keep track of all the double crossings but Elliot and Rossio do a fine job unravelling things enough to provide satisfying pay-offs to all the dangling story threads that originated with
Curse of the Black Pearl. I presume that this installment was originally intended to cap off a trilogy, yet the ending sets the stage for
On Stranger Tides, so there's no telling if it was made with a fourth film in mind or if that decision was made after the box office receipts came in.
What
At World's End lacks in coherence, it makes up for with entertainment value, so despite a runtime of two hours and forty-nine minutes At World's End is a well-paced buccaneer blockbuster. Johnny Depp's back parading about with the savvy Sparrow-schtick we've come to know and love, stretching his sea legs to play multiple Jack Sparrows in some bizarre dream sequences and hallucinations. Orlando Bloom projects forth courage and confidence as Will Turner, while Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swann completes the transition
from former damsel to Pirate Lord thanks to her valor and quick-thinking.
In the meantime, Geoffrey Rush chews up the scenery now that he's back as the scoundrel pirate Captain Barbossa, Tom
Hollander plays the clean-cut British menace Lord Beckett, and Bill Nighy's Davy Jones commands the gravitas of an accomplished antagonistic
force. Remaining supporting cast members
Kevin McNally, Jack Davenport, Johnathan Pryce, Stellan Skarsgård, and Naomi Harris reprise their respective roles to fill out the cast as faithful first mate, the composed British naval officer, dignified governor, devoted servant of the Flying Dutchman, and a supernatural sorceress.
In conclusion,
At World's End brings sufficient closure to the Turner/Swann storyline (although I suspect the arc will resurge in Dead Men Tell No Tales based on the film's marketing
) and makes for another entertaining oceanic escapade thanks to the talented cast and crew on board.
Film Assessment: B-
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