REVIEWS

Pirates of the Carribean: At the World’s End: It’s a fun, but convoluted mess. Not very engaging despite all the action because there are so many things going on you’re supposed to absorb, you lose track of the plot line amid all the myriad plot threads dangling about. Basically, they rescue Jack Sparrow from a surreal kind of hell, using a Chinese map to various magical realms. Then they get all the pirates together to fight Davy Jones and that British Admiral bad guy from the last movie. I have a feeling it will play better on repeat viewing like the last one did for me. Very spectacular looking, though. Chow Yun Fat is great as the Chinese Pirate Lord. Unfortunately, he has little screen time. They leave room for a sequel, of course.

28 Weeks Later: If you enjoyed the last one, this is a worthy follow up. Set after an American military team tries to repatriate British survivors to their island after all the zombies are presumably dead, a survivor is found who may or may not be immune. Things go south really fast. My problem with these movies is the military is portrayed, generally, as cruel bad guys. This time, at least, they had a couple good soldiers, but please. I don’t like the anti-military mentality of these films, but I like them over all.

We just got back from seeing Pirates.  The tall ships are in port (The Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain) and so we had plenty of pirates in the audience.  They passed out beads and led us in song.  It was a rowdy crowd!

I thought the previous Pirates was better, but like you, I’ll probably like it better the second time around.

Keith Richards didn’t look that much different with pirate makeup!

Posted by  on  05/25  at  08:59 PM

The military in 28 Weeks Later might seem to be depicted badly on the surface, but consider the ending. That would have been prevented if the “good guys” had just followed their orders. Kind of subversive.

I tried to watch the first Pirates of the Carribean and couldn’t sit through the whole thing. Boring.

Posted by Jim Treacher  on  05/25  at  10:13 PM

That’s true and I did think of that. The first one bugged me more than the second one.

Boh movies had actors I like playing teh military leaders.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  05/25  at  11:50 PM

I thought Pirates pretty much sucked. Why they couldn’t have made that a regular-length movie, I’ll never know. The photography and effects were good, but three hours of confusion is way too much. Chow Yun Fat didn’t add a thing to the movie - his scenes all pretty much could have been cut or at least significantly shortened, and it would have been just fine.

Posted by  on  05/25  at  11:58 PM

Nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Posted by Macker  on  05/26  at  05:43 AM

Much as I like Chow Yun-Fat, I would have traded his role for more screen time for Bill Nighy.  I very much enjoyed his wonderfully quirky performance as Davy Jones in the previous film.

One plot item that apparently got lost in the shuffle:  in “Dead Man’s Chest”, there was mention that Jack Sparrow “left his mark” on Cutler Beckett (the main baddie).  I thought that that would be revealed in this film, but I was not gratified in that respect.  I’d bet you a nickel that it was in a scene that got trimmed...and the movie could definitely have benefitted from a heavier hand in the editing suite…

There was a satisfying scene after the end credits, though.  But then, I’m a sentimental slob.

Posted by  on  05/28  at  07:07 AM

I didn’t stick around for the end credits. I understand they show something that suggests Pirates 4. Is that right?

Yeah, Bill Nighy didn’t get a lot of screen time in this one. It’s interesting to contrast his character in this with the one he plays in Notes from a Scandal.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  05/28  at  10:39 AM

The end credits cookie didn’t suggest Pirates 4 to me.  Jack Sparrow sailing off in his dinghy was enough for that…

Posted by  on  05/28  at  04:14 PM
Page 1 of 1 pages

<< Back to main