I suppose a lot of it could have been that I felt almost personally invested in this film. I've made wonderful friends over this film, I've communicated with the writers as well as others who worked on it and I've read different versions of the script so it felt almost like my movie, too.
Now, I knew there could be changes. After all, it never fails in the adaptations of the Harry Potters books that my favorite part...is never in it.
However, this was...this was not the film I'd been anticipating at all.
It was like Charlie Brown and the football. I was all excited by the film and then when I finally saw it, the football was taken away.
There were some things I liked so I'll just start from the beginning.
We're back in Port Royal again which shows just how much our characters have outgrown it. “We must have people singing at the beginning of a POTC film!” However, I did think it worked. There was some odd commentary on current politics, like their civil rights being suspended although as I was reminded earlier this week, it works with the timeframe. The ideals that Beckett holds about money being more important than people and the oppression of the colonies citizens are what would later lead to the greatest act of Piracy in what is now the United States of America...when, on December 16, 1773, American colonists snuck onto East India Company ships and threw their cargo, which was tea, overboard into the water!!! Effectively, this was stealing 10,000 pounds from the ETC, but the statement was far more lasting.
(Side note: December 16th is my birthday, woo!)
The scene was a nice comparison to the Turkish prison in the second which was supposed to inspire feelings of disgust in us, but at the same time, there was a detachment. It was a Turkish prison, this was our very own Fort Charles which we first saw at a happy time in the first film; James' promotion to Commodore. Now, it's the site of multiple hanging after multiple hanging without fanfare as Jack's was to be.
Beckett's response is interesting as well. The condemned are singing and he says, "Finally."?
This could be interpreted a number of ways. One: that it's not fun to hang people who have given up hope. I admit that my like of Beckett prevents me from taking that one seriously.
Two: and more likely, that it confirms that he really is hanging pirates which was the intention.
Now, if he listened to the lyrics, he could, of course, learn valuable information about the plot, but I doubt he does this when he could just ask Jones.
There were two things that were confusing though. First of all, there was a guy with brocade on the shoulders and he wasn't James!!! This pissed me off. Does Beckett have more than one Admiral? Well, of course, he does, but I don't like to think about it. It makes me sad and makes James seem expendable. Although at the same time, James' absence is intriguing. Where is he? What is he doing? Shaving? I suppose I should like the sentiment of not having James linked to the hanging of men, women and children so young that require a barrel which brings me to my second puzzlement which my mom brought to my attention. How is it that a strange boy could then look exactly like the future child of Will and Liz? Was/is there another Turner? Or did Jack's searching for the Fountain of Youth really go wrong so he became a boy again and the first boy was a result of one of Jack's unions? Or does reincarnation happen in the POTC world?
Off to Singapore, I still had hope at this point...
All the normal elements were there, we had excitement, most of the main characters, Chow Yun Fat-woohoo! and twists and turns. It was fun except for the weird peephole bit which was like the one from CotBP but taken one step too far. This would also be the first time that Jack the Monkey starts to steal the show. He had the best character in the whole film which is sad. I even considered for a bit, making him my favorite character because he could never die unlike my others.
James gets his sword back...although I still want the original DMC scene that was deleted!! I loved how James' first line is "You summoned me" and said the same was as "You hired me" from DMC. In the delivery of those three words, we already know that James is not happy and now looks down on Beckett as he did Jack. However, which is the preferable Hell? Is it the pirates who appear to be losing and are who he's always hunted down as being the enemies or the comfortable evilness of wearing a fancy uniform, having his sword back and once again being in a position of power?
I hate what they did to Weatherby. He has no purpose in AWE except for him to share a look with James about having sold their souls to the devil or to tell Liz about stabbing the heart which is really for the benefit of Jack and Will who are overhearing anyway. Actually, it's much more tragic for James to have to bear that realization alone and it makes no sense for Weatherby to know what he does in this cut of the film. Mercer says he's been asking questions but it isn't confirmed that they were answered and if they were, by who? James? James explained the nature of the curse to Weatherby? How would he know? That would only make sense if the DMC end scene of James trying to stab the heart was still canon. In fact, the inclusion of Weatherby cheapens James' sacrifice later because despite his dying and the easily made link where she could have blamed it on Beckett, too, who does she mention to Beckett's face as who she's upset over? Her father even though Tia said he was at peace! I can only hope that James' death was just too traumatic to speak of at that time. "Best not wallow in our grief" as Gibbs put it in DMC.
The mistreatment of Weatherby in the final cut is made worse by the fact that I know he had good scenes!! If Weatherby was so distraught over Liz being dead that he was going to stab the heart and was told of its curse after being restrained by James, then it would be perfectly logical for him to know and be so overjoyed at seeing her later as well as assuming, "Are you dead?" The fact that James heard Liz was dead as well would be another reason why he was so happy to see her...they even hug! I also loved that scene from the script for this exchange:
MERCER
They know.
BECKETT
I can order Admiral Norrington's silence. He'll obey; it's what he does.
MERCER
And the governor?
BECKETT
Yes, Well. Every man should have a secret he carries to his grave.
We see how Beckett is assuming James' allegience which is a very dangerous thing and ultimately leads to Beckett's undoing. Beckett would have never died or at least not in that way if James hadn't released Elizabeth and her crew and Elizabeth would never have been released otherwise. Bootstrap was too far gone to think of that.
I also just plain like the grave line better than "He's outlived his usefullness" or whatever it was in the movie. That whole scene with Beckett and Mercer looked like it had been a reshot shorter version of the one we know was shot which included James and Weatherby!!
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i61/Ericadawn16/Norrington/Jamesnbeckett.jpg
I wanted to hear James say, "Apalling."! It would have made me think of Coupling and "You have all behaved apallingly" but why not? Then, each film could have had a Coupling reference. The fact that James' first scenes would have all had Weatherby in them would have also been more motivation for why Beckett would want to get rid of Weatherby once he no longer had leverage on Weatherb-*+/y-the promise of helping Liz, since Weatherby is now a loose cannon who tried to stab the heart and could end up a "bad" influence on James!
Of course, he does end up a bad influence, hehe. In both the scripts and the film, it’s Elizabeth’s accusations of James being responsible in some part for her father’s death that finally spurs him into action. However, the final cut of the film is such that Elizabeth’s disappointment of him alone could have achieved the same result since we know from the first line that James is disappointed in himself. Jack and Will’s finding out of what exactly the curse entails could have easily come out another way as well.
This was one of my biggest problems with the film. The good stuff was cut while excess remained that was completely unnecessary. It ended up being almost incomprehensible. My mom, who I spoiled a LOT, couldn’t even understand what was going on part of the time.
However, I did love the trip to World’s End with shivering Jack the Monkey and all except for…the toe bit. Honestly, I have not been to a movie in years with so many parts where I either closed or hid my eyes as well as just thinking, That’s gross! It would have been either a horror film or Along Came Polly.
The part where they fall over the waterfall was absolutely perfect! Suddenly, there’s pitch blackness and you hear…The actual audio from the ride!!!
It was after this was when it all went downhill and AWE became a bad movie. Unfortunately, World’s End brings us to what was at times the worst character in AWE: Captain Jack Sparrow. There was too much of him…literally. One multiple Jacks scene would have been sufficient. Tia talks of how he’s being punished and then, we get Dali-esque shot of his nose and Jack at war with himself. This makes sense, but then it became too much. Goat? Weird but cute. Jack laying an egg? No, not cool.
I was also confused at the time because the other Jacks were so not portrayed by Johnny Depp, but an idea was suggested…on KTTC, I think…that Jack simply has different views of himself that look physically different as well. It went on too long for my taste and made me wonder who was really responsible for this scene and the weirdness although mercifully, it was shorter than the script’s version without the shooting of all the Jacks. However, I still preferred when he finally has enough and swings over the side with more mild craziness, like not inviting Jones to his tea party. That was a line that worked really well actually because it reminded us of who was responsible for Jack being there, but was later proved very sage advice when Beckett invited Jones to his tea party where Jones ended up breaking one of Beckett’s cups.
I felt bad for Beckett having his things repeatedly broken; his figure, the tea cup, the piece on the globe and then his ship and body…
The poor guy gets no respect which I guess over-developed into issues. As someone who’s short with youthful looks, I can see where he’s coming from. Everyone always looks down on you or thinks of you as a child and you think maybe…maybe if I had more responsibility, maybe if I had more power or prestige, then they’d change, but it doesn’t happen that way. Instead, he was still not liked and looked down upon except with more firepower. I hated having to see his ship utterly obliterated. I’ve hated that idea ever since I saw it in the script. It just seemed like overkill. I suppose they needed to send a message to the rest of the fleet, but if Beckett was that un-liked by his own people, then as soon as they saw that Beckett had lost they’d turn the other way.
Back to Jack in Purgatory, I liked the rock scene and then the rock crabs. I thought it expressed the Locker’s horribleness better than the multiple Jacks scene. Jack mistaking them for hallucinations was great as was everyone pointing a pistol at someone, even Jack the Monkey at Cotton. The beach scene was extremely subtle, but I think it’ll work better on repeated viewings that Jack and Barbossa are bigger than life myths just as the kraken and could easily meet its fate. The fact that Jack holds no ill will towards the creature is shown in a single expression.
I loved Sao Feng, but it was too bad we couldn’t have had more of him. I understand that Elizabeth’s plotline demanded his death, but he was really interesting. At least we got to see the interior of his ship, that’s my favorite ship…so richly decorated and designed.
This part I watched with both sadness and anticipation…it meant the deaths of Sao and James were soon at hand, but also that the scene with Beckett and Jack as well as James’ best scenes.
Unfortunately, the scene between Jack and Beckett was cut considerably. There was a fascinating tidbit from Beckett that implied that Jack had betrayed him once, but no other hint as to the answer of Will’s DMC question, “And what mark did he leave on you?” or why Beckett would want Jack dead most of all. This was extremely disappointing, but it was great to see how similar the two men are. Neither are respected or believed, both men advance themselves through manipulating others and the way they interact with each other. Throw in James and I could watch that all day! I loved how they each used the fan and how Beckett would breathily talk closely in Jack’s ear…oddly enough, very similar to how Ragetti later talks to Calypso as to a lover.
Beckrow is so canon.
However, I disliked the emphasis on Beckabeth especially when paralleled with Sao Feng wanting her on the Pearl, it was just too much. Is any man immune to her femininity? Will Gibbs be hitting on her next? Reminding her how they hugged in DMC? Was this to make Beckett, despite getting all excited in DMC at having a beautiful woman have him at gunpoint, appear less gay?
“You’re mad!”
I love this. First of all, he does nothing as though wanting to know and watch if Jack will actually go through with it. Second of all, there are only two uses of the phrase, “You’re mad!” in the trilogy. AnaMaria says the similar, “You’re daft” but Elizabeth is the only other to actually say, “You’re mad!” She says it in DMC to James, of all people, hehe, but it’s an interesting comparison that both Jack and James end up referred to as “mad”. Both men also end up dying because of Elizabeth and are the other corners of the love pyramid of Elizabeth, Will, Jack and James.
There’s also the curious theme between the two of redemption. As James tells Jack in the first, “One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness” yet he deludes himself into thinking that taking the heart will redeem him of the loss of his ship and the men aboard while searching for Jack. As Jack replied in CotBP, “Though it seems enough to condemn him” so it is for James, who goes from wanting redemption for these mistakes to piling more and more sins on his conscience. James ends up performing the one good deed that both redeems him and condemns him at the same time by letting Elizabeth and her crew go free.
Jack never gets redemption but I don’t think he cares anymore. Being a pirate has been both a burden and a blessing to him so he understands James all too well. Both have something else in common although that is also not addressed in the film! According to The Pirate’s Guidelines by Joshamee Gibbs, “Davy Jones will send a dying tar to the Locker if he refuses Jones’s offer of servitude aboard the Flying Dutchman to delay his Final Judgement.” Since James refused, then this would mean that he was sent there and not on a boat like Weatherby. Tia informs us earlier in the film that the person is taken body and soul to the Locker so if right after we saw him dead, James was taken there, it could explain why NO ONE mentioned his horrible murder from then on.
I wish there could have been a scene between the two…one last “Rooting for you, mate.” There also should have been clarification in the film as to what was said in the Gibbs’ book and whether that is correct.
“And that was without a single drop of Rum!”
Except that he was still under the effects of whatever alcohol Beckett had given him…
If you had not read spoilers, Sao’s death was quite unexpected which worked well. We got to see an Elizabeth more like in CotBP where she allows assumptions in her favor. The reunion of Elizabeth and James was great except for telling him that her father is dead. It makes James into an idiot that he would believe Mercer or Beckett that Weatherby had simply gone back to England. Also, the use of her saying, “your Beckett” made me giggle.
I did enjoy the hug immensely. This is definitely a hybrid James with the brocade of CotBP, but the relaxed attitude of DMC. The “choosing a side” dialogue has grown on me as a suitable replacement for the longer scene between Elizabeth and James although I’m intrigued by the behind the scenes footage on Starz where Elizabeth has a sword to James’ throat. The bootstrap scene was good…what I could see of it when I wasn’t distracted by the person in front of us using their cellphone so the light shone in everyone’s eyes!
The last scene between Elizabeth and James was perfect. It showed just how far they’d come since CotBP. While we’ve always known how much James has loved her…at least once she grew up, Elizabeth has not always been kind to him. She even accepted his proposal on the pretense that he save the man she really loved. However, this scene shows how despite loving Will, she seems to care for James as well, just not the same way. One good thing about POTC is that you can learn more about a scene from comparing it to a similar scene. In DMC, James tells Elizabeth, “Don’t wait for me!” This seemed like a strange request to someone who other than not letting him get himself killed in Tortuga and seeming a bit sad over the condition she found him in…didn’t really appear to give a damn about him. However, James knew Elizabeth better than we did and in AWE, it proves it. Elizabeth would wait for him even if it meant being caught and begs him to come with her! That is a wonderful exchange where he says in effect that he can never redeem himself and she wants him with her. It’s what any Norribether has been dying to hear since CotBP. Elizabeth kissed Jack in DMC for selfish motives entirely because she wanted to live so he had to die whereas in AWE, James kisses Elizabeth to distract her so he can push her towards the rope so she can live even if he dies. There’s a resolve on his face that he knows the consequences of what he’s done and is willing to accept death so that they will probably never see her again. He kisses her and unlike with Sao Feng, she does not push him away. It was a perfect kiss and when it’s over, she looks proud of him for doing it which gives more insight into their brief engagement. Then, when she sees him in trouble and starts coming back so he shoots the rope. It’s worth noting how only two characters are shown in the films as actually being able to shoot well: Jack and James. It seems a shame that James is immediately stabbed after that. His fight with the cursed pirate in the first film went on much longer and we learned in DMC that he is excellent with a sword, but he’s caught off guard. Now, when James delivered that killing strike to the chest in the first film, he pulled his sword out but it’s off in AWE that as James and Will lay dying, the swords are left in the chest although I guess it’s because Bootstrap didn’t quite realize what he’d done and Davy Jones was just mean. I still hate Bootstrap though, I know he was not himself or whatever, but he killed James! That's not nice! So, I no longer cared whether Will could save him or not.
I loved that Elizabeth saw and screamed his name. It was a scream comparable only to when she’s shouting for Will in mortal danger…
The secret scene was also great because James refused and because he refused by stabbing Jones, like a Disney F you! This is later mimicked by Will although the James scene was ruined for want of comedy. Do NOT put comedy in a serious scene where a great man has just died!! I was a whimpering mess and people were laughing around me. I was not amused!
It cast a pale over the whole viewing experience until the Brethren court and even that was lackluster until the appearance of Teague and Poochie who now has the best sea turtles reference ever. However, the shrunken head bit was stupid and I like knowing some about Jack but not everything. His mother and father should be a mystery as well as the inner workings of his mind which were made all too clear with the additional, completely unnecessary multiple Jacks sequences. How is it that it’s important to know this but not what led to Jack’s ship being burned which is why he made the deal with Jones in the first place??!!
The exchange was nice especially the way it was shot as the classic western showdown complete with very Morricone sounding music. Even shots of everyone’s Boots of Sex!! If it hadn’t been shot before DMC, I would almost think that was KTTC inspired.
The Davy and Calypso subplot probably works better on repeated viewings because otherwise, it was hard to follow for the casual viewer and didn’t even properly address the curses in order to understand the ending. It was important to see that Jones really was a man once so that was nice and that Calypso might also be a betrayer although when Calypso was released, the simple “Fool!” would have worked once much better. I had no idea what she was saying. Although I liked that we now have a reason why Ragetti was so protective over his wooden eye rather than just getting a new one.
Murtogg and Mullroy were a pleasure to have again. Obviously, they hadn’t sailed with James when he lost the ship because it was as though they hadn’t changed in two years. It was much needed comic relief that actually worked unlike the multiple Jacks that grew grating and was a great way of having Jack take the chest without a fight. Murtogg and Mullroy also were able to do what James was not and actually join the pirate side, jumping out in their new clothes and prepared to fight if there had still been one going on. However, part of their exchange was a bit odd. As much as I love their “I blame the fish people” and their commentary on why the normal codes of behavior didn’t apply on the Flying Dutchman and had gone downhill, I wanted to scream at them, “Hasn’t it gone downhill since your superior was HORRIBLY MURDERED?!!!” Perhaps as I mentioned before, James’ body disappeared and the best was suspected as with the Governor’s disappearance. Although it was subtle, James did seem to be Elizabeth’s mind at least twice; when Elizabeth first shows up at the Brethren Court meeting in her new black outfit. Black is a standard color for mourning and her expression is a bit more serious than the usual “troubled” expression that she has for most of DMC and AWE. Her speech about “What shall we die for?” also has a feeling of being inspired by James’ sacrifice. If Elizabeth is going to die, then she wants to do it right like James’ example, with pistol and sword in hand.
The tea scene was a brilliant peace of absurdity with William and Beckett calming having tea which made me wonder if Beckett, ever the gracious host, had remembered that Will had refused the alcohol when offered in Port Royal so this time, he offered him tea. How cute…until Jones shows up and ruins it all. I had also thought that Will’s intelligence was called into question. I thought way back when he noticed that Tia had the same necklace that he had figured out the truth, but then, it’s obvious during the part with Jones that he hadn’t.
Mercer’s death was absolutely disgusting and actually made me glad that if James was dead, then he couldn’t suffer such a fate as well. The ending was just so much happening at one time. James’ sword used by Jones and that made me way angrier than when Beckett played with it in DMC. Then, when all hope is lost, Jones stabs Will which shows what kind of warped creature he’s become. I don’t think Beckett would have done such a thing. There’s a good job of showing the indecision facing Jack as to whether to take immortality for himself despite the consequences or finally “do the right thing” without being chained up first. Unfortunately, the stabbing was done for shock effect rather than allowing the audience to fully understand that Jack helped Will stab the heart. This was confirmed by my mother having to ask what happened because she knew from my spoilers that Will stabs the heart but all she saw was Jack with the knife. I had to ask what had happened to Davy after he was stabbed because I couldn’t recall that either and after Davy Jones is dead, Calypso just goes away.
So, Flying Dutchman crew members restored to their original states? Awesome!
Flying Dutchmen crewmembers coming at Will while chanting like a Freaks homage so I half expected them to chant, “One of us! One of us!”? Not cool! Knowing what Boostrap was going to do with knife? Eww!
Some aspects of the Will and Elizabeth relationship were great, like the trust issue and having conflict and the way they worked together during the wedding…acting as one. However, then we have Elizabeth sailing to a beach because “He’s captain now so let’s go to the beach and have sex where everyone can watch from the ships with spyglasses!” It was just sort of weird and felt incongruent with the rest of it even though we had spent all DMC-long with her wanting her wedding night so it was the final resolution. When Will was kissing her thigh, there was a certain point where it became, “No, you can stop now. We’re good.” Then, at the end, we get Will appearing like a romance novel cover boy although it was nice to once again have that “Weather eye on the horizon.”
The Jack and Elizabeth subplot seemed fully resolved, not just by her wedding but by his allowing them their happiness like he really had let her go and then, he seemed different with her afterward…more like in the first film before he was vexed.
Beckett’s death…well, my mom told her opinion quite bluntly as, anyone who likes Beckett should kill themselves. His not doing anything was what got to her, but it made a little sense. All those “cannonade and cutlass and all manner of remorseless pieces of metal” that he found personally “distasteful to even contemplate the horror facing those on board” were suddenly pointing at HIM. It was a possibility he had never thought to calculuate and it stunned him into a trance. However, I dislike the Rosebudian phrasing of, “It’s just good business.” What kind of last line is that? Seriously? Why? I get that he was a very business minded individual, but he’s facing death, has just realized it…and that’s what he says? Otherwise, the slow-motion worked really well for the character and drowning in the flag was much more tasteful than I initially feared.
Elizabeth had a really good character arc from the little girl who sings of pirates to not only being married to a pirate but the freaking Pirate King! Will’s character arc is a bit sadder. He eventually gets his happy ending but not before having to change his moral compass and spending ten years sundered from his beloved Elizabeth although we can imagine that she did her best to see him at sea. It’s still a little odd that Elizabeth can go to the Land of the Dead and back, but not stay with Will.
Jack and Barbossa had the perfect ending. “We two (im)mortals locked in an epic battle until Judgement Day and trumpets sound.” With one crucial difference, Barbossa’s crew is not so trusting and with good reason!
