The Dower Power Hour

The Good: Same old swashbuckling atmosphere, music, and cast.  The feministy (adjective form of feminst) themes tied to the Elizabeth character.  The subtle interracial harmony and internationalism represented by the diversity among the Pirate Lords.  The final battle and rather unexpected ending.

The Bad: Jack Sparrow.  In the first scene, Jack hallucinates a crew made up entirely of himself and the audience is subjected to 30 Johnny Deps all overacting and stumbling around in their grunken (gay drunk) fashion.  The rest of Depp’s screen time seemed to follow in that trend.  I liked the Sparrow character in the first movie.  I tolerated him in the second.  In the third, I was subjected to him.  By the end of the film, I was so tired of Depp’s flamboyant acting that not only did I wish that he had less screen time, I was ready to remove one of the Ps from his last name. 

The Ugly:

Overall, I liked the movie quite a bit.  Unlike many people, the complexity of the plot didn’t bother me.  Come on, it’s a movie about pirates, it wasn’t that hard to follow.  My favorite aspect of the movie was the development of Elizabeth Swan.  In the first movie, I didn’t like the constantly-needing-to-be-rescued, strong-willed but ultimately-male-reliant female heroin.  Oh sure, she might have been smart and self-reliant, but I felt like there was something a bit patronizing about the presentation.  Maybe this was an intentional choice by the directors in illustrating the evolution of the character, but I found myself liking Keira Knightly’s performance much more in this film than in its predecessors. 

The same was also true with Orlando Bloom’s characterization of Will Turner.  Although Turner was less central to the plot than in the previous two films, the character felt like less of a perfect-even-when-he-makes-mistakes protagonist and more like a human being.  I would recommend this to anyone that liked the first two films but would encourage any moviegoer to rewatch Dead Man’s Chest before they enter the theater and avoid hours of potential confusion.  The movie wastes no time in rehashing old footage, so if you don’t remember how the previous movie closed, you’re going to be lost for the entirety of the film.

Oh, and here’s a closing thought that struck me as I was leaving the theater.  What does it mean that we, the public, are still rooting for the pirates even though America bears a much stronger resemblance to the East India Company (which, for the record, never had any jurisdiction over the Indies, much less Singapore)?  Think about it: were one to make the analogy, the pirates in this film would definite be compared to the Muslim Fundamentalists of today.  Not, admittedly, in their personal habits but because they are fighting for a lifestyle and world-view which is rapidly being destroyed by the spirit of the new age and overwhelmingly superior military force.  In reaction, they get organized and fight back, using whatever tactics they can think of to get the advantage (be it joining together despite their differences, much the way terrorist organizations as diverse as the PLO and the IRA have cooperated, or unleashing an unpredictable demi-god, chemical weapons anyone?). 

The British in this movie, on the other hand, have careful strategies, superior military force, and a desire to increase security while making a tidy profit.  They promote free trade and deplore anyone who doesn’t play by their rules.  To promote this international stability and line their own pockets they suspend Habeus Corpus, trial by jury, and start hanging people by the dozens on remove islands far away from the homeland.  Remind you of anyone else?  Certainly this metaphor was not intended by the filmmakers, but it’s still interesting to make these connections.  Think about it when you’re watching the movie.