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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL |
Movie Review by Reece De Ville
Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom,
Keira Knightley
Director: Gore Verbinski
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It’s the highest of high concepts. A movie based on a theme park ride.
But wait, ‘the film is hardly anything to do with the ride! It’s a
completely different experience!’ they cry. Silly me. Of course
Hollywood wouldn’t just take the name of a popular theme park ride add a
sprinkling of script, a bucketful of action and mix to make the most
incredibly uninspired film of the year… or would they?
Ok, so here’s the deal o cynical reader. Captain Barbossa (Rush) and his
crew of dastardly pirates have been cursed. On taking a large shipment of
Spanish booty onboard, the crew of the Black Pearl fall prey to a fate
worse than scurvy - a dose of the undead. Fated to walk the earth as
living corpses until they recover every last piece of the gold taken all
those years ago (I believe this was part of a ‘plot’ - I wouldn’t
let it worry you too much), Barbossa’s crew are chased by the former
captain of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow (Depp), blacksmith Will Turner
(Bloom) and Governor Swann’s (Price) daughter Elizabeth (Knightley).
Much buckling of the swash ensues along with a healthy dose of splicing
the main brace (look, just buy me a book of pirate clichés for Christmas
and I’ll be happy) and as the film draws to a close, the distant cry of
the sea is heard: “Arrrh! There be the smell of franchise in them there
waters!”
However, what makes PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN so much fun is the wonderful
performances by Depp and Rush, along with the breakneck speed and
inventiveness of Verbinski’s direction. Depp’s Jack Sparrow is almost
like watching a video diary of Keith Richard’s Caribbean holiday as he
overplays and mugs shamelessly to the camera. Still, it’s a pirate movie
- can you really overplay in such a film? Rush too is excellent with the
right amount of menace and wit helping to bring the, somewhat tragic,
story of Barbossa to life. This isn’t just a one-note performance from
either actor and it’s great to see two such talented character actors
kick off their comfortable shoes and take it to the limit. Bloom and
Knightley are perhaps the film’s main weak link, playing their parts
with enough gusto, but little range. Of course, both are relatively new to
filmmaking and do spark when on screen together, but one wonders if it
will have to take a barnstorming performance in the upcoming NED KELLY to
alter the opinion of Bloom being a rather bland, yet serviceable
performer. Knightley seems to have a better time of it, playing both the
prude governor’s daughter and the feisty pirate lass with a great deal
of energy.
Of course, the real stars of the picture are the undead pirates
themselves. With each pirate’s undead CGI model moving exactly like it’s
human counterpart, the team at Industrial Light and Magic have really
excelled themselves here - evoking their work in the INDIANA JONES
trilogy. Indeed, there are a fair few grisly moments for adults to wince
at and for children to be both delighted and scared witless by.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL is a likeable romp
that is perfect Saturday night entertainment fodder. Leave your bitter,
cynical old adult at the cinema door, and go take your inner child for a
cruise in the shark-infested waters of Depp and his salty sea dogs.
Arrrhhh!!!
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