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malsperanzaOf course I loved it, and of course it wasn't as good, as complete and perfect and charming, as the first movie.
The Black Pearl was a stand-alone movie, with a perfect arc and just the right balance of character development and action. Dead Man's Chest is a middle-of-the-trilogy movie, and as such is a damn sight more successful than most (The Two Towers and most of the Star Wars series come to mind as signal disappointments). It did have too many longish action sequences mucking up an already somewhat incoherent plot (which will only become complete and perfect after the third film), & not enough time was spent with any of the principal characters: a bit too much jumping about and exploding things and not quite enough time talking, or even merely bantering. OK, those are the negatives.
On the plus side ... well, apart from the OBVIOUS *coughdeppcough*, of course: Lots of good dark-turning of all the main characters. Even the indispensably shallow and simple Will had a nice growth of character, and the others all did very well indeed. A tip of the tricorne to the screenwriters Elliott and Rossio for managing to keep Jack completely mysterious and compelling while still letting us have a bit more of him. That was the thing I was most worried about: that Jack would get Explained, or would Turn Out to Be [fill in the noun of your choice]. But our boys have read their Joseph Campbell and know their work, and did a lovely job of keeping the adventure tale and the hero's journey balanced.
They also managed to work in nearly every possible mariner's tale and bit of sailor's lore in the canon, from the Flying Dutchman to the Krakken to the unfortunately rather racist South Sea cannibals.
Two hommages I particularly appreciated:
1) Jack Sparrow's hommage to Withnail, when he says quizzically: "I feel ... unusual." Yay for Withnail references. No screwball movie is really complete without one. (Not to mention movies of Hamlet, of course.)
*runs off to invent Jack Sparrow/Withnail fanfics*
2) The witch Tia Dalma is, I am convinced, modeled on the character of Bocca Dorata, the mysterious Caribbean witch and seer of Hugo Pratt's tales of the pirate Corto Maltese. Corto Maltese is famous in Europe and known to all serous students of the graphic novel--not to mention anyone who is a fan of pirate tales. I am sure Rossio and Elliott know the books. Because I have been a huge fan of these for many years, I was thrilled.
And how on earth did Hollywood manage to keep the surprise ending a sekrit? Or am I just so completely out of the loop that I am the only person on the planet who didn't know about it? I knew the rumors that we will meet Jack's own father in the person of Keith Richards, and given the theme that has now nicely developed about true and false fathers, I would expect no less. But this? Caught me totally by surprise.
I was sorry not to see Annamaria turn up, and hope that she will surface in the third film, perhaps to provide a love interest for Norrington.
The Black Pearl was a stand-alone movie, with a perfect arc and just the right balance of character development and action. Dead Man's Chest is a middle-of-the-trilogy movie, and as such is a damn sight more successful than most (The Two Towers and most of the Star Wars series come to mind as signal disappointments). It did have too many longish action sequences mucking up an already somewhat incoherent plot (which will only become complete and perfect after the third film), & not enough time was spent with any of the principal characters: a bit too much jumping about and exploding things and not quite enough time talking, or even merely bantering. OK, those are the negatives.
On the plus side ... well, apart from the OBVIOUS *coughdeppcough*, of course: Lots of good dark-turning of all the main characters. Even the indispensably shallow and simple Will had a nice growth of character, and the others all did very well indeed. A tip of the tricorne to the screenwriters Elliott and Rossio for managing to keep Jack completely mysterious and compelling while still letting us have a bit more of him. That was the thing I was most worried about: that Jack would get Explained, or would Turn Out to Be [fill in the noun of your choice]. But our boys have read their Joseph Campbell and know their work, and did a lovely job of keeping the adventure tale and the hero's journey balanced.
They also managed to work in nearly every possible mariner's tale and bit of sailor's lore in the canon, from the Flying Dutchman to the Krakken to the unfortunately rather racist South Sea cannibals.
Two hommages I particularly appreciated:
1) Jack Sparrow's hommage to Withnail, when he says quizzically: "I feel ... unusual." Yay for Withnail references. No screwball movie is really complete without one. (Not to mention movies of Hamlet, of course.)
*runs off to invent Jack Sparrow/Withnail fanfics*
2) The witch Tia Dalma is, I am convinced, modeled on the character of Bocca Dorata, the mysterious Caribbean witch and seer of Hugo Pratt's tales of the pirate Corto Maltese. Corto Maltese is famous in Europe and known to all serous students of the graphic novel--not to mention anyone who is a fan of pirate tales. I am sure Rossio and Elliott know the books. Because I have been a huge fan of these for many years, I was thrilled.
And how on earth did Hollywood manage to keep the surprise ending a sekrit? Or am I just so completely out of the loop that I am the only person on the planet who didn't know about it? I knew the rumors that we will meet Jack's own father in the person of Keith Richards, and given the theme that has now nicely developed about true and false fathers, I would expect no less. But this? Caught me totally by surprise.
I was sorry not to see Annamaria turn up, and hope that she will surface in the third film, perhaps to provide a love interest for Norrington.
