Pirates of the Caribbean : Curse of the Black Pearl - A young Blacksmith, Will Turner inevitably teams up with an eccentric and criminally clever Pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to rescue his love, the governor's daughter, from Jack's former pirate allies, who are now undead.
Hey There Film Lovers
Today I will be reviewing the first of four 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies, that have been released over the years. I watched this film a couple of weeks ago at a friend's house, and whilst the thought was in my head I figured, well why not review it now? It is actually a very highly regarded and praised film, which does a job to set out to achieve something new, and at the time of 2003, which is when this film came out, it does that. and very well to, I might add.
It's action drama with Pirates, what's not to like. Now I'm not overly keen on Pirates, I think that most Pirate stories don't have much of an edge to them or have that spark of interest. I also don't really emphasise with the back story of a Pirate, So not very enthusiastic about Pirate stories, I think they're boring.
What I will say about 'Pirates of the Caribbean' is, though knowing I'm not overly found of Pirates or they're background. I can watch this film, and not have to worry about that too much. I do however have to be in the correct frame of mind to want to watch it. It isn't like a light comedy that can be enjoyed no matter what frame of mood your in, this film really takes the time and the effort to devote your time to sit down and watch it.
This film suffers from the same errors that I had watching 'The Lone Ranger', It has that see saw effect of being good in some ways and terrible in others. When I first watched this film, I was a child, I would of been seven years old. For a child of that age to watch a film such as this, that is 143 minutes is too long. I got bored quite easily and switched off, part way through. At the time, I also wasn't familiar with the time period in which it was set either, It all was quite unfamiliar and strange to me.
This of course now, creates a huge comparison. When I watch it at 17, I see this film in a new form of light. It's still quite confusing in some aspects in the way of plot and story-telling, but it's more clear to me now ten years on. Now I find that quite fascinating, to what I thought of it back then as a child, in relation to watching it now, in a more adult fashion. It just goes to prove ones opinion can change over time.
This film features the debut of the iconic 'Captain' Jack Sparrow as played to near perfection by Johnny Depp. Jack Sparrow is just one of the best and recognisable characters he has created over the years he's been an actor. Every time he has approached this role, he's always been superb. He never diverts off character, he's in the zone all the time. It reassures the audience confidence in his acting, every gesture, every mimic, every facial expression is a winner.
Another great actor in this is Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa. I think what makes his character a success is largely due to his voice. Yes he does good acting of his own, but I think it's the voice that sells his character the best, because he's not using his normal voice, he's using a rough very toned voice. Which sums up his character well in terms of communicating his dialogue. It's always debatable when it comes to Geoffrey Rush's performance in 'Pirates of the Caribbean', I would say it's his best work but it's far from his worst.
Going to show you a quick clip from the film.
Going into the storyline for this movie - Unlike 'Lone Ranger' I didn't think 'Pirates of the Caribbean' tended to be as successful as it later became, It wasn't something that deliberately sets out to be phenomenally good. It was just a new film in composition with the market of other 2003 movies, which did it's best with it did. nothing big. It's a shame really, films that are being released these days could learn from earlier released films such as these.
The storyline to 'Curse of the Black Pearl' is essentially a swash-buckling tale that follows the quest of Captain Jack Sparrow, a savvy pirate, and Will Turner, a resourceful blacksmith, as they both set out to search for Elizabeth Swan. Elizabeth is the daughter of the governor and the love of Will's life. So already you got a love story going on.
Anyway she gets kidnapped by the feared Captain Barbossa. Little do people in the film know - audience included, that the fierce and clever Barbossa has been cursed. He, along with his large crew, are under an ancient curse, doomed for eternity to neither live, nor die - just sort of live an in between life. That is, unless a blood sacrifice is made.
Seems quite a straight forward storyline. and it is. no, I'm joking, it isn't. This story unnecassarly drags which is a shame. To top that, I didn't get enough character development either, you'd thought in a film that's as long as 143 minutes, there'd be equal character development. You'd be incorrect, I thought too much character development was being put into the lead characters, as apposed to the backing characters which are equally as relevant and important to the story as they are. It's very confusing.
As a story, I thought that it was like a jigsaw puzzle with bits of it missing. not everything fitted together perfectly. And the beginning was particularly down hearted. I also felt in the format that was allocated, I didn't think there was enough story, to last as long as the film did. It needed something else.
But I will say once it got going, It went better and was quite good a piece. not spectacular. not even brilliant. just ok.
Which is why you have to be in the mood to watch this film, there are times when I can watch this film by sheer surprise and just get drawn into it. Other times, I get the impression of 'oh why am I watching this'.
I don't quite understand why people like it so much, It's not the best of stories. The Production is good and very well achieved in some places like : costume, lighting, action sequences, attention to detail. But not much.
I suppose I could say the lighting is near perfect. Particularly for example the shot, shot in the night time. I thought those were very juicy shots to view upon. just right to make it dynamically appealing. So lighting was good.
Scores now. I will say that 'Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl' should be worth a 5. 5/10.
Thank you for reading this review.
NEXT TIME : I will review 'Back to the Future' another highly praised film, that I'm not too keen on. But I'll tell what I think of that on Sunday the 13th of October 2013.
Until next time folks!
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