Originally Posted By Dlmusic BEWARE THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD I started this thread because the evasiveness of spoilers was getting annoying for conversation purposes: <<I hated the attack of the 50-foot Tia Dalma/Calypso and I hated the hang-gliding.>> I agree, both were pretty lame. I was expecting Calypso to be much more impressive and less B movie-ish. <<And my unresolved issue is how Will and Elizabeth ended up. All she wanted was freedom and to be a pirate and she ends up not being able to have Will, well, regularly. I think I would have loved for Norrington to have Will's fate instead>> Ok, now this is where paying attention to the movie really pays off I think. If you listen to what Tia Dalma says in the prison, you get the idea that you only serve for 10 years and if your true love is there for you, you're no longer bound to the flying dutchman. And if you pay attention to the scene at the end of the credits there's a green flash before Will comes back. So, you could assume his soul is returning from the afterlife.
Originally Posted By mousegrl ^Does that mean he gets his heart back? It just hurt to see that big scar on his chest!
Originally Posted By Kira <<<And if you pay attention to the scene at the end of the credits there's a green flash before Will comes back. So, you could assume his soul is returning from the afterlife.>>> but is he returning for good or is he only returning for the one day that the curse allows him to (can step foot on land only once every 10 years)?? I agree that the giant Tia Dalma was much too B movie style for my likiing as well as the several jack and his many demons scenes. They should have left the first scene with him going crazy in the locker and left it at that. dragging it on really just killed it for me. I for one was very dissappointed in the killing of 7 major/minor characters. especially sao feng...they played him up so much in the previews that I thought he was going to become a good solid character in the movie, but 45 minutes into it he was killed off. I was extremely irritated by norrington being killed off as well was Will (my eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets and I was angry the entire rest of the movie lol). I will admit these scenes made beautiful scenes and were well acted (and even made me cry, but I'm the type of person that wants a happy ending for everyone. I was even upset to see beckett go. It was a beautiful movie and the cinematography was great, I loved the battle scenes and my favorite part was when it went pitch black and you could hear clips from the ride soundtrack. I felt like I was on edge waiting to see who would get killed next through the entire movie. Everytime I started to get my hopes up and start rooting and connecting with the characters they would be killed off. The whole movie for me was a rollercoaster of emotions..I laughed, I cried, I grimaced, I rolled my eyes and as of right now I'm still stuck in the I don't know if I love it or hate it catagory. I will probably love it after I have watched it a few more times...but as of right now I'm still annoyed with several of the characters fate.
Originally Posted By jasmine7 I was more upset at Norrington being killed off than Will (though Norrington's death didn't surprise me; it falls into the traditional archetype of redemption). I've never been a huge fan of Elizabeth or Will, but I did like how their story ended. I really like the ending of Will becoming the new master of the Flying Dutchman (and is it just me or did Will get sexier after death? lol).
Originally Posted By Ursula Oh, Will did get sexier after death, hands down. And what Kira said, thank you my dear, I was feeling the same way. And as far as paying attention goes, I thought I did, but I was in a very loud theatre full of screaming and talking fans. I did love how they led each character around, and with the switching sides...I loved that but others in my screening were confused on that part. I don't see how they were confused but then again, maybe they had loud people near them, too.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney <<<Oh, Will did get sexier after death, hands down.>>> I totally agree. I told my cousin, who loves Jack Sparrow (and Johnny Depp in general), and who thinks Orlando Bloom is the second fiddle, that after she sees this she'll change her mind. Especially after the NOSE scene. Did I need to see a 10 foot tall nose? His pores looked HUGE. GROSS!!!
Originally Posted By DyGDisney By the way, he's sexier in this movie than either of the other two also. Maybe it's his age, or his hair's a little longer. I dunno, but he looks really good.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Was I the only one really bothered by some of the scores in this soundtrack? An electric guitar? Really? It seemed that some of the music really went with a contemporary sound that just didn't work for the movie in my opinion. Other than that I really enjoyed the movie and I too felt like the time flew by. And shirtless Jack Sparrow? Woo hoo! LOL! I will admit that I didn't cathch this either: <<If you listen to what Tia Dalma says in the prison, you get the idea that you only serve for 10 years and if your true love is there for you, you're no longer bound to the flying dutchman.>> Guess I'll just have to watch it again. ;o) ~Beth
Originally Posted By DyGDisney I didn't get that either Beth. I think he get's one day every ten years on shore, whether the one he loves is there or not. It's just that Tia Dalma wasn't there for Davy Jones (the Monkees anyone?).
Originally Posted By u k fan <<<And if you pay attention to the scene at the end of the credits there's a green flash before Will comes back. So, you could assume his soul is returning from the afterlife.>>> If I remember rightly there's a Green Flash when Will leaves, but there's never any mention (in my memory) of a Green Flash being the way someone leaves this world and certainly that's not how they get to the locker the first time. Does that mean someone came back as Will left?!!!
Originally Posted By bobiascastle I am a Jack fan hands down but the very last shot of Will WOW!! I am still thinking about it. LOVED IT all the way!
Originally Posted By bobiascastle We went with a group (to the drivins) & when the scene was on with all the Jacks, my 17 year old babysitter (who is a Will fan) yelled out & "Look Val there is one for all of us" She had the the section laughing.
Originally Posted By mousegrl I thought that Will got to stay after doing his 10 years. The green flash means that someone's soul is returning to their body.
Originally Posted By JeffG >> "Was I the only one really bothered by some of the scores in this soundtrack? An electric guitar? Really? It seemed that some of the music really went with a contemporary sound that just didn't work for the movie in my opinion." << You aren't alone in that. I've felt that all three of the films included scores that were a little too contemporary at time (particularly when it comes to use of electronic instrumentation) and there are several sequences in the third film where I found it to be downright jarring. Despite a couple really bad sequences in this area, I actually thought the score overall this time was something of an improvement over the previous two. There are some rather beautiful new themes this time and the song written for the opening scenes (and incorporated frequently into the score) was very good. Note that it is pretty well known among those that follow film scores that the use of electronics and other contemporary music was intentional and pretty much directly at the request of Jerry Bruckheimer (who even refers to it as the "Bruckheimer sound"). Initially, composer Alan Silvestri was hired to score the first film in the series (his name even appeared on the early posters), but his score was rejected because Bruckheimer felt it was too much in a classical style and he wanted something with more of a contemporary sound, more along the lines of his other film projects. After Silvestri's score was rejected, they went to Hans Zimmer as a replacement. Zimmer was actually too busy to score the film in its entirety and instead "produced" the score and delegated the composing out to other composers that worked for his company. The score for the first film was actually credited to Klaus Badelt in the main titles. Interestingly, Zimmer is the credited composer on both sequels and Badelt's name appears nowhere in the credits, despite the fact that several key themes from the first film are also used in the second film. That strongly suggests that Zimmer actually composed those major themes. All three films do list quite a few "additional music" credits, though, so they are all kind of scored by committee... -Jeff
Originally Posted By mousegrl I read somewhere that the curse on Will will be lifted if he returns to find his true love faithful and waiting for him. After that he will be able to come and go onto land as he likes. (Still be caption of the ship, I believe. That was a confusing part.) That is why Davy Jones was so mad when he came back and Calypso wasn't there. He was bound for another 10 years at sea. That's when he cut out his heart. Will took over the curse when he killed Davy Jones.
Originally Posted By JeffG Pretty much like the other two films in the series, I thought "At Worlds End" was kind of overblown and out-of-control, but also very entertaining. I suppose I probably could best be classified as a "casual" fan of this series (I've only seen each of the films once), but I can certainly understand their immense popularity and I certainly can honestly say that I found all three to be wildly enjoyable escapism. One of the first things that struck me about "At Worlds End" was that I basically agreed with the early reports that I saw that the film was too long, but not for reasons that I would generally expect to object to the length of a film. I definitely was never bored by the film and didn't find very much of the film to be slow or drawn out. The film maintains a fast enough pace and such a high level of excitement that it really doesn't feel like a nearly 3-hour film. The reason why I still say that the film is overlong, is that I felt that the storytelling could have definitely used some tightening. The movie does have a bit of a tendency to repeat itself at times (key example: Jack talking with his dopplegangers was amusing once, but shouldn't have been repeated later in the film) while, at other times, going off on occasional non-productive tangents that had a tendency to obscure the storyline. I even thought that there was one entire subplot (Calypso) that should have been excised from the film entirely as it never really resulted in much of a pay off. I've also seen a lot of commentary about the complexity of the film, but this was something I actually kind of appreciated. All too often, mainstream blockbusters tend to have overly simplistic stories and I admit I find it kind of refreshing that this series really does ask you to pay attention. Much of the complexity comes from a rather large cast of characters, all of whom tend to be pursuing their own agendas and interests at any given time. That strikes me as highly appropriate for a film that is centered around the idea that all the major characters are pirates of one form or another. One of my favorite scenes in the film was the Pirates Council sequence, where we learn that they had never been able to elect a pirate king simply because it always ended up being a 9-way tie with everyone voting for himself or herself. This struck me as being exactly how pirates (at least as they appear in our mythology) really should be. Related to this, I also liked it that several of the key characters, including Will and Jack, were willing to ally themselves with the film's primary villain when it seemed to best serve his purpose. Over the course of the film, just about every character betrays just about every other character at some point and, again, that felt absolutely right for a film about pirates. Even the romantic leads betray one another when it best served his/her own agenda and, within the world of piracy, that really wasn't even that much of an impediment to their relationship. One of the biggest strengths of these films continues to be an unusually strong cast. Of course, Johnny Depp gets the bulk of the attention for what is, unquestionably, one of the most truly original film characters to appear in a while. With this film, though, I have to say that I think his quirks are starting to wear a bit thin. He does still have some very funny moments in this film and Depp tends to be especially winning when showing the character's heroic side, but I thought it was overall a good thing that the character has a bit less screen time than in the previous films and I'm not convinced that his part shouldn't have been trimmed even a bit more. Seeing this film did help me realize that the one element that was most missed in the first sequel was Geoffrey Rush's consistently entertaining portrayal of Captain Barbosa. While Depp pretty much throws away all conventions to create a unique character, Rush largely takes the opposite approach and absolutely relishes in playing to all the stereotypes of what a pirate captain should be. Even more so than in the first film, Rush has pretty much become the captain from the sea battle sequence on the attraction, all the way down to rather frequent use of direct dialog from the ride. I thought that the characters of Will and Elizabeth were put to much better use in this film than in the first sequel. Both have significant character growth this time as well as their share of really good scenes. Keira Knightley especially comes into her own in this film, giving her best performance yet in the series (although her striking resemblance to Natalie Portman is still a bit of a distraction, especially in one scene where she is dressed up in an Asian royal gown that really brought to mind the outfits she wore as Portman's double in "The Phantom Menace".) Orlando Bloom is still fine as Turner, although he continues to be a rather bland actor overall. I still am not sure that he has enough charisma to have much of a career as a romantic lead. I was really very surprised by the resolution of Will and Elizabeth's relationship at the end of the film, but I also found it to be rather bold and ultimately quite satisfying. Will really did seem to be the best choice to take over as captain of the Flying Dutchman and I thought it was very refreshing that they didn't try to cop out with finding some easy resolution to the conflicts between his duty to save his father and the desire to stay with Elizabeth. As a committed credits watcher, I always tend to enjoy the inclusion of extras at the end of them, but I do feel it was something of a mistake to make the "10 years later" flash-forward a post-credits sequence in this one. I think that the information that Elizabeth not only remained true to Will but also bore his child is really pretty essential and should have ended the main part of the film. It is a shame that an awfully large percentage of the audience is going to end up not seeing such a key scene. From a technical standpoint, this film continues the series overall excellence. The special effects and stunt-work are complex and pretty consistently convincing. Musically, I think this film has the strongest score of the series, although there are still a few points where the music sounds much too contemporary for the setting. I definitely think that composer Hans Zimmer should have avoided, or at least much more greatly minimized, the use of electronic instrumentation. Zimmer also composed a song that is used very effectively both as a plot point and as a key theme within the score itself. It is definitely worth noting once again that this is a pretty violent and at times dark film that does earn the PG-13 rating. The opening sequence of the film where numerous pirates, including a child, are hanged without trial, sets a somewhat dark tone and probably almost earned the PG-13 by itself. I do think it has been a rather bold re-positioning of the brand to release this series under the Walt Disney Pictures label, but I'm still not sure it is all that inappropriate. The violence is generally not graphic and, in many ways, is reminiscent of the Indiana Jones films, which were very popular with late preteens and early-teens of my own generation. As I said at the beginning of this review, I probably classify as a "casual" fan of these films, but I suspect they would have been among my absolute favorites had they come out when I was in that age group. While "At World's End" is certainly a somewhat flawed film (as were its predecessors), I do think it was finally a very entertaining and satisfying conclusion to a fun trilogy of films. -Jeff
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle Will DEFINITELY got sexier after death. I agree with Ursula (and others) on the giant Tia Dalma - she was such a cutie, and she just looked weird/ disturbing at that size! I have no idea what the hang gliding refers to, I'm sorry. It's only been 2 days since I've seen it and I can't think at all.
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x Jeff, have you ever considered a job as a movie critic? Very well said, I agree with everything you said, but in no way would I have been able to put it into words.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd I really enjoyed this film. It's rare for me to sit through a movie even shorter without looking at my watch and getting antsy, but the movie kept me entertained throughout. The movie made me realise exactly why I wasn't so fond of the second movie. I really did miss Captain Barbossa. Depp's and Bloom's characters are starting to become stale to me. I was actually more upset when Barbossa died in the first movie then when Jack died in the second. The one thing I was glad in this movie was Will developing a back-bone! And actually, while the last scene was romantic with Elizabeth waiting for her honey to return with their son, it actually bugged me. She developed into a strong character and a Pirate Captain (and king). This was her nature and it didn't seem to me that her future was a domestic one. And the hang gliding / parachute scene did really bother me. It was like forcing something modern into the pirate lore. But, overall, I enjoyed this movie so much, that I will probably be seeing it again before it leaves the theaters. This was something I did with the first movie, but did not do with the second movie.
