Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End
Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
We’ve been waiting for the third installment of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy ever since they left us hanging ending last summer at the end of Dead Man’s Chest.  Now the third installment, At World’s End, is finally here.  Was it worth the wait?  Absolutely.  This swashbuckling conclusion to everyone’s favorite group of pirates may start off a little slow, but director Gore Verbinski makes sure all the loose ends are tied up by the time everyone’s favorite group of plundering ne’er-do-wells double-cross their way to one hell of an epic climax.  Like its predecessors, At World’s End is rated PG-13, and for good reason.  The opening sequence consists of people being hanged, including a young boy, and the piles of their dead bodies.  From there, it resorts back to its old familiar habit of degrading the main female character by first having a group of leering pirates look up Elizabeth’s shirt after she is forced to strip for no reason and later when they threaten her with the intention of rape.  Audiences will also have to contend with some pretty intense action sequences as well as that grotesquely thumping heart inside Davy Jones’ chest.  In other words, you may want to think twice before taking the little ones to see the latest pirate flick.  The most notable difference between At World’s End and the previous Pirate movies is its focus on narrative closure.  Audiences expecting the slapstick comedy, campy chase scenes, and overly drawn out action sequences that dominated the first two films will not find them here.  Instead, Verbinski concentrates on tying up all 15 story lines that were left open by the first two films, making it difficult to keep up with the plot at times.  Even Jack’s hilarious, flippant one-liners have been scaled back to the bare minimum.
When we last left Disney’s profitable group of pirates, soothsayer Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris) had sent Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) on a quest to reunite with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), the only man able to help them free the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the watery depths of Davy Jones’ locker.				Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
At the beginning of Pirates 3, we rejoin Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa in Singapore where they obtain a special map from Captain Sao Fang (Chow Yun-Fat) that will lead them to the ends of the Earth (literally) via a giant waterfall.  There they find Capt. Jack in his own personal hell of sorts, commandeering a ship full of nothing but Jack Sparrows across a sandy desert.  After a couple of twists and turns, Jack and the rest of the crew cross back over to the land of the living where they discover the heart of Davy Jones is now in the hands of Lord Calvert Beckett (Tom Hollander), the head of the East India Trading Company.  Since whoever controls Davy Jones’ chest controls the seas – via Jones and his ship, the Flying Dutchman, Sparrow and Barbossa decide to form an unlikely alliance against Beckett and call a meeting of the eight Pirate Lords (the Brethren Court), who hold the nine Pieces of Eight.  The Keeper of the Code (Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones), who also happens to be Jack’s father also joins their little gathering, even strumming his guitar at one point.  Surprisingly enough, Richards’ appearance remains true to life because it seems as if he really is drunk throughout his entire five minutes on screen.  After a few more surprises unfold, Verbinski’s action-lacking plot finally pays off with an ultra-climactic, forty-five minute pirate showdown taking place along the outer rim of a giant maelstrom, which happens, according to Jack, “without a single drop of rum.”  Interesting.  With the exception of Richards, Disney apparently doesn’t want to promote drinking to their underage audience members; so, they focus instead on the evils of capitalistic greed, represented by Lord Beckett and the East India Trading Company…and, if you think about it, the movie itself.  How ironic is that?
Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures			Obviously, the main purpose of Pirates 3 is to bring all the loose narrative strings from Pirates 1 and Pirates 2 to a logical close; and, for the most part it does.  However, because there are so many loose strings for Verbinski to tie up, it takes the entire 168 minutes to bring everything full circle and give these characters some much needed closure.
On one hand, we see Will Turner evolve from a one-dimensional quasi-hero into a complex pirate with an uncharacteristic sense of duty, honor, and loyalty.  Elizabeth also completes her transformation from damsel-in-distress to distressing damsel and finally to pirate lord.  On the other hand, the comedic antics of Captain Jack Sparrow are notably missing in the third film, but that is mostly due to his late appearance and the intensely narrative-driven plot that leaves little room for his amusing one-liners.  As for the aesthetics of the film, one could argue Verbinski went overboard (no pun intended) with the special effects.  However, it’s those same jaw-dropping effects that sweep you up in the action and keep you glued to the screen for nearly three hours of plundering mayhem.  Even the score and sound effects are to be commended.  For once, it was nice for me (the anal-retentive audio editor) to hear how sound should be constructed in a film instead of cringing at the blatant inattention most movies deny their audio detail.  Other than some dark narrative twists and the reduction of slapstick action sequences in Pirates 3, the main warning I have about the film is its excessive length.  Unless you happen to be a deranged astronaut who likes to wear diapers, I strongly suggest visiting the bathroom before it starts and not drinking anything during the film.  If you don’t, there is no way your bladder is ever going to make it through the film’s backdrop of the open sea, a monstrous waterfall, constant rain, and that giant whirlpool.
Don’t worry Pirate fans.  At World’s End may be the end of this pirate trilogy, but it is definitely not the end of the franchise.  Disney wouldn’t be Disney without leaving at least one narrative door cracked open.  If the next Pirate series is anything like this one, the House of Mouse will be cashing in on these swashbuckling ne’er-do-wells for years to come.  © Kelly Bartley 2007		Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
Running Time:	2 hrs. 45 min.
Release Date:	May 25, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 (intense action and violence, frightening images)
Distributor:	Buena Vista Pictures