PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END

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Overall Impression — I don’t know what they were smoking, but I want some.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS 

Who’s the main character? — Jack Sparrow, but only by default.   At various times Will drives the story, Elizabeth drives the story, Barbossa drives the story, there’s probably some sub-plot I missed where the third pirate from the left was driving the story.  It comes down to Jack as the main character because of my oft-stated principle that the climactic battle of any (good) story is always the good guy versus the bad guy over the stakes.  At the end of PIRATES 3 Jack was fighting Davy Jones over Will (kinda) so there you have it. 

What’s he trying to accomplish? —  Damned if I know.  Something about wanting to be a pirate indefinitely. 

Who’s trying to stop him? — The main villain is Lord Beckett. 

What happens if he fails? — Damned it I know.  I guess he dies, or doesn’t get to be a pirate anymore.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan — Jack is alone in Davy Jones locker and needs rescuing.  That being said, he’s not really alone because there are all these alternate Jacks with him.  And if this makes no sense to you then take a number, me hearty! 

Wanderer — Jack is rescued from Davy Jones locker by Will, Elizabeth and company.  They then have to figure out how to get back to the world of the living and make it to Shipwreck Island for a gathering of the pirate brethren.

Warrior —  Damned if I know.  The pirates decide to fight?  Jack decides to do something.  Sure, I watched this while suffering from a nasty head cold, but I couldn’t have been that foggy…could I? 

Martyr —  Jack gives up his goal of living forever at sea by enabling Will to stab Davy Jones’s heart.  

AND, IN THE END

This movie was too clever by half.  After an amazing debut in PIRATES 1, the franchise started substituting incongruous imagination for compelling story, bringing us PIRATES 2 and now PIRATES 3.  This not an uncommon problem with the Hollywood blockbuster sequel;  the need to outdo the original.  Sadly, this outdoing often makes the story come undone.  Ah, but that’s the real curse of the Black Pearl, isn’t it?

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