Movie :: Pirates - Dead mans Chest

[LivinLOS]

After seeing Superman the other day the trailer was for the new Pirates of the Caribbean.. Even though I watch a lot on the projector at home going to the movies is still more of an event and it looked like enough of a romp that seeing it on a REALLY big screen and with a nice crisp detailed film presentation, soon after release so it was not scratched seemed worthwhile.

The movie itself was predictably silly.. Depp as Capt Jack, sways, swaggers, minces and mimes throughout the film with cartoon camp comic effect. In general he steals his scenes from his non digitally enhanced co stars and while Knightly comes accross with some plucky impish Britishness, Bloom seems to just once again offer his concerned frown to convey any emotion he needs. His acting effort was as wooden that the vessels he sets sail in yet no surprise, I havent seem him act worth a damn in anything hes done so far but perhaps thats just me.

Luckily depth of character was not really a requirement for him as being a more comedy action adventure romp he played the straight man for others to foil with, he simply needed to buckle swash and of that there was plenty.

A movie such as this seems to actively enjoy skewering the older serious efforts at the genre.. Theres homage to 'the man who would be king'.. 'Treasure Island' smartly has its black spot stolen and Bloom stabbs and slides down a sail with Erol Flynn like aplomb.

The supporting cast are also fairly strong with fun moments given to its 2 comedy fool Pirates (playing a very archetypal little and large, C3PO and RD2D, the bumbling greedy farmers in Kurasawas classic Hidden Fortress) and a stand out scene stealing performance from Naomi Harris as the Voodoo priestess complete with dreadlocks, Jamacian patois, coal fire eyes, and beetlenut stained black teeth.. She oozed sexuality even while looking like a demon and I see her doing very well from this franchise.

We also have the digitally enhanced crew of Davy Jones who range from looking like the selection counter at a Red Lobster Buffet to the Sushi we had at Fuji before the film. Davy Jones has been made into a really memorable movie badie and hissed danger whenever onscreen. All in all the specials in this truly do make for some superb images and are well handled visually but the tieing all this together into one cohesive plot is where the film does have its weaknesses.

We bounce from action sequence to action sequence which while being jolly (Rodger) good fun, is not especially well paced.. The climactic building and tension simply gets pushed to the side to make room for more madcap situations and environments and then consequentially the slower moments like the introduction of Will / Blooms father as a man bound into Jones's sevice left me cold.

It also has to be said that this is the middle installment in now what will be (at least) a trilogy and as such suffers from the middle story problem. The first movie debuted Depp as Capt Jack with the humour of seeing the quirky character for the first time, and the last will resolve the plot that this one clearly ends on. I always find it hard to watch a story and be left with a to be continued cliffhanger for a year but thats just a fact of this saga. I also think that it helps to know the 'Pearl' story as some of the script elements work less effectively if you dont know the history of the characters.

So see it for the romp, see it for the stand out Naomi Harris and the Capt Jack one liners (of which he is given a script full) see it for the seamlessly woven specials and the madcap comedy action sequences but know before hand that its a playful comedy caper.

4 stars if you only expect silly fun.

[LivinLOS]

Also a technical note on the film, which will probably interest no one on here but me and maybe Nidnoy..

Lately we have started to use the VIP first class cinema thing.. Its 500 baht a seat but you get free nibbles and drinks beforehand, luxury waiting room / bar, can pick (buy) a bottle of wine (or beers), free popcorn, free cokes, huge reclining bed like seats, and best of all no talking kids or ringing phones.

Also since going to the first class I have noticed that they seem to be the freshest prints, and focus and sound is pin sharp and all in all its a better presentation. Due to hobbies I have had involving video and PC based video compression and HiDef I am a bit picky about how a film should be shown and little things like poor focus or uniformity, poor film tension (sproket shake) or slow reels (audio pitch shifts) annoy me.

When we went to the Superman showing the other day it was superb.. The film was crystal clear and the detail was as stunning as film can be, pores on skin and single strands of hair all show how film should look and even HiDef at its best will struggle with.

This showing however was not technically as good but I dont think that was a result of the cinemas errors. I know film stock is used for artistic effect and some film stocks work better in certain lighting and some will capture detail versus film grain etc.. Sometimes this is a result of shooting requirements, sometimes its a result of artistic choices by the DP and or the director, sometimes its cost related (think 'Traffic' shot in DV), sometimes just random.

The color pallete was to my eyes often red shifted and there were many high contrast scenes where the whites where if not actually blown definately were hot.. Most disturbingly the fine detail was really missing in some scenes and I cant decide if it was film stock or the result of too much DNR (digital Noise Reduction) applied while adding the specials. Whatever it was the technical image quality of Dead Mans Chest was a long long way behind Superman and it was only seeing both within a short time frame in the same cinema (even the same seat) that made me realize it.

[cybernator_uk]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

It also has to be said that this is the middle installment in now what will be (at least) a trilogy and as such suffers from the middle story problem. The first movie debuted Depp as Capt Jack with the humour of seeing the quirky character for the first time, and the last will resolve the plot that this one clearly ends on. I always find it hard to watch a story and be left with a to be continued cliffhanger for a year but thats just a fact of this saga. I also think that it helps to know the 'Pearl' story as some of the script elements work less effectively if you dont know the history of the characters.


4 stars if you only expect silly fun.

Good review LivinLos... I actually enjoyed the first film... And i am looking forward to seeing this one... I do agree with you waiting for the "to be continued bit is a bummer...After watching the first film you couldnt IMHO really expect an indepth story... The first one was a lot of fun tho...

[Mav]

I got dragged along to the first one by my last farang gf.....but thought it was ok...especially Keira Knightly... ....don't think l be bothered catching this one though....maybe on DVD.