I must confess to some trepidation when entering the theatre. The trailers for Pirates of the Caribbean looked muddled and uninspiring; only Johnny Depp’s droll one-liners providing any relief from the confusing, high-decibel onslaught. Further, the film is supposedly based on the like-titled Disneyland theme park ride; how ominous is that?
Well, colour me chastised, because Pirates of the Caribbean plundered me heart! First off, the film contains only one reference to the ride, quite early on, then moves on to the business at hand, which is piracy, me lads and lassies. Second, the film has everything you’d want in a buccaneer flick: Rule-bound officialdom, a lowly-but-honourable hero and his beautiful heroine (with an overprotective and dimwitted father), who form a pair of star-crossed lovers constantly beset by scurvy skeletal scallywags aplenty. There are kidnappings and pirate’s curses, golden bounties and stolen ships, kegs of rum and ports full of surly wenches.
But all this is just gift-wrapping. The film’s real present is the performance of Johnny Depp, whose Captain Jack Sparrow is as memorable a comic performance as I have seen lo these many years. This is the comic equivalent of Daniel Day-Lewis’s equally remarkable Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York, a performance so “hanging off the edge of the cliff without a net” gutsy, that it is tempting to applaud the actors simply for having the nerve to try it. But Depp deserves lavish praise for the execution as well: his Sparrow is a grande, effeminate and self-intoxicated buccaneer, combining the faux-mincing gait of Mick Jagger via Steven (mascara wearing lover of all things bandana) Tyler with the permanently brain-addled delivery of a latter-day Keith Richards. Never at a loss for words (“You are the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of.” “Ah, but you HAVE heard of me!”), Depp’s supercalifragilistic portrayal puts the “swish” in swishbuckler; so much so, that you mourn every moment he is off screen. The only real mistake that the filmmakers make relationship-wise is that they fail to recognize that the story’s real romance is between Sparrow and the son of a pirate hero, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). While Will and Jack sizzle like a pound of back bacon, Will’s tepid romance with the delicious Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) is a bowl of cold porridge.
Matching Depp nearly point-for-over-the-top-point is the sneering and leering Geoffrey Rush, whose villainy is challenged only by his bad hygiene. The verbal sparring of Rush and Depp is delightful: This is the sort of pirate flick where the wordplay is as joyous as the swordplay. Kudos to the filmmakers for recognizing the fine hammy acting talents of Rush. If the colour of his teeth is any indication, he didn't floss once after eating the scenery.
Director Gore Verbinski systematically avoids the post-modernist self-aware posturing that might have distanced us from this rousing, crowd-pleasing romp. Ironically, his love of shoving the camera way up close to the action does have this effect, because instead of breeding intimacy, it simply makes the action sequences a sometimes incomprehensible jumble of noise and fury. Also, the film’s paper-thin “ideas,” which can generously be described as playing around in the realm of the zombie zeitgeist (What’s the point of living forever if you can’t enjoy serious hedonistic indulgences? Mortal and sensate beats the hell outta immortal but unable to feel the sea breeze brushing up against your cheek), are really just thinly-veiled excuses for more killin’ and pillagin.’ However, since this allows for some great Jason and the Argonauts-type skeletal CGI, I am willing to excuse the occasional excess.
See other Reviews for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Johnny Depp’s memorable performance is the comic equivalent of Daniel Day-Lewis’s equally remarkable Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York.- Dan Jardine
More fun than a tankard of grog and a flashpacket sittin’ on yer lap.- Terri Clark
