practicality

So, I saw PotC 3 last night with one of the Shadowrun/Earthdawn guys, as most of my other friends out here already had massive groups of people to go with. And it was pretty sweet, aside from the fact the movie theatre seats were incredibly uncomfortable (which probably explains why the 8pm showing still had lots of seats left). But yes, definately better than the second one (closure yay!).

First, things I didn't like: lack of Calypso/Jones resolution. I guess death kind of counts as resolution, but still, it felt like a sort of lame cop-out. I also could have done with a little less Will/Elizabeth abuse-of-slow-mo love moment (300 has used up this year's Hollywood budget for abuse of slow-mo, I think). And one minor pet peeve, which may have been in the first two movies and I only noticed now care of 50 Fathoms and Earthdawn - they're in Singapore! They're in the Arctic! They're in the Carribbean again! I know lots of travelling makes for a boring movie, and we can just assume they skipped those bits, but it made it kind of disjointed feeling to me. Also, needs moar Jack's dad.

Things I liked: Awesome costume/set/make-up design, as well as all the as always. Elizabeth kicking ass, Barbossa kicking ass (seriously, I really liked him in this movie), Norrington not being a prat/drunkard. I also thought the huge Pirate's Court with all the pirates from different nations was pretty awesome. As was Jack's dad (and Jack's mom's head). Will being stabbed with the sword he made Norrington = definition of irony. And while I guessed as soon as it happened that it meant Jack was going to have Will kill Jones and take his place, but it was a neat plot twist I wouldn't have expected at the beginning. Same thing with the Calypso bit - realized it was Tia Dalma once it got mentioned, but that was still neat, as was seeing Davey Jones' real self (which is why I wanted more resolution there, dammnit. Fun sub-plot!). Having all the Duchman's crew re-humanize when Will become captain was a nice touch. Jack arguing with hallucinations of himself = full of lol. Although I think that while the sequence was funny, the bit with the ship crewed entirely by himself in the desert probably is a fairly accurate depiction of Jack's hell - no wind, no water, for a man who lives for the sea. I also think that if Will had been a non-issue, there's a pretty good chance that he would have killed Jones and taken his place, just to be able to sail forever.

I'm not sure how I feel about the tangled web of double-crossing going on in the middle of the movie - I kind of started losing track of who was betraying who, which killed some of the effect. Still, overall, it managed to make up for the second movie's failings, I thought.