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| Oli
Crook |
And
now for the film itself, a swashbuckling (yup, there’s that word
again), tale of heroism, dastardly deals, double crossing and generally
a whole lot of good clean nonsense.
Which, essentially, is what the film should have turned out to be,
and over the top plot involving curses, pirates and the living dead
(yes folks, that’s the living dead (well kind of) in a kids film),
mixed in with an exceedingly eccentric cast headed by the absurdly
over the top Johnny Depp, and some cheesy one liners (‘You like
Pain? Try wearing a corset’ – Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth Swan).
But instead of being absurd, ridiculous or downright embarrassing
the film marks a welcome return to the pirate film, the way they
were originally intended to be made.
The cast are superb, Johnny Depp as the deliciously ridiculous and
eccentric pirate Jack Sparrow, ex-captain of the black pearl and
out for revenge upon it’s current skipper, Orlando Bloom as the
romantic lead, once again fantastic in a slightly meatier role than
LOTR’s Legolas.
Kiera Knightly too is superb as the damsel in not so much distress
as expected, and the completing our quartet is the aforementioned
Captain Barbosa, current captain of The Pearl and played incredibly
menacingly by Geoffrey Rush.
The on screen chemistry between the leads is superb with Veterans
Depp and Rush mixing the right amounts of comedy and menace respectively,
whilst British newcomers Bloom and Knightley will certainly be getting
more Hollywood attention.
The supporting cast are fantastic too, with turns from yet more
brits Jack Davenport and Mackenzie Crook (Gareth from the Office).
The plot is engaging but simple, without the need for the pretension
of the Matrix or the darkness and bleakness of The Hulk, the sets
are incredible and highly impressive, the CG (courtesy of company
‘Industrial Light and Magic) is amazing, and as for the action sequences,
well, a swordfight in a sunken cave with moonlit shafts transforming
the pirates from human to monster and back again, well, goes without
saying really.
Even the CG transformations work, as the pirates change from creepy
humans into even creepier flesh dripping skeletons whenever the
moonlight touches them, even this manages to seem believable and
credible within the context of the film.
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