A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Date Viewed: 8/2

Details:

Johnny Depp

Geoffrey Rush

Orlando Bloom

Keira Knightley

Jack Davenport

Jonathan Pryce

Director: Gore Verbinski

Score: +

The Review: Since I've not participated (in any recent decade) in the American cultural phenomenon of Disneyland or Disney World, I'm woefully uninformed about the exhibit / show / adventure called "Pirates of the Caribbean." For all I know, the unusual nature of the Curse of the Black Pearl is well-known to the majority of American tourists who have participated in this great adventure. (If so, that's your cue to yawn.) Nonetheless, I found the premise curious, and the resultant special effects spectacular. In an attempt for retribution from beyond the grave of those Aztecs who were plundered by Cortez, a set of gold medallions have been cursed, and they've fallen into the hands of a rather nasty crew of scalliwags, who assume the manifestations of the curse. But as long as they're cursed, they might as well pillage -- and so they do, until they are again hunted by the local branch of the British Navy, assisted (or hindered) by the governor's daughter (Knightley) and a once-orphaned, now local blacksmith (Bloom).

Infused with an unusual sense of humor, which (surprisingly) seemed to appeal to the (very much) younger crowd in my theatre, Pirates is led by Depp's broad interpretation of a decidedly offbeat pirate captain. At times silly, exceedingly unlucky, and/or appearing either stoned or drunk or both, Depp's Jack Sparrow seems to careen through this movie with only the barest veneer of sense and no concept of what he might be doing -- that is, until he carries off escapade after adventure after... (you get the picture).

Rush does an impressive turn as Sparrow's first mate and nemesis, a surly bastard with a lawyer's mind. Knightley offers an attractive and feisty alternative to the canonical weepy kidnap victim, but there's little romantic spark with any of her fellow actors.

One positive feature of this movie is that it just starts -- no cute opening credits, no opening montage of glitzy production company logos -- just a title, visible for a second or two, and it's off. This is very much appreciated, and is a marked difference from Disney produced DVD's, which require you to suffer through trailers and advertisements on the disk you've already purchased, unless you discover the secret, magic button sequence to push. On the other hand, to get to the beginning of Pirates, I had to sit through 20+ minutes of theatre advertisements and movie trailers -- but when the movie started, it started. Excellent idea. Granted however, it didn't have to set the tone with minutes of mood music and mind-altering fluff -- the swashbuckler genre is well-established and needs no introduction.

Rousing score by Hans Zimmer.

Yet another instance of a (tiny) reward for watching until the very end of the credits.

(6-Aug-03)

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