Get It Off Your (Dead Man's) Chest: Pirates Movie Reviews

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

I've been thinking about Barbosa coming back and the line from the first movie that went something like:

A ship captained by a man so evil that hell itself spat him back out.


Hummm....

Are you thinking that comment was about Barbossa or Davey Jones?

[wendybeth]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Are you thinking that comment was about Barbossa or Davey Jones?

The comment was supposed to be about Barbossa, was it not?

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Well, Elizabeth doesn't knowthe second kraken attack happened so it couldn't well argue against her understanding of what the kraken is after

I think the Kraken was a bit put upon. The order to track down and kill Jack was more of a general command and secondary to the more immdiate "Sink THAT ship" order from the big plunger thingy. Which is why the beasty ignored Jack in the row boat and went after the pearl instead.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

And I don't know why Elizabeth thinks the Kraken is after Jack. The ship she was on that was Krackenattacked didn't even have so much as his hat aboard. Either way, condemning him to death by her own hand was a nastiness I simply could not swallow.

I think she overheard him say, on the island where the chest was buried, that he couldn't allow Will to stab the heart, because dead, Davy Jones would not be able to call off the [Kraken's] hunt. I assumed Elizabeth put two and two together.

[innerSpaceman]

Ah, gotcha. Truly, I found the plot confusing. I had not remembered that she was already gone when that happened.

I loathe the fact that I only want to see this again so I can hope to appreciate it without being completely confused about what's going on.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I loathe the fact that I only want to see this again so I can hope to appreciate it without being completely confused about what's going on.

I can understand, even if I don't find they sway me, many of the complaints about this movie. But the one I don't get is that it is complicated. The whys may be underexplained (or overexplained as it is being both criticized in this thread for not enough plot and too much plot) but the whats and whens and wheres seem very straightforward to me.

If you find this complicated anything that remotely attempts non-linear narrative must leave you curled in a ball. Since I know that isn't true, perhaps it isn't so much that the movie is complicated as that since you weren't entertained you don't care enough to keep track.

[Alex]

The kraken attacks do seem to be a poorly thought-out portion of the script.

Initially it is said that the kraken will persue whoever has the black mark, which Bootstrap Bill then puts on Jack. So the kraken goes off and attacks the ship where his has ended up and apparently without a specific plunger call to arms. When Jack offers the 100 souls, Davy Jones's removes the mark for the three days he is given. The second attack happens
during this period so it is fine to assume that the kraken wasn't in persuit of Jack and available for a specific call to arms. Then when Jack is about to kill Elizabeth the time runs out and the mark returns. No kraken attack between then arrival at the island with the chest. When they get back to the Black Pearl and set sail they are apparently in deep enough waters for the kraken to attack but it does not do so until the plunger of doom and then it attacks immediately so it was in the area.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

The kraken attacks do seem to be a poorly thought-out portion of the script.

Hmm. This is how I saw it:

Sparrow is marked. The mark, basically, shows the claim that Davy Jones has over him. Either Jack returns to the Flying Dutchman to serve 100 years, or Jones sends the Kraken to destroy him. Jack chooses to flee, so Kraken it is. He manges to outsmart the beast and make it to land before the attack, and the beast instead attacks a ship that was in the last known location of the Pearl, and was also carrying one of Sparrow's artifacts.

The mark is then temporarily removed from Sparrow's hand after a second bargain is struck.

The next time the Kraken attacks, it's target is Will Turner, not Jack Sparrow.

The mark returns, Jack hasn't brought the 100 souls he promised, so the Kraken is once again summoned to attack the Pearl.

I don't think the Kraken is following the mark so much as a general order to destroy whatever ship Jack Sparrow is othought to be on. The first attack featured a boat that was sailing in waters near to the Pearl's last known location. The second attack, it was being ordered to attack a different ship. The third, it was going after the Pearl, where Sparrow was thought to be. (Turner, the key thief, too.) It probably would have gone after the row boat after taking down the Pearl, but obviously Sparrow was hoping to make it to the shallows before the Pearl was completely destroyed.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

Hmm. This is how I saw it:

Sparrow is marked. The mark, basically, shows the claim that Davy Jones has over him. Either Jack returns to the Flying Dutchman to serve 100 years, or Jones sends the Kraken to destroy him. Jack chooses to flee, so Kraken it is. He manges to outsmart the beast and make it to land before the attack, and the beast instead attacks a ship that was in the last known location of the Pearl, and was also carrying one of Sparrow's artifacts.

The mark is then temporarily removed from Sparrow's hand after a second bargain is struck.

The next time the Kraken attacks, it's target is Will Turner, not Jack Sparrow.

The mark returns, Jack hasn't brought the 100 souls he promised, so the Kraken is once again summoned to attack the Pearl.

I don't think the Kraken is following the mark so much as a general order to destroy whatever ship Jack Sparrow is othought to be on. The first attack featured a boat that was sailing in waters near to the Pearl's last known location. The second attack, it was being ordered to attack a different ship. The third, it was going after the Pearl, where Sparrow was thought to be. (Turner, the key thief, too.) It probably would have gone after the row boat after taking down the Pearl, but obviously Sparrow was hoping to make it to the shallows before the Pearl was completely destroyed.

And that's supposed to make a fun movie? Sounds more like the instructions on some of the tax forms I have to fill out...


Note: That's a dig at the screenwritters and NOT at your interpretaion of said script.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

But the one I don't get is that it is complicated.

iSm apparantly isn't the only one who noticed, seeing as the writers felt the need to add beyond blatant exposition via R2 and 3PO (or whatever their names are) recapping why the 3-way wheel-o-melodrama scene was taking place (which, incidentally, was the point I thought needed the least explanation).

I don't know if "complicated" is the term I'd use. "Convoluted" seems more accurate. It seemed like they were so keen to create what they thought was a clever, interwoven plot that they let things like character motivation slip (save for the ex Admiral). They would have done better had they gone more staright-forward with the plot and concentrated on continuing to develop the characters, rather than have them spout one-liners.