On her way by ship to the island city of Port Royal, where her
father will assume his post as the new governor, young Elizabeth Swann
encounters the floating wreckage of a cargo ship, destroyed by the infamous
pirates of the cursed ship, the Black Pearl. When Elizabeth spots a survivor--a
young boy--floating in the water, the crew hauls him aboard. He turns out to be
Will Turner, a lad who wears an imposing pirate medallion around his neck.
Elizabeth, fearing for Will’s life at the hands of the crew, takes the medallion
for herself and keeps it hidden. Years later, Elizabeth (now played with popcorn
movie feistiness by Keira Knightly) is invited to a ceremony commemorating the
promotion of Captain Norrington to the rank of Commodore.
She gets the shock of her life when Norrington proposes to her, and that--plus
the fact that she’s wearing a restrictive corset for the first time--causes
Elizabeth to swoon and fall into the ocean. She’s rescued by none other than
Captain Jack Sparrow, pirate extraordinaire, who is then hunted down by
Norrington and his men. After a snazzy sword fight with the grown up Will (now
played by Orlando Bloom, who must be thanking his agent daily for getting him
into two major film trilogies), Jack gets captured and imprisoned. But Port
Royal itself gets a major shock when they come under attack by the pirates of
the Black Pearl, and Elizabeth is captured by the fearsome Captain Barossa
(Geoffrey Rush, who looks like he’s having fun chewing the scenery).
A humongous hit when it was released in the summer of 2003, Pirates Of The
Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl is based on the ride at Disneyland and
Disneyworld. I’ve ridden the Pirates ride when I went to Disneyworld (the one in
Florida) in the late seventies, and I’ve got to say that the movie is better in
one respect: none of the wenches in the ride looked as good as Keria Knightly.
But the film’s success was largely attributed to Johnny Depp, who’s very good as
the dippy Jack Sparrow. Depp famously based his performance on the
personality of Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. But whatever his
inspiration, Depp is truly outstanding, and funny, as Sparrow. He makes the
movie watchable. Directed with great aplomb by Gore Verbrinski (The Ring remake), the story has
enough action, humor and romance to satisfy the whole family, while keeping the
film’s violence to a PG-13 level.
There’s a few nitpicks, namely the fact that the film isn't really very
accurate in how it depicts history. But then again, complaining about
the lack of accuracy in Pirates is sort of like complaining about how the
Indiana Jones films don’t show accurate archeology. It’s a popcorn movie, and
a fun one at that. But one thing that I can’t forgive the film for is it’s
excessive running time. 143 minutes is just too long to spend with a bunch of
one dimensional cartoon characters. By the two hour mark, I kept impatiently
checking to see how much time was left before the movie would finally end. The
film’s success spawned two sequels, as well as a renewed interest in
pirates--which is not a bad thing. Yet if you wish to see a more accurate
portrayal of an adventurous life on the high seas, give Master And Commander:
The Far Side Of The World a shot. It’s an enthralling ride featuring another
masterful performance, this time by Russell Crowe.
--SF
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