Return to the high seas

To be honest, I didn’t completely follow everything that happened in the third Pirates movie. Hell, it was hard enough to keep the first two straight, what with so many characters and alliances and crazy plotlines. At World’s End is so much more.

Here, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) goes a little nuts while in Davy Jones’ Locker—there’s a great scene in which his entire crew is made up of just him. The thing about Sparrow, and perhaps it has more to do with Depp’s acting than anything, is that he’s such a full character that when he’s on the screen he’s simply impossible to ignore.

So, Jack Sparrow is rescued from Davy Jones’ Locker, along with his beloved Black Pearl—but only after Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) elicit the help of (who else?) Chow Yun Fat, who plays one of the pirate lords, living in Singapore.

Lost yet? Don’t feel bad. This is one of those movies you can watch over and over again because of its beauty and, of course, action—so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to figure out what’s really going on. Here’s a brief synopsis:

The British want to rid the world of pirates. The pirates will have none of that so they take on the British. But the Brits have possession of Davy Jones’ heart, which throws a wrench in the whole thing because that means the Brits also have Davy’s ship.

Power struggles ensue, with, among others, Sparrow and Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) fighting it out to be captain. There’s also some weirdness involving “nine pieces of eight” that are apparently carried by the pirate lords, who are to have a meeting. And did I mention that Keith Richards makes an appearance as Jack’s dad?

In the end, what we have is a very long (almost three hours) glorified fight scene during which nobody is quite sure who is on whose side. The confusion would ordinarily bother me, but with this film, I didn’t mind so much. Kudos to director Gore Verbinski for making both a film for hardcore fans, who will know the first two by heart, as well as a film for the casual viewer (though the experience is better with background knowledge).

My only real beef with the film was the violence for the kiddies—particularly a scene in which they hang a young boy. Seemed a bit unnecessary.