At World's End : Should it have been franchise's end?

Taken me awhile to get around to the write up but I have now also re watched At World's End the until recently final installment in the Pirates series. The good news is I did actually enjoy it more than I thought I would, but it still does have it's problems.

Taking in the rescue of Jack from the afterlife, a trip to Singapore, the Pirate's council, Will's quest to save his father, the return of Barbossa, the tragedy behind Davy Jones, a sea goddess and a fight against the oh so evil East India Trading Company on of the film's problems is at points there just too much going on.

It's a strange one really, Dead Man's chest suffers from there not being enough ideas as it essentially reworks a sizable amount of the first film whilst this time round it feels like there are far too many ideas being squeezed in. This is at least partly how we end up with the nigh on three hour running time.

A running time that could easily be cut down. The early jaunt to Singapore doesn't really serve a lot of purpose and whilst they are well realised Jack's sequences inside the locker of Davy Jones don't really move things forward. In fact the whole effort to rescue he seems to fall a little flat when it turns out he's almost rescued himself by the time he gets there.

Elsewhere things are padded out by the increasingly daft constant double crossing and deal making that goes on between Tom Hollander's Lord Becket and basically everyone else in the cast. A loyalty change every few minutes soon gets tedious.

I guess whilst I'm on the negatives I'll mention the complete waste of the Kraken. The best thing in the previous film by a country mile is here killed of screen and dismissed as something out of it's time. You suspect the writers couldn't think of a suitable way to deal with it on screen.

And finally after doing fairly well to ground the series in the first two parts this time around Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom fail to convince the audience of either their romance or apparent status as highly skilled pirate types.

Knightly in particular runs aground when asked to deliver what is meant to be a stirring pre-battle speech to rouse the crew. It comes across so poorly that it's almost funny but sadly just remains rather rubbish. As for Orlando, it seems for some reason this time around they've merely asked him to hang around and look as pretty as possible.

Right, I know I said I enjoyed more than I expected so I'd better get to the parts I liked.

Firstly it's in the smaller comic moments that film works well and regains some of the sense of fun present in the first outing. Like Jack asking if anyone came to rescue him because they liked him or the bickering between Jack and Barbossa over who gets to be captain.

In fact Rush's presence as Barbossa helps a lot whenever he's on screen, manging to ham it up horribly whilst looking like he's playing straight next to Depp. Credit though has to go to Depp too who does a strong comedic touch when given the chance.

Although I do think they try to cram too much it is nice to see new ideas and the journey back from the afterlife is one of the strongest sections, in particular the recently dead sailing silently in the opposite direction - a sea of lamps in the dark. Also the story of Davy Jones is quite well played out even though making him effectively a lackey for Beckett seems a poor choice.

The final showdown also has it moments (although the Calypso storyline goes nowhere) and could have had a classic scene with the mid battle marriage if not for some poor editing, a dodgy sense of timing and general lack of conviction.

So whilst I did enjoy more than I expected, I expected it to bore the tears out of me and I think looking at the above it's safe to it's not moved up too far in estimation. Essentially it has a few amusing moments and few nice ideas but these unfortunately are adrift in a sea of narrative dead-ends (can anyone tell me what Jack actually wants by the end?), over indulgence and a reliance on two main characters who shed any sense of screen presence.

Safe to say Curse Of The Black Pearl remains the only entry that's really worth watching again.

Dead Man's Chest : Still not great.

Right, with the release of the fourth installment of the Pirates of Caribbean franchise hitting cinemas (at extravagant cost looking at the reports) and having noticed I could get hold of parts two and three for a reasonable amount of pennies I have rather rashly revisit them.

Now, as some my recall I've not been particular enthusiastic about of these two film, like much of the world, but since I've not seen either of them in their entirety since the cinema I'd thought it would be worth reassessing them.

Just to clarify I do think Curse of the Black Pearl is a top notch fantasy comedy action adventure that did a fine job of not taking itself too seriously.




First up is Dead Man's Chest (I've not yet caught up with At World's End since it's about eight year long) which was promised as the "Empire Strikes Back" of the trilogy. The dark middle chapter where the good guys don't win. Well that's true in some respects but truly it's only the opening minute or so that really holds to the idea of a darker tone.

After that it's more of the same as the first film with action set pieces separated by comic beats, romantic beats and Johnny Depp being paid a lot of money to lark around. Which would be fine but for the fact that the sense of fun seems to have gone.

An overly portentous plot regarding Elizabeth and Will trying to save their own lives whilst Jack tries to evade having his soul taken by Davy Jones with the East India Company being evil in the background bogs things down and is not helped by the fantastical elements heaped upon it.

For the crucial failing of the story is the fact that Jack, who was basically the comedy relief of the first effort, is here put front and center only to them spend most of the running time double crossing most of the other major characters to save his own skin.

He does over everyone and yet they all decide to try and save him at the end. Hmm. Yes, Jack still has a few nice comedic moments but personally in this film I find it hard to buy him as the roguish chancer who is good at heart. He's much more the slimy operator out to benefit no-one but himself.

The strained effort to create a love triangle between the three leads is strained and unneeded as well.

Anyway, it is the lighter moments that film works be those the fleeting one-liners (the best often from Kevin McNally's Mister Gibbs), the skewing of film tropes (there is at least one quite sly sequence riffing on clunky exposition) and the standout set piece of Will, Jack and Norrington's three way duel that ends up on the water wheel. The set piece with a sense of fun. And one of the few bits of the film imaginatively staged.

Elsewhere the film feels as little overdone (Tortuga is too self consciously pirate town, the Voodoo lady could be straight out of Monkey Island) especially in the design and execution of Davy Jones and his crew. The conceit is nice one but is overdone in an orgy of CGI and misplaced gothic design as the film tries too hard to recreate the ghostly crew of the first film. It's hard to really emphasis and take the plight of Bill Turner seriously when half his face is a starfish.

Though I admit the kraken is a largely successful inclusion and makes for a solid monster to be feared and it's attack on the Pearl is a decent sequence, which makes it the stranger that it is inexplicably cast aside in the next installment.

Anyway I think it's safe to say my judgement of the film hasn't really changed. It made chuckle once or twice, I still think making Jack the star was a mistake and I frequently found my attention wandering during the run time (it can easily be at least twenty minutes shorter).

So, basically, it's on the a little bit rubbish side of alright. I'm not really looking forward to watching At World's End, but who knows I've not seen any of that since watching it the first time. Though at the time I thought it was terrible.

Trailer of the Day

A pretty good cast with some decent lines in the trailer (and an admittedly eye catching moment with a banana) Could be worth keeping an eye out for.

Doomsday

I caught Doomsday for the first time the other day, it's the third film from Neil "Dog Soldiers" Marshall and to be honest it's rubbish.

It's basic plot revolves around a team looking for a cure to a deadly disease in an apocalyptic Scotland. On top of that Marshall has thrown a bit of everything he thinks he is cool onto the basic structure.

So we have a distopian Britain, elements of Mad Max, Dirty Dozen, Escape From New York, 28 Days Later, an inexplicable medieval society that clearly loves Gladiator too. Add in the random bouts of nudity, poll dancing and comical violence and you truly have a film born of the dreams of a 14 year old boy.

The distopia is whilst at least relevant for the story it is a rather poorly realised one and no where near as effective as the likes of V for Vendetta as a weak Prime Minister is bullied into unthinkable action by your classic evil second in command type.

A lot of the other elements kind of work such as the Mad Max style elements (well, up until the singing along to 80s hits en mass, really. It comes out of nowhere and goes on for a good five minutes.) whilst others are wasted. Why bother sitting up a team on a mission structure when all bar two of said team who killed only a handful of minutes later before we even really know their name.

This is all topped off with the bizarre choice to include a medieval culture in the mix. Whilst it seems most of Scotland (walled off from the rest of the world) has become a lawless frontier it seems a government scientist has created his own Camelot. And there is explanation why.

Now, we're not talking a group of people who have simply moved into a castle and adopted a feudal style system of law, no, what we have here is an actual total recreation down to the clothing and armour. Why?

I could of maybe bought it if they'd had perhaps been a couple of lines about the scientist at the head of this society having been a history fan or something but there is noting. We're expect simply just to accept this to the point where twenty years after Scotland was walled off a grown woman has no inclination what a car is! Ok, a bit weird but maybe possible until you realise that this woman's enemies, who her brother actually leads and who have at the start of the film captured her, drive around. In cars.

In the cast the recognised names either feature for mere minutes like Sean Pertwee or sleepwalk through it like Malcolm McDowell and Bob Hoskins. And whilst she does ok, lets be honest Rhona Mitra is a cut rate Kate Beckinsale (which is faintly damning in itself)

Elsewhere things randomly explode or hardened APC's prove laughably susceptible to bows and arrows but fun can be had spotting a number of goofs and gaffes throughout the film.

Basically the whole thing is B-movie clag that was lucky not to head straight to the £3 DVD bargain bin market and for me The Descent remains Marshall's only really genuinely good film (though I've not yet seen Centurion)

Even the Promo trailers are very cool.

Screen Test

A Despicable Mind

For some reason you often find that the Hollywood system manages to produce similarly themed films within months of each other, so you get Ants and A Bugs Life, Armageddon and Deep Impact, Capote and Infamous amongst many other examples.

The last one two comes in the form of two animated films that take the Supervillain of comic book lore the central focus. Dreamworks brings us 'Megamind' not long after Universal bought us 'Despicable Me'

And is often the case they both take the same initial idea and work it in differing ways. The Steve Carell starring Despicable Me is the gentler of the two efforts, yes, it does have outlandish moments but generally is the lower key of the two.

Following Carell's Gru as he struggles to mount the greatest crime of all time it sees him slowly but surely grow fond of the three orphans he's forced to take in as part of his plan.

The film works largely because thankfully the orphaned girls are as charming as they need to be for it to work and this is backed up by the comedic efforts of Gru's minions. It's also something a bit different from what you'd expect to see from a Hollywood studio thanks to the European sensibilities of directors Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud.

MegaMind is the brasher of the two and plays much like, well, a Will Ferall film as we follow his titular Megamind as he finally defeats his lifelong nemesis and finds himself falling for the reporter always caught between the two.

So lively gags here keep the film ticking over and much like Despicable Me Megamind's minion is a comic star. Elsewhere this plays out much like a rom-com and a strong one at that with a sparky to and from between Ferrell's blue headed villain and Tina Fey's Lois Lane type.

Both efforts are worth watching, but if I had to pick a favourite I'd go for Megamind but it's a close run thing.

Sunday Smile : The Big Lebowski 2

The Big Lebowski 2 with Tara Reid from Tara Reid

Thor

Ended up catching this on the most appropriate day of the week and as the first salvo of this Summer's blockbuster efforts and in particular a key part of Marvel's big Avengers plan it works pretty well.

Opening with a brief Earth set sequence the film soon zaps the audience to the other realm of Asgard, where Thor demonstrates his power, gets exiled, Loki plots and Anthony Hopkins collects his cheque. Then Thor must use his time on Earth to learn how to be humble, wise and not generally be a crass jock smartarse. Then he saves the day, obviously.

The Asgard based scenes are where the film could have easily failed and have slipped into overly campy territory but they are executed well striking a solid balance between the required Shakespearean mythic qualities and the much needed reality to sell the concept.

Design wise it is an excellent set of work both in the architecture of the Kingdom (both ultra modern and reminiscent of Norse myth) and the costuming ensure the characters look imposing rather than daft as easily could have been the case. In fact one can only imagine the presence Idris Elba's Stringer Bell could have had on the streets of Baltimore if he'd had access to the same wardrobe as Heimdall

Away from Elba who does well as the largely static Heimdall and Hopkins as Odin (who does ok but doesn't really put any real feeling into his role), the cast is pretty strong.

Natalie Portman is charming as Jane (even if she doesn't really convince as a scientist), Kat Dennings provides solid comedy support, Stellan Skarsgard manages to make a good first of a largely exposition based role and it's always good to see Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson.

But crucially it's Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston that really standout as brothers Thor and Loki. With Hemsworth bringing charm and physicality to his role alongside a sense of vulnerability as his Thor trends the path from cocksure through to lost before re finding purpose and humility.

Whilst Hiddleston's Loki is built more as the son looking for his father's acceptance rather than just a hissable villain. In fact it's the strong sense of relationship between Loki and Thor that helps the film through it's rather confused and slightly rushed climatic scenes.

And this is where the film does fall down, it does come across in the end almost as a two hour prologue to something bigger. Which in fact it actually is as it's here to setup Thor for his appearance in The Avengers. But you are now really starting to get a sense of Marvel's movie world building with brief mentions for Iron Man's Tony Stark, a Hawkeye cameo and the regulation post credit appearance of Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury.

Despite this though it is an entertaining prologue for the most part with Kenneth Brannagh showing he has the lightness of touch needed to balance comedy (an early hospital based sequence is a highlight), adventure, perils and drama without the film feeling like it's violently shifting gear.

He makes a decent fist of the action sequences too, with Thor's multiple SHIELD agent takedown and an early brawl against some frost giants being the highlights although the final confrontation is a little unclear and not helped by some slightly dodgy effects.

Brannagh does also find time to include some nice bits of framing and a couple of quick shots that feel like they've been cribbed from the pages of the comic book source.

So overall, it's a fun film that gives you a sense that Marvel's grand scheme could well pay off very well indeed but standing by itself it does feel a little like the opening chapter rather than a whole story. And for what it's worth I did really like the closing line.