Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Odd how most of the films I've been looking forward to this year have stunk while films I was dismissive of have ended up being damn good. While I can't say that I enjoyed this as much as X2 (my major surprise for the year), this film upended my expectations by not sucking despite being a Jerry Bruckheimer production. True, Bruckheimer's bigger-louder-more philosophy is evident on screen (lots of shit goes boom, the plot makes no sense and the film runs on too long), but the usual arrogant lugubriousness of your typical Bruckheimer event is counteracted by Gore Verbinki's deft directorial hand and the intentionally loopy screenplay. This trumping of style-over-idiocy is reflected in the film as well, where the obligatory but faintly dull love story between Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom is often shunted to the side in favor of the competition between Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush to see who can go farther over the top. Rush puts up an admirable front (he is, after all, the current King of Overacting), but Depp unmoors his boat and sails so far into the realms of the weird that the performance becomes perversely, wonderfully fascinating and entertaining as all get-out to boot. The action rarely flags, with many many things going up in flames, so the film delivers in the pure-eye-candy realm as well. And to top it off, it's got Jack Davenport (from the BBC sitcom "Coupling") in full historical regalia, which I think is funny as fuck. It's pretty much a total package of entertainment. Check it out. (I'm still sticking to my guns on Bad Boys II, however.)
Grade: B
Odd how most of the films I've been looking forward to this year have stunk while films I was dismissive of have ended up being damn good. While I can't say that I enjoyed this as much as X2 (my major surprise for the year), this film upended my expectations by not sucking despite being a Jerry Bruckheimer production. True, Bruckheimer's bigger-louder-more philosophy is evident on screen (lots of shit goes boom, the plot makes no sense and the film runs on too long), but the usual arrogant lugubriousness of your typical Bruckheimer event is counteracted by Gore Verbinki's deft directorial hand and the intentionally loopy screenplay. This trumping of style-over-idiocy is reflected in the film as well, where the obligatory but faintly dull love story between Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom is often shunted to the side in favor of the competition between Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush to see who can go farther over the top. Rush puts up an admirable front (he is, after all, the current King of Overacting), but Depp unmoors his boat and sails so far into the realms of the weird that the performance becomes perversely, wonderfully fascinating and entertaining as all get-out to boot. The action rarely flags, with many many things going up in flames, so the film delivers in the pure-eye-candy realm as well. And to top it off, it's got Jack Davenport (from the BBC sitcom "Coupling") in full historical regalia, which I think is funny as fuck. It's pretty much a total package of entertainment. Check it out. (I'm still sticking to my guns on Bad Boys II, however.)
Grade: B
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