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Hee and Glee!
Went and saw "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" again on Tuesday. Now I feel ready to write a review!
First of all, let me just say Disney's new 3-D animated logo is fantabulous! And the movie hasn't even started yet!
So, kinda a strange opening. Elizabeth looks about as happy as a balloon in a rose garden. Yes, I know it's raining on her wedding day but why is she standing there getting soaking wet? (Any "isn't it ironic?" jokes will be dealt with mercilessly, btw). I suppose we're meant to guess Will is late and the guests have fled to shelter, but it still seems an odd opening.
It took me AGES to work out what I'd seen Tom Hollander in recently (answer is "Pride and Prejudice") and I have no excuses really, because he gives almost the same performance as Beckett as he did as Mr Collins in "P&P". Oddly enough, I don't hate him for this, as the character works great in both movies :) But please, oh please, oh please let us see Beckett get him comeuppance in the third film!
Yay! It's Jack! And aww, the rum's all gone. I loved the re-use of "why has the rum gone?" and other tips o' the hat to the previous movie that are scattered throughout the film. Ahh, here's the main plot development in the form of the deceased Bootstrap Bill, warning Jack that his deal with Davy Jones has expired. Kudos to the make up team, as Barnacle Bill practically reeks of rotten seaweed and things underwater too long. Stellan Skarsgård is excellent throughout and it says something that I had no idea he was the Professor in "Good Will Hunting" until I checked him out on imdb.com.
Ooh Davy Jones is GREAT! I was dubious about the casting for this, but with that makeup and CGI anyone would have looked good. Kudos to Nighy for giving what could have been a two dimensional villain some, err, depth ('scuse pun). CGI guys, take a bow. That tentacle beard was all kinds of fantabulous and I know of at least two Will/Davy Jones tentacle porn fics already *giggles*.
Seriously, the make-up and CGI this time were uniformly excellent, I thought. The kraken? All kinds of awesome and I am praying for the DVD extras to go into great detail about how some of those shots were achieved. Particularly the second time the kraken takes a ship by smashing it in half with its tentacles. Wow.
One of the reasons I wanted to see the movie again was to pay closer attention to what Jack steals in while at the witch's hut. He steals what looks like a pouch and, more importantly, a ring that I've been assured is Barbossa's ring. Certainly the ring he steals, he's quite clearly wearing for the rest of the movie, it's made certain that we see it, not least during the scene when he's trying to get the handcuffs off. All sorts of theories are abounding but clearly the ring will be of significance later. Also more visible on a second viewing - Barbossa's boots are clearly to be seen when the dead monkey scampers out of the cage and off into the side room. Oooh gotta love foreshadowing :) And while I'm on the subject of the witch's hut - awesome set and I love the actress but I needed to see that movie twice to get "tuned" in to her way of speaking.
So, if Jack doesn't know what he wants, what does he actually need, do you think? Hmm. I'm sure the fan fic writers are happily speculating even as I type.
Orly looks good shouting orders. If anything, he's more convincing here than he was in "Kingdom of Heaven". Looks good stripped too (down girls, not completely, just a bare back scene). Then the wet shirt scene. *swoons thud!* Orlando is better in this movie I think, whether that's because he's grown more confident as an actor or that he has more action or what, I don't know, but he's definitely better.
Did anyone else have this great urge to go and wash their hands after every showing of "The Flying Dutchman"? Or was that just me? You know, since LotR, set building has just reached new heights - that ship set rocked. Everything about that ship was wet, oily and just plain slimy. Ewww. *goes to wash hands*
That ending - wonder how many "Hello beastie!" icons will spawn on LJ? :) But great, great scene and you know he's gonna be back, but now you really wanna know how :)
You've been warned. I mention it as one who knew Barbossa was gonna be back before I saw Dead Man's Chest and I'm mightily peeved about that. *makes sure everyone who doesn't want to be spoiled has gone* OK, Empire magazine got onto the set and saw a bit of 3 - Chow Yun Fat is gonna be in it! Hee! And at least part of the movie is going to be set in Singapore. This location has been mentioned twice now - Jack says "You've never been to Singapore, then" in the first film and (so I'm told) one of the sailors Will speaks to when searching for Jack mentions seeing him in Singapore in DMC. Hee! More foreshadowing! *smooches the screenwriters*
Overall, I think the movie was a lot darker than the first one. I have to say, I've seen some very young kids being taken to see this and yes, I know it's a Disney movie and yes, it's a 12 and yes, it's cartoonish in a lot of ways, but there was some damn grim stuff in this, like that prison scene early on with the ravens pecking out the eyeballs. I'm not sure I'd want to take a 5 year old to see it, meself. *shrugs* But that's me. Things that bothered me - the water wheel fight. Very clever, I'm sure, but no, didn't work for me. Too cartoonish, I felt and just a smidge OTT, even compared to the OTT that is the whole franchise. The whole film felt "busier" than the first, but that could just be middle movie syndrome, I guess, but it needed trimming. I never felt it was too long but it wouldn't have hurt to be shorter, either. It still got me back into the cinema to watch it again, so it did more things right than wrong and you can't ask for much more than that from a summer blockbuster.
So, who hasn't seen it yet? And why not? Go! Go! At once!! :)
And I need a pirate icon :P
First of all, let me just say Disney's new 3-D animated logo is fantabulous! And the movie hasn't even started yet!
So, kinda a strange opening. Elizabeth looks about as happy as a balloon in a rose garden. Yes, I know it's raining on her wedding day but why is she standing there getting soaking wet? (Any "isn't it ironic?" jokes will be dealt with mercilessly, btw). I suppose we're meant to guess Will is late and the guests have fled to shelter, but it still seems an odd opening.
It took me AGES to work out what I'd seen Tom Hollander in recently (answer is "Pride and Prejudice") and I have no excuses really, because he gives almost the same performance as Beckett as he did as Mr Collins in "P&P". Oddly enough, I don't hate him for this, as the character works great in both movies :) But please, oh please, oh please let us see Beckett get him comeuppance in the third film!
Yay! It's Jack! And aww, the rum's all gone. I loved the re-use of "why has the rum gone?" and other tips o' the hat to the previous movie that are scattered throughout the film. Ahh, here's the main plot development in the form of the deceased Bootstrap Bill, warning Jack that his deal with Davy Jones has expired. Kudos to the make up team, as Barnacle Bill practically reeks of rotten seaweed and things underwater too long. Stellan Skarsgård is excellent throughout and it says something that I had no idea he was the Professor in "Good Will Hunting" until I checked him out on imdb.com.
Ooh Davy Jones is GREAT! I was dubious about the casting for this, but with that makeup and CGI anyone would have looked good. Kudos to Nighy for giving what could have been a two dimensional villain some, err, depth ('scuse pun). CGI guys, take a bow. That tentacle beard was all kinds of fantabulous and I know of at least two Will/Davy Jones tentacle porn fics already *giggles*.
Seriously, the make-up and CGI this time were uniformly excellent, I thought. The kraken? All kinds of awesome and I am praying for the DVD extras to go into great detail about how some of those shots were achieved. Particularly the second time the kraken takes a ship by smashing it in half with its tentacles. Wow.
One of the reasons I wanted to see the movie again was to pay closer attention to what Jack steals in while at the witch's hut. He steals what looks like a pouch and, more importantly, a ring that I've been assured is Barbossa's ring. Certainly the ring he steals, he's quite clearly wearing for the rest of the movie, it's made certain that we see it, not least during the scene when he's trying to get the handcuffs off. All sorts of theories are abounding but clearly the ring will be of significance later. Also more visible on a second viewing - Barbossa's boots are clearly to be seen when the dead monkey scampers out of the cage and off into the side room. Oooh gotta love foreshadowing :) And while I'm on the subject of the witch's hut - awesome set and I love the actress but I needed to see that movie twice to get "tuned" in to her way of speaking.
So, if Jack doesn't know what he wants, what does he actually need, do you think? Hmm. I'm sure the fan fic writers are happily speculating even as I type.
Orly looks good shouting orders. If anything, he's more convincing here than he was in "Kingdom of Heaven". Looks good stripped too (down girls, not completely, just a bare back scene). Then the wet shirt scene. *swoons thud!* Orlando is better in this movie I think, whether that's because he's grown more confident as an actor or that he has more action or what, I don't know, but he's definitely better.
Did anyone else have this great urge to go and wash their hands after every showing of "The Flying Dutchman"? Or was that just me? You know, since LotR, set building has just reached new heights - that ship set rocked. Everything about that ship was wet, oily and just plain slimy. Ewww. *goes to wash hands*
That ending - wonder how many "Hello beastie!" icons will spawn on LJ? :) But great, great scene and you know he's gonna be back, but now you really wanna know how :)
You've been warned. I mention it as one who knew Barbossa was gonna be back before I saw Dead Man's Chest and I'm mightily peeved about that. *makes sure everyone who doesn't want to be spoiled has gone* OK, Empire magazine got onto the set and saw a bit of 3 - Chow Yun Fat is gonna be in it! Hee! And at least part of the movie is going to be set in Singapore. This location has been mentioned twice now - Jack says "You've never been to Singapore, then" in the first film and (so I'm told) one of the sailors Will speaks to when searching for Jack mentions seeing him in Singapore in DMC. Hee! More foreshadowing! *smooches the screenwriters*
Overall, I think the movie was a lot darker than the first one. I have to say, I've seen some very young kids being taken to see this and yes, I know it's a Disney movie and yes, it's a 12 and yes, it's cartoonish in a lot of ways, but there was some damn grim stuff in this, like that prison scene early on with the ravens pecking out the eyeballs. I'm not sure I'd want to take a 5 year old to see it, meself. *shrugs* But that's me. Things that bothered me - the water wheel fight. Very clever, I'm sure, but no, didn't work for me. Too cartoonish, I felt and just a smidge OTT, even compared to the OTT that is the whole franchise. The whole film felt "busier" than the first, but that could just be middle movie syndrome, I guess, but it needed trimming. I never felt it was too long but it wouldn't have hurt to be shorter, either. It still got me back into the cinema to watch it again, so it did more things right than wrong and you can't ask for much more than that from a summer blockbuster.
So, who hasn't seen it yet? And why not? Go! Go! At once!! :)
And I need a pirate icon :P