Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

At World’s End is the second half of Dead Man’s Chest, and in my eyes, the final film of the Pirates franchise. I thought that making On Stranger Tides was a mistake, and as such I haven’t seen it yet. At World’s End picks up more or less where Dead Man’s Chest left off, with Jack’s friends, led by Captain Barbossa, seeking to rescue him from Davy Jones’ locker.

The plot of the movie is not as strong as it could be. After Jack is rescued from the locker he gets back on his quest to stab the heart of Davy Jones and sail the seas forever. I thought it suffered from the problems that many ‘finishing films’ seem to, in that they try and fit too much into one film. What with the final battle, Davy Jones’ locker, the pirate court, the mission in Singapore, the freeing of Calypso, and everything in between with Bootstrap Bill, Davy Jones and the Cutler Beckett’s pursuit going on as well it seems like too much. Even that sentence was too long, so that should give you some idea of how dragged out it is.

In the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa is really scary. It might be something to do with his moonlight-revealing skeletal form, but he is immensely scary and makes a fitting villain to the first movie. His revelation at the end of the second movie is shocking (but is explained if you watch to the end of the credits of the first movie I think, I may be wrong), but his role in the third film seems to be very anonymous. I think that the main reason he was brought back was because to introduce another new pirate in At World’s End would be too much. His character seems to go much the same way as the Pirates films: starts off brilliantly, but by the third he doesn't seem quite the same. He is presented in many ways as being equal to Jack, and seems to be more obviously shrewd and less eccentric. He is the first to cotton on to the fact that Tia Dalma is the goddess Calypso for example, which has immense consequences for the outcome of the film.

Naomie Harris is one of those actresses that seems to pop up from time to time and I always seem to recognise her. She is so completely unrecognisable in Pirates of the Caribbean that I completely didn't connect her to 28 Days Later, and when I saw Skyfall, again didn't make the association. She shows off how good an actress she is best in Pirates of the Caribbean as she plays the heavily accented ‘mystic’ who turns out to be the goddess of the seas. Fittingly, she is also the reason that Davy Jones cut out his heart and also seems to quite like Captain Jack. Her roles in the second and third films were among the more enjoyable moments of the franchise, and I liked the way her character developed.

Chow Yun-Fat also makes an appearance as the fearsome pirate Sao-Feng, and is glittering in the role. Upon his death (sorry if I’ve given that one away) he passes his captaincy on to Elizabeth Swann, which leads to her instrumental role in the defeat of the forces pursuing the pirates. Sao-Feng is a brilliant character, and it’s a shame that he is given such a brief role in the films. The scenes in Singapore are a highlight of this film, and sees some tense moments intertwined with the humour that makes the Pirates of the Caribbean films nearly unique, and so refreshing.

Despite having an awful lot going on, the end is wonderfully spectacular and very well written. The battles between Cutler Beckett’s crew and the pirates is meant to convey a sense of life falling apart around a man who had so much, and his acceptance of it. That’s fairly obvious from watching the scene though. I thought that the battle between Captain Jack and Davy Jones was suitably epic in scale and design. The outcome of this battle has consequences for every single remaining character in the film. Jack has his life’s dream torn away from him, Elizabeth has her love torn away from her, and Will has his freedom torn away from him. It seems too obvious to say, but there is a strong sense that everything has changed at the end of the film. Best of all though is that by the end of the film it seems to have come to a natural conclusion.

As with Dead Man’s Chest, there is no way that At World’s End lives up to The Curse of theBlack Pearl, but it doesn't fall too far short. If you've watched the first and second films then you should watch the third. If you start with the third film then you won’t get a lot of the in-jokes, the character quirks and the general references to the previous films. A lot of people have been very critical of it, but as with the other Pirates of the Caribbean films, I enjoyed it, and that’s enough reason to watch this one.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

This is another one of those films which I was looking forward to watching. This was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2000, losing out to Gladiator, and was, for all accounts, fantastic. It’s completely in Chinese, and as a result it is not a light watch. The plot revolves around Li Mu Bai trying to recover his stolen sword from Jade Fox. He has the help of Yu Shu Lien (who is in love with him), who has to try and persuade Jen Yu to turn away from Jade Fox’s path of ‘bad’ and follow the ‘light’ of Li Mu Bai.

As Crouching Tiger was subtitled it made it a lot easier to follow, but you cannot turn your head away from the screen at all really, otherwise you miss a lot of the dialogue. Unless you speak Mandarin (which I studied in my first year of University, and now cannot remember), it is quite a tough film to follow. The plot is really good though, and it provides some intricate twists which keep you watching. There are several stories running throughout the film, and these are all very enjoyable. For example, forbidden love is a massive part of Crouching Tiger. Jen Yu has to wrestle with her arranged marriage despite being in love with another man, and Li Mu Bai and Yu Shen Lien have been in love for a long time, but were unable to express this for a variety of reasons.

The best part about Crouching Tiger though is, without a doubt, the fight scenes. As with many films, there is a massive build up to the ‘final showdown’ between the two good guys and the two bad guys. This sees Li Mu Bai blocking a large number of poisoned needles with his sword, which is just epic. However, more impressive is the scene where Jen Yu takes on near enough a whole building of fighters who all believe they can defeat her. This scene reminded me massively of the last scene in Kill Bill Vol. 1 (or more accurately, the scene in Kill Bill reminded me of this one). Also, the initial scene where Yu Shen Lien fights ‘the thief’ in order to gain back the sword is magnificent. The only thing that spoils most of the fight scenes for me is the graphics. Granted it was 2000 when the film was released, but the special effects of the characters jumping across rooftops and stuff is awful. In some cases I don’t think they even touch the roof before they jump. Now I know that the laws of physics are ever so slightly suspended in Crouching Tiger, but it would have been nice if the effects looked more realistic.

I thought that Jade Fox was an interesting character. To me she seemed to be portrayed as the archetypal ‘wicked witch’ as she looked a little bit older, a little bit more unkempt and a little bit more devious than any of the other characters. Naturally she is underhand, and displays none of the honour that Li Mu Bai possesses. Her use of poison is also very sneaky. Obviously this is the most shameful way to kill someone as they can’t face you or fight back, and Jade Fox is known to have repeatedly used this technique. Ironically enough it is poison eventually is her undoing. I thought though that her poisoning of Jen Yu was more interesting though. Jen lives a life where she is presented as the sweet innocent little girl, but has really been twisted by Jade Fox for most of her life. This is why she finds it so hard to commit to a life of learning under Li Mu Bai.

Having done some research for this blog (believe it or not, I do research these posts a bit) it seems that many people, particularly Chinese-speaking individuals, were annoyed about certain castings in this film. The fact that the four main actors speak with four different accents throughout the film, and are all from four different backgrounds, none of which include the Mandarin in which the film is spoken, is a bit of a problem. This is justified by Michelle Yeoh, who argues that her character comes from outside of the region and so didn't have to speak with the accent (Interview with Cinescape, 28/12/2000). However, if a film involving four Londoners was released in which the characters spoke with a Liverpudlian, Yorkshire, Birmingham and Newcastle accent then questions would be asked. After I researched this I thought that this was the main failing of the film, but seeing as I didn't pick up on it while watching it, it’s not that big a deal for me.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was the first Chinese film to really ‘make it’. It has led to the rise of Chinese cinema, and as a result, other films have gained population, such as House of Flying Daggers. Any film that wins four, yes four, Academy Awards (Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score and Best Cinematography) cannot be ignored, and if you are going to watch any film from the Asian Cinema scene, this would have to be it I think.