Pirate pictures are poison.
Yellowbeard, Pirates,
CutThroat Island - all sank to the bottom of the box office, weighed down with critical bile.
Factor in Gore
Verbinski's workmanlike reputation and a theme park ride for source material and Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (deep breath) looks as attractive as the Elephant man.
So, brace the mainsail and shiver those timbers, etc, for this is a superb
swashbuckler - rousing, funny and spectacular.
"This is either madness or brilliance," says Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), as he and Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny
Depp) attempt to steal a ship and rescue the governor's daughter (
Keira Knightley). The statement could easily be ascribed to
Depp's eccentric, ecstatic performance, and as the singular skipper replies, "It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide."
Depp simply steals the show, lock, stock and two floating barrels. Foppish, fey and hilarious, Sparrow is a brilliant creation - a self-publicising rogue with the
élan of Douglas Fairbanks and the demeanour of an acid casualty.
Faced with his scene-snaffling, the others do well to register. Bloom has a Flynn-
ish quality (if a touch
goodie goodie) as
Knightley's squeeze, while the young British actress (
Bend It Like Beckham) appears
effortlessly charismatic.
Marginally less photogenic, Geoffrey Rush is no less impressive as the villainous Captain
Barbossa, questing to lift the curse on the crew of the notorious Black Pearl.
His dialogue is gloriously grandiose ("Compelled by greed we were and now we are consumed by it!"), but always underscored by the wit you'd expect from the writers of
Shrek and
The Mask Of Zorro.The latter is a stylistic touchstone for this story of
seabound skulduggery - which matches its playful tone, splendid
swordfights and cheerful
disposability. And while Pirates may be as overlong as its franchise-minded title, the characters are so engaging, the action so
entertaining, you won't really care. Yo ho ho, indeed.
In my own opion I do have to agree with this review that Johnny Depp was excellent in this movie, how he is a foppish, fey and hilarious creation. I also agree how the writer was absolutely amazing, who was also the writer of Shrek also The Mask of Zoro. I also like his statement "Yo ho ho, indeed," as this film just makes you want to yo ho around. Overall I think this is a pretty accurate review, of how brilliant this film is.