pirates of the caribbean

Due to various logistical mishaps, it took three tries on three separate nights for me and Malograntum to actually see PotC, but last night we finally managed it. I have to say, this movie was not nearly as gay as I'd been led to believe, even considering that (as Roger Ebert put it), Johnny Depp seems to be channeling a drunken drag queen throughout the film (which is NOT a criticism!). I felt a little bit of slashiness between Depp and Geoffrey Rush, but overall the characters didn't really *talk* to each other enough to get any real subtext going.

All the same, it was a very entertaining movie. Mal commented that it does for the colonial Caribbean what writers have long done for the Middle Ages -- turn it into a fantasy setting -- which is not something we've seen before in a film. It rather reminded me of the "Secret of Monkey Island" games, which I played as a kid and have never gotten tired of. The movie is shallow, but it's fun, and clever for what it is (though some bits that hoped to be clever occasionally fell flat), and hangs on tremendously charismatic performances by Depp and Rush.

I'd never seen director Gore Verbinski's work before, but he really deserves recognition for what he does here. It's extremely difficult to have action going on in four different places at once, and have the audience know at all times where we are, what's going on, who everyone is, and why they're doing what they're doing. I never got lost or bored.

It's also difficult to handle so many scenes with special effects, but Verbinski does this well too. ( spoiler )

At over two hours, the movie got a little long. (Don't see it at 10:30pm, like we did -- it's not the sort of movie you want to be getting out of at one in the morning.) But that's a minor complaint. For Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, and the pleasure of the setting, I'd certainly recommend the movie. It won't make you think, but it's a good time.

pirates of the caribbean

Due to various logistical mishaps, it took three tries on three separate nights for me and Malograntum to actually see PotC, but last night we finally managed it. I have to say, this movie was not nearly as gay as I'd been led to believe, even considering that (as Roger Ebert put it), Johnny Depp seems to be channeling a drunken drag queen throughout the film (which is NOT a criticism!). I felt a little bit of slashiness between Depp and Geoffrey Rush, but overall the characters didn't really *talk* to each other enough to get any real subtext going.

All the same, it was a very entertaining movie. Mal commented that it does for the colonial Caribbean what writers have long done for the Middle Ages -- turn it into a fantasy setting -- which is not something we've seen before in a film. It rather reminded me of the "Secret of Monkey Island" games, which I played as a kid and have never gotten tired of. The movie is shallow, but it's fun, and clever for what it is (though some bits that hoped to be clever occasionally fell flat), and hangs on tremendously charismatic performances by Depp and Rush.

I'd never seen director Gore Verbinski's work before, but he really deserves recognition for what he does here. It's extremely difficult to have action going on in four different places at once, and have the audience know at all times where we are, what's going on, who everyone is, and why they're doing what they're doing. I never got lost or bored.

It's also difficult to handle so many scenes with special effects, but Verbinski does this well too. ( spoiler )

At over two hours, the movie got a little long. (Don't see it at 10:30pm, like we did -- it's not the sort of movie you want to be getting out of at one in the morning.) But that's a minor complaint. For Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, and the pleasure of the setting, I'd certainly recommend the movie. It won't make you think, but it's a good time.