Pirates of the Caribbean franchise

i think The Nostalgia Critic's review On Stranger Tides
quickly sums up my feeling about the whole franchise
i cant really understand why the need for complex stories
when the gist of the films is the hammy acting of johnny depp

I dont care how convoluted it was, that whirpool battle made up for it 10x over.

One of the best action sequences ive seen in a movie

So...who's waiting for a sequal that will prolly never come do to how critics hated this movie?

edited 7th Nov '11 6:56:42 PM by ZidaneFlameMouse

Didn't critics hate the second and third too...?

You think they'll care what some critics said if the movie makes a lot of money?

The second film was actually my favourite.

I've never really liked the third one, though.

GUYS

Reviving this forum with some news about the next movie. Comic Book.com has interviewed Jerry Bruckhimer and confirmed the next movie is a reboot.

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/pirates-of-the-caribbean-reboot-movie-jerry-bruckheimer-disney/

Do we wanna make this the forum thread for the series? Holler the first post and have the thread renamed?

That works for me.

IDK if a reboot would work. The charm of the series has never been the actual pirates; it's always been The Jack Sparrow movies.

And honestly, after all the shit that's happened, I find myself with no appetite for any Johnny Depp vehicles.

Then maybe an actor that can match him. A Timothee Chalamet type.

I believe they were circling Karen Gillain for awhile as "The Red-Head" from the ride.

Tbh I feel they should make new pirate films. I think this series is just too tied to sparrow to do well without him.

I've liked the Zoe Saldaña suggestion, considering she's been in the series since the first movie.

Plus it would be nice to see her play a black woman for once.

Edited by Larkmarn on Mar 27th 2024 at 12:56:24 PM

I don't think any pirates film is going to escape the shadow of PotC even if it's technically a different series or not.

I’m just gonna go ahead and holler at the mods to change the name of this thread.

Jack Sparrow is a fun character, but his appeal in the first movie is that you don't know what he's thinking at the moment. He could be someone who has no idea of what he's doing... or is someone manipulating people to get what he wants. It's a guessing game of wits and that's what made him so appealing.

And it fits well with a pirate. Pirates are untrustworthy, even the good ones. So the protagonist is left guessing as to what the pirate friend's move and if they should backstab them first or not. That's why Long John Silver remained the most famous pirate for the longest time. His whole character is about figuring out when to trust him or not.

This is why a Will Turner character is essential for any future Pirate movie. You need the straight man and someone more naive about the pirate game to make someone like Captain Jack Sparrow become an iconic pirate. Without them, we are forced into seeing Sparrow from his perspective nearly all the time, and that makes him far more predictable to the audience to anticipate his next move.

I do remember that by the end of the first series, it was a very loud and prevalent opinion that the series was focusing too much on Jack to its detriment - especially after the series booted out Will and Elizabeth but still kept trying to grind out stories with just Jack.

I myself really enjoy the deeper stories. I like that they tried to make a film series about Pirates more complex than one would've expected. Also, be interesting to see what comes next too if the destruction of Poseidon's Trident means no more curses—except for the Flying Dutchman because that one's needed to help ferry the dead.

She was only in the first film. And, as that role was almost career ending as she was so miserable on the production. I don't think she'd be keen to return, even with her huge career now.

I think Jack can work on his own, but I agree that part of what made the first film great was the interplay between Jack, Will and Elizabeth - all fun characters, it's just that the latter two get overshadowed a tad by Jack

Edited by king15 on Mar 27th 2024 at 8:31:16 AM

So.....

I just rewatched the first trilogy relatively recently and among the things I liked were the sets, practical effects, the scale of the movies and the awesome music. I even liked Orlando Bloom and found him really enjoyable across the movies, arguably the most consistent character. And James Norrington was just very cool, still a bit peeved that he died a bit anticlimactically.

But the biggest criticism I have of the pirates movies, especially by World's End, is tonal consistency. More generally, the lack of it. We start the damn movie with a child being coldly executed and it's treated super seriously. And then a few minutes later we have Elizabeth being searched for weapons and eventually a monkey, Jack I think, using a firecracker to cause all this comedic destruction.

I haven't felt this much tonal whiplash for a while and it came across as very jarring. The movie is brutally dark and serious at times and then over the top silly and comical at other times.

The pirates franchises always had a mix of dead-serious moments and darkly comedic moments.

• Jack was mutinied by his crew and left to die on an island. His first scene is him looking badass coming into Port Royal moments before the camera pans down and his ship is sinking, so he just casually steps onto shore from the mast as it goes under.
• Will finds out his parent was a pirate, a massive, eye-opening revelation that he learns seconds after Jack casually knocks him off the ship, giving him strong advice about "what a man can do, what a man can't do."
• Elizabeth's love story/personal growth as a pirate is always balanced with her just not being equipped for how depraved the pirates are, to gradually doing things like carrying a massive pistol on her, or countering someone's disagreement with her by pointing to the fact that she's the Pirate King now and can do what she wants.

The first movie goes from a flashback of Will being sole survivor of a ship to being a blacksmith apprentice in way over his head during a pirate attack.

The second movie sees Elizabeth and Will's marriage being interrupted by politics, and Will getting traded and exploited during his mission to save Elizabeth. We cut to a brief B-plot about Jack and his crew being captured by (admittedly a little racist) island natives who lock them in cages made out of the bones of the people they've eaten, and Jack is mistaken as their chieftain/god figure.

Pirates had that whole bit with Sao Feng and Elizabeth standing over a hole in the floor. This is the big end of the trilogy where everyone is trying to rescue Jack and rally the pirates to fight Davey Jones and Beckett. Jack's entire bit where he's hallucinating an army of himself in purgatory.

Personally I always enjoyed the comedy.

Tonal whiplash, right in this scene at the end when Barbossa makes the suggestion and the pirates respond... well, like pirates.

Edited by FOFD on Mar 28th 2024 at 9:16:33 AM

Yeah the first two movies without a doubt had their dark and violent moments—and this was the first Disney-named brand to get a PG-13 rating too, so by the time the third came around, I didn't think though moments were a Mood Whiplash like others did.

At World's End I was already hyped as hell for when the trailers started dropping. I loved the movie at the time and it without a doubt remains one of my memorable filmgoing experiences too. I had a cold; went on opening day with friends; the crowd I went with applauded at different times during the climax and as the Disney logo first came on at the beginning, I called out "This is it!" in the theater.

The second film ramps up the Black Comedy from the first film (I mean, there’s an extended sequence about 80% of Jack’s crew being eaten by cannibals), but largely keeps its events comedic and light-adventurey in depiction even so.

The third movie opens with an entirely straight child death, with zero jokes attached, and has a lot more emotional or dark moments with no levity. So I can understand there being a bit of whiplash, especially if you’re watching all three in a row.

It’s like how all the GOTG films are PG-13, but the third film is the one that really feels like trying to push that rating in tone.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 28th 2024 at 9:06:45 AM