It was such a beautiful, summer day today, I decided to go outside, enjoy the sunshine, breathe in some fresh air, and take a nice stroll to my local theater and catch a showing of
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
I arrived at the theater around 11:30am to catch the noon showing. Hey, I figured it would have been enough time to buy some popcorn and get a nice seat. Boy, was I
wrong! Stepping up to the box office, I discovered that most showings for the morning were already sold out, with the next available showing was at 1:15pm! Egads, I should have seen this coming! Oh, well, I had some time to kill...
To whittle away the time, I decided to do some people watching, to gauge what the audience would be like. Lots of teens hanging around, especially girls. Oh right, it must be that dreamy Depp guy and that Bloom girl, err guy who are drawing most of the crowd.
I also noticed families taking along their younger kids. Hmmm, from what I remember of the first film, I thought the movie was a bit intense to have Munchkin No. 1 watching, who is only six years old. Eh, parents do what they will with their kids. The highlight of my people watching was seeing a family dressed up in pirate gear, from the mom and dad, down to the teen boy and toddler girl. That was pretty funny to see.
Anyways, back to the movie. All I can say is that the movie is good, not as great as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, but it certainly had a better final act (and a kick-ass ending!), leading directly to the third film next year. But in order to get to the kick-ass ending, you have endure a dreadfully slow first two hours (yes, the movie is long!). The first hour or so of the movie was agonizingly sloth-like, like a ship in the middle of a dead calm with no wind to push it. See the pic above? The whole scene with the natives could have been cut, and I would have enjoyed it more. It was just unneccesary.
What the second film also lacks from the first is a sense of fun. Black Pearl repeatedly shifted from one fun scene to another, taking you along for the ride. Dead Man's Chest has its exciting moments, but it's slowed down by the character stories of the three major characters. It's nice that Jack, Will, and Elizabeth have character journeys, but they're all taken separately, which drags the film until they are all back together.
Once the trio are united, that's where the movie starts to take off. From the mexican stand-off to the final scene, it's a thrill ride. And oh boy, that final scene! I won't spoil it, but it's worth the price of admission alone (matinee at most). With a year until the third movie, let's hope the filmmakers put the fun back in.
8^B
Technorati Tags: Movie Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest Johnny Depp Orlando Bloom Kiera Knightly Black Pearl
I have to admit, as much as I don't let cover art influence my buying decisions, the cover to Catwoman #57 is massively cool. The humorous homage to Lone Wolf and Cub is instantly recognizable, and that baby is way too cute.
I just received an email earlier this morning that my blog has been accepted into the 
