Ben Oliver

Now
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film

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Shoot him and cut out his tongue, then shoot his tongue! And trim that scraggly beard!
17 October 2020

This was the most expensive film ever made at the time and it shows in its bloated, often tedious, action sequences. You get everything you liked from the other pirate movies, but repeated over and over again until you can’t possibly like it any more.

To add to the woes, rather than bring the story to a close they decided to pack it full of new characters and plot lines. You begin to wonder when and why it all got so complicated, and it’s not entirely who is fighting who and why they are fighting.

There’s a lot to like, however. Maybe the action wasn’t really serving the plot, but on a pure technical level it’s amazing what they achieved in this film. The special effects are spectacular, particularly the naval battle in the whirlpool.

Also, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley et al. are brilliant. Their talents are mostly squandered but despite the shoddy script they build up memorable and entertaining characters.

Should have been better, and shorter, but this is still worth your time for the sheer spectacle of it all.