Sea Monsters and Whirlpools

'At World's End': Review of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Film No. 3

Jun 1, 2007

The sea monster is nowhere to be seen. However, familiar favourites such as Captain Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones make their expected return as they battle amid a maelstrom

Being Swallowed by a Giant Sea Creature Doesn't Necessarily Mean You Won't Survive, When You Are Being Counted on As an Integral Part of a Film Series

In the second instalment of the ever-expanding Pirates of the Caribbean films, the main character, Cap'n Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, was swallowed whole by the Kraken squid monster controlled by Davy Jones, of Davy Jones' Locker fame.

At World's End, the third and latest Pirates of the Caribbean film, continues where the previous one cliff-hanged, or just after it did. That Jack Sparrow will somehow return from the land of the dead is never in doubt. At issue now is how exactly it happens and how many slapstick sword-fighting scenes it will take.

The story --or what passes for a story-- opens in Singapore, where Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Long John Silver impersonator Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) are, among other things, trying to procure a ship as well as maps that will take them to beyond the edge of the world, where Captain Sparrow is languishing in the land of the pirate dead.

Who's Who and What's What and Where's Where Make for a Confusing Stew of Treachery

Obstructing them at first and later assisting them and then later obstructing them again is Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat), who, like everyone else in this film, shifts his allegiance at the drop of a pirate hat. With so many betrayals and shifting allegiances it might be tempting for the viewer to wish everyone would just get sucked down into the whirlpool so at least there would be a nice orderly conclusion to the general state of confusion.

When the protagonists finally reach the "other side" and locate -- with amazing ease -- Jack Sparrow, he is his old roguish, floating, elusive butterfly, mascara-wearing self.

While his friends have come to save him, it's safe to say that Jack Sparrow is the one who saves the film. Johnny Depp seems to make a film about every other week, but of all his countless films, this role of Captain Jack Sparrow might be his most popular and appealing.

Depp delivers most of the best lines. When Elizabeth Swann, whose character is akin to a real-life piratess such as Anne Bonny or Mary Read, says, "It would have never worked between us," Depp responds with, "Keep telling yourself that, darling."

And if you are inclined to say, "There couldn't possibly be a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film on the horizon," one can only respond with,

The copyright of the article Sea Monsters and Whirlpools in Modern Latin American History is owned by Henry Ramsager. Permission to republish Sea Monsters and Whirlpools in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.