Review: Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End

WARNING: Here be spoilers... Captain Jack is back. But is it the last? I recently went to see the last (?) Pirates movie (I'll refer to it as POTC 3 as the title is overly long). What did I think? It was great. Firstly I'll discuss some things that I liked. The plot. It was OK, though some may have a hard following it. I liked that they showed all the pirates lords from all corners of the world, giving the viewers a chance to know that there is a bigger pirate world other than Jack's or William's or Barbossa's. The story is much darker, some dealing with death and some with betrayal (though pirates really is like that). It's a much better narrative than POTC 2. POTC 2 simply went from one location to another, not fully explaining each setting. In POTC 3 it was quite different, amazingly showcasing different pirate worlds. I liked the story more in this one, from Goddesses and sea creatures, this one has it all. Now, the acting, I think it was superb. Johnny Depp created this iconic character that will be up there with Luke Skywalker and Michael Myers. I could not think of anyone more deserving to play Jack Sparrow (err, Captain) than him. Bloom and Knightly were great, too. There are parts were the film shows too much of their story, but I guess this film is about them anyways. Rush was good, he played Barbossa so perfectly with that monkey of his. Supporting characters were alright, but I felt somewhat wanting more of Yun-Fat's character. He barely is the film even if the film shows he is a major character. Credits go Bill Nighly, who gets my vote for the best character in the film. He played Davy Jones flawlessly; you can definitely feel his emotions underneath all that computer-generated tentacles. And the effects... WOW. Never have I seen such real effects since Spider-Man 3 (Sandman's transformation, specifically). And Keith Richards! That was my favorite moment in the film. I can now definitely see the likeness between Richards and Sparrow (Yep. Sparrow, not Depp). It shows that I liked the film... Now here's what I didn't like: Tia Dalma's character. What the hell was she saying? I need subtitles when he talks. Wish I had a remote every time she's on. I'm just having trouble trying to understand her. Another is Will's story, it seems he too much frustrated on being betrayed and betraying someone. Too much emotion I guess. Same goes to Elizabeth... (Though her father's death hit me hard). And the running time, in the theater it runs 3 hours and 10 minutes, though it felt like 2 and a half. But that's still long... the Pirates film was that long too. Some scenes could definitely be shortened, but why complain, it's already done. All in all it a great experience. I like this better than POTC 2. And I enjoyed this more than Spider-Man (Yes, I love Spider-Man but part 3 somewhat disappointed me) and Shrek The Third. So far the 2007 summer season for me is going mediocre, still waitin' for Transformers and Harry Potter. POTC 3: 8/10