Jul. 7 - Avast! Pirates!
Just got back from Pirates of the Caribbean 2: the curse of the subtitles. take equal parts of Indiana Jones and Monkey Island and throw in a handful of joyful... whatever from Disney rides I have never been on, separated from all the horrible people you find at amusement parks of course, and you have Pirates of the Caribbean and I suggest you all go see it. It is nearly the equal of its prequel save one aspect. It's not a complete story. Im not a fan of cliffhanger endings, I think that even in a long series movies should stand alone. but my quarrel isn't so much with cliffhanger endings it is with what I fear may be becoming a trend in movies, making one movie that stands alone then making 2 sequels that are really one movie just because you can afford it. It was a horrible idea with the matrix and it is only somewhat better with pirates because PotC doesn't suck. A trilogy, with an epic story arch, works for epics, but Pirates of the Caribbean isn't an epic its fluff, popcorn, summer movie fun, it's terribly entertaining but that's just what it is, entertainment. And you can't just make it an epic after you made one third of it popcorn.
I don't honestly care what anyone thinks when it comes to trilogies I would take Indiana Jones over star wars or the lord of the rings. Because Indiana Jones isn't really a trilogy its just three timeless adventure movies. If I want to watch the lord of the rings I almost have to plan it a week in advance because it takes 4 hours to watch just one of them. And at this point, and until the original, unedited, trilogy comes out, the only star wars I can take is the first 20 minutes of episode 3 because that's the only part that's still fun to watch, they haven't ruined it for me yet. But i can watch any of the 3 Indy movies and just enjoy it then be done with it.
The writers and producers of PotC tried to combine a simple adventure comedy and an epic, at some point they should have just made up their mind. Ill see the third one because the second was genuinely good but Im not getting roped into seeing another Matrix movie or anything else like it just to know how it ends. Especially when seeing the ending isn't worth a damn when, as is the case with the entire Matrix series, I don't remember a bit of it and I don't miss it. All I miss is the money I paid to see it.
Comments
Here's a conversation Colin and I had about the movie:
Smitemeister34: I just got back from the movie
Smitemeister34: I saw it
Smitemeister34: with my parents
Smitemeister34: I rule
GraysOrthography: lol
GraysOrthography: im sorry
Smitemeister34: I mean, the experience was enjoyable, it's just the principle :-P
GraysOrthography: i understand
Smitemeister34: I thought it was a super fun movie, though
GraysOrthography: it was
Smitemeister34: and I'm glad they didn;t rush the ending
Smitemeister34: I'd rather them take another movie than have a rushed ending
GraysOrthography: i kinda think they didnt really tell a story
GraysOrthography: they just sort of made a 2 hour premise for a movie
Smitemeister34: Well, it's the pirate version of The Empire Strikes back
GraysOrthography: yeah, but to me the original 3 starwars are all one movie
GraysOrthography: im not old enough to have seen them when they came out
Smitemeister34: Well, the first movie ended all happily, the second one gets them in the worst possible situation, and the third one gets them out of it
GraysOrthography: read my post on slacker central
Smitemeister34: And The Matrix didn't really end at all
GraysOrthography: it ended in a bunch of suck.
Smitemeister34: Indeed
Smitemeister34: But I think the only thing that differentiates Pirates and Star Wars is time
Smitemeister34: Star Wars became a classic
GraysOrthography: yeah, starwars was also written all at once
Smitemeister34: But at its core it's really popcorn
GraysOrthography: even if the first one was a single story
Smitemeister34: (except for the Boba Fett parts, those are serious)
GraysOrthography: and darth vader did survive and shouted some angry words at the end of a new hope
GraysOrthography: so it wasnt really over
Smitemeister34: The ending of the first Pirates was non-comittal as to the existence of a sequel
Smitemeister34: Jack got his ship back, which we could just image the advantures he would have or we could see it in a sequel
GraysOrthography: yeah, but every movie leaves a possibility open
GraysOrthography: unless they kill everyone
Smitemeister34: Like Hamlet
GraysOrthography: and if they do that then they can make a prequel
GraysOrthography: exactly
GraysOrthography: or any shakespear play.
GraysOrthography: because he like a good ending.
Smitemeister34: Except Twelfth Night :-P
GraysOrthography: a true ending
GraysOrthography: he probably killed a few people in the audience just to make sure.
Smitemeister34: Yeah, that's what the groundlings were for
Smitemeister34: I'm just saying that, regardless of writing history, Pirates is following the (original) Star Wars trilogy formula
Smitemeister34: Though I do agree with you that making two movies at the same time is a bad idea
GraysOrthography: i still dont like the way of doing it.
GraysOrthography: they could have made the entire story of the 2 sequels in one movie
Smitemeister34: Because The Matrix made us all cry a little inside
GraysOrthography: that one could have been condensed to about an hour
GraysOrthography: leaving an hour and a half for the conclusion
GraysOrthography: i would like to see 3 unique plots
GraysOrthography: instead of 2 spread across 3 movies
Smitemeister34: Which movie were you talking about that they could have condensed?
GraysOrthography: potc
GraysOrthography: the matrix could have not been made and i would be happy
Smitemeister34: But you don't know what'
Smitemeister34: s going to happen in the third one! :-P
GraysOrthography: ok, unless it is 2 hours of complex storytelling then i think its likely to be a lot of really long ass action sequences
GraysOrthography: all they needed to do was more editing.
Smitemeister34: If someone had never seen The Empire Strikes Back, do you think they would get Return of the Jedi?
GraysOrthography: no, but a lot happened in empire
GraysOrthography: there was a huge battle, not a fight, luke did his jedi training and met yoda, there was the love-story between han and leia, they introduced boba fett and lando calrisian which explained quite a bit of han's backstory
GraysOrthography: 3P0 gets blown up, R2 gets dropped a bunch
GraysOrthography: there are 3 planets and an asteroid damnit.
GraysOrthography: potc2 just set up a story
GraysOrthography: it was still a lot of fun
GraysOrthography: but it was half a movie
Smitemeister34: I get what you're saying. So PotC2 was more of half a movie than Empire? (not saying I don't disagree here)
GraysOrthography: yeah, empire was the first of 2 movies, potc2 was half a movie
Smitemeister34: I gotcha
GraysOrthography: empire and jedi were both too big to be one movie
Smitemeister34: But you don't think the next Pirates movie will justify its own existence?
GraysOrthography: not to me
GraysOrthography: probably to the producer
GraysOrthography: because they are going to be so damn rich after this.
GraysOrthography: which is why they pulled a stunt like this.
Smitemeister34: I'll agree with that
Smitemeister34: but I was sifficiently entertained to overlook that
GraysOrthography: it was most entertaining.
Smitemeister34: I've been having this beef (mostly with comics) with under-developed stories
Smitemeister34: Good ideas or stories that are over too quickly
Smitemeister34: either in time or in the number of panels something gets
Smitemeister34: So I enjoyed how the story was drawn out
Smitemeister34: I was entertained by the story and by the characters enough that I'm not upset that I have to wait and pay again to see the ending
Smitemeister34: but that's me :-P
GraysOrthography: but it actually could have been cool if this movie ended with jack getting eaten
GraysOrthography: and no promise of getting him back
GraysOrthography: i like conclusions damnit
Smitemeister34: Oh, I'll agree with that, but I don't think a Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney movie is going to go against the grain so much as actually having the hero die when there's so much damn money to be made
Smitemeister34: But, like I said, they did their song and dance well enough to get my money, and they're going to again :-P
