Pirates of the Caribbean - Essay Example

? Film Critique: Pirates of the Caribbean ~ Part and Section no of Film Critique: Piratesof the Caribbean ~ Part 1 Filmmakers create films influenced or inspired by what they see, hear, read and even feel. Script writers, directors, producers and even studio owners could be influenced by any event, issue, thing, etc., from varied sources, which could lead to the formation of the basic idea or basic storyline, which evolve into a film script and into the full-length film. On those lines, well-known Hollywood studio Disney made the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl inspired from a popular Disney theme park ride called “The Curse of the Black Pearl”. The film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was an interesting ride and very much liked by all section of the viewers. As the theme of the movie was based on the exciting and fun-filled journey of pirates, without complex and heavy storyline, it was a successful entertainer. Backed by strong and interesting performance by the lead actors particularly Johnny Depp, stunning visual effects and cinematography, excellent background score and fast paced as well as skilful direction by the ‘Captain’ Gore Verbinski made the film a commercial as well as critical success. Its success even brought back the likeness and demand for pirate genre movies in Hollywood after several decades. At the same time, the film was criticized for being too long, extended back stories and supporting cast, boisterous action set pieces with repetitive sword fights, etc. Thus, as part of critique of the movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”, this paper will discuss in detail the various cinematic aspects which made the movie into successful blockbuster and trendsetter, and at the same time how the filmmakers could have fine tuned certain aspects which stands out oddly in otherwise flawless film. Speaking of acting performance by the lead characters, the main character of this 134 minutes long movie is Jack Sparrow, played superbly by Johnny Depp. Other characters include, Captain Barbossa acted by Geoffrey Rush, Will Turner played by Orlando Bloom, and the female protagonist Elizabeth Swann was performed by Keira Knightley. The main characters of the film were supposed to be Will and Elizabeth and although they performed well in their roles, the character of Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp received the most appreciation. Starting from his unusual physical looks and importantly unique mannerisms, Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow was the ‘spark’ that brightly ‘lit’ the film. His unusual look was primarily due to the use of black eyeliner, gold teeth and braided hair with a red bandana to add. His mannerism of a slightly intoxicated swagger, with a garbling speech and also flapping hand gestures, enticed people so much, it was aped by may people particularly children, and made into one of the iconic characters. “Arguably, Captain Jack Sparrow is the only truly iconic screen character to have yet come out of this new millennium. It's a wholly original and thrillingly eccentric creation, conjured by the famous shape-shifter Depp, as the ducking, weaving, highly superstitious pirate captain of dubious morality and personal hygiene.” (Levy, n. d.). His entrance in the movie is considered as the one of the most memorable movie entrances, as it brings out into focus his trait of deceitfully attaining his objectives mainly through words instead of fights. Several lines said by him in this movie have become some of the famous quotable lines. He turned out to be the most attractive character of the movie, and so among the five Oscar nominations the film earned, Johnny Depp was nominated for the Best Actor (Boyar, 2007). Speaking of Depp’s acting, well-known movie critic, Roger Ebert writes in his book “Roger Ebert’s Movie Year Book” (2006) that Depp’s performance was original in every atom and so far no one has played the role of a pirate in such an impressive way in any other movie. Although, this was not his best performance, considering his performance in Edward Scissorhands and other works, it was regarded as his most well-known role in the audiences’ memories. As Johnny Depp walked away with the acting honors, it seems the acting performance of all the other characters were not up to the mark. They seem to have ‘sleepwalked’ the role, without bringing in any striking elements. Although, Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly played the role given to them adequately, the power of Johnny Depp’s performance seems to have overshadowed their as well as other characters’ acting performance. In particular, Kiera Knightley playing the daughter of Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce), who is the governor of Port Royal, a British base in the Caribbean Sea, not only looks beautiful in the film but pack a power in her performance. In addition, her performance in this movie was an accomplishment for herself as she was only 17 when she performed in the movie. The music and sound is one of the highlights of the movie, as both these technical cinematic aspects only elevate the film even further. Although, the well-known music composer Hans Zimmer through his Remote Control Music productions contributed sizably to the film’s score, the music for the movie was ‘officially’ given by Klaus Badelt, who with his high-pitched raising and pulsating music helped in adding the adventurous touch to the movie. Klaus has highlighted the thrilling or frightening scenes as well as moments in the movie with loud frightening music, and the fight scenes were filled with fast paced music. However, criticism emerged from certain quarters about the lack of ‘swashbuckling’ genre of music in the film. “The most disgraceful part of the pounding and shouting score for The Curse of the Black Pearl is that there is really nothing swashbuckling about it.” (“Editorial Review”, 2011). Swashbuckling genre of music will normally include jolly rhythms along with free flowing music, but with music and sound of the film bordering on high octane music mainly with electronic orchestration, it was minor letdown. Although, there were traces of swashbuckling genre like in the track, Barbossa is Hungary, more could been incorporated throughout the film. Although, the music and sound design may have been over the top, without ‘matching’ the swashbuckling pirate genre, on the whole, when seen along with the visuals, it seems to have maximally melded with the onscreen action. Speaking of visuals, cinematography, visual effects and editing makes the film a stunning watch. Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski has achieved a nice balance between the bright and gleaming sea related scenes in contrast to the night scenes, thus making the film dazzling and at the same time moody. (Ebert, 2006). That is, when showing the ships of good guys and their related scenes, Wolski has given bright and lustrous feel. “The sails of the good guys’ ships are bleached and gleaming, a gorgeous contrast with the impossibly vivid blues of the sky and the sea.” (Zacharek, 2003). At the same time, when introducing and showing Barbossa and his men in the night scenes, Wolski has given a dark feel to the frames, quite unlike the bright Disney movies. Although, darkish and moody visuals were needed to aptly showcase transforming nature (from skeletons to normal humans and vice versa) of Barbossa and his men, those visuals not only deviates from Disney’s template but also kind of brings in horror feel. With the whole movie, being in a jolly and adventures tone, these dark visuals stands out separately during certain occasions. However, these dark moments are made likeable with a shock element, due to the detailed and seamless computer special effects work by Industrial Light and Magic and special makeup effects by Greg Cannon. The visual effects given in the movie are flawless, especially the transformation of the pirates into skeletons and the portrayal of several ships at a glance. The one particular scene where Barbossa in moonlight is shown as part man and then part skeleton, with both images juxtaposed; brings out the calibre of the CG and makeup effects personnel. As pointed out above, although these walking and odd looking skeletons are not ‘disneyesque’, it spooks the viewers and keeps them interested. “The movie sticks to its path of action and adventure, but the horrific elements provide just enough spice to keep you interested, keeping it from turning into just another battle-scene-after-battle-scene movie.” (Dutton, 2003). As far as editing is concerned, there could have been more crispness, as the film had sizable repetitive sequences. Although, editing by Stephen E. Rivkin, Arthur Schmidt and Craig Wood was adequate and flowed well with the pace of the film, it could have been better. (Ebert, 2006). For example, towards the end of the film, the sword fights became repetitive, with certain sword fight sequences unnecessarily extended. In addition, the sequences featuring the cursed pirate who again and again loses his head could have been reduced. Thus, the editors under the guidance of the director Gore Verbinski could have given a crisper editing, thus making this 134-minute film into less than 2 hour movie. The movie was directed by Gore Verbinski based on the screenplay by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (Ebert, 2006). “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” brought a change in the viewer’s perception and also made pirates interesting and stylish in the eyes of the viewers, and the main credit for it has to go to the director. The movie director Gore Verbinski, has given a mischievous and playful approach to the pirate genre, which was in those days not an attractive genre for making movies. He aptly incorporated humor in a serious topic, thus making it interesting watch and something unique in the film industry. There are many scenes in the movie based on sword fighting and brawling which work towards fulfilling the expectations of a good pirate movie. At the same time, through the character of Jack Sparrow, he has incorporated sizable fun elements bordering mainly on slap-stick comedy. In general, the movie is more comic than being violent and therefore more liked by the people. Along with this apt mix, Verbinski has brought out great performances from the actors, and importantly created a visually lavish and stunning spectacle with the aid of other departments. As discussed earlier, the performance of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow was one of the main reasons for the film to become hugely successful, and Verbinski has to be given credit for bringing out this eccentric as well as comic-action side of Johnny Depp. Along with the quality of having several memorable characters in the film, the movie is also enjoyed and very much liked by the audience due to its presentation. As far as stunning visuals are concerned, he has focused and coordinated with all the relevant departments to bring to the big screen the grandeur he has visualized. The director filled this simple story with visual magic, humour, and adventure making it an interesting movie for the audience. “Dead Man's Chest was a huge undertaking and Verbinski made a film overflowing with splendid visuals, larger than life slapstick and knockabout comedy akin to the silent era.” (Wurst, 2007). On the flip side, as discussed earlier the length of the film could have easily reduced, by cutting down on the repetitive as well as extended sword fights and unnecessary parallel and back stories. “Verbinski, coming off the hit horror film The Ring, keeps this lavish production moving swiftly, though at well over two hours it probably has one chase, battle or twist too many.” (Lally, n. d.). Although, the interactions including sword fights between the characters of Jack Sparrow and Barbossa forms the crux of the movie, and makes it an interesting watch, certain fights with the minor characters could been lessened. At the same time, the fact is, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” is the first major release of Disney which was rated as PG-13, as the director has made this movie keeping in mind the expectations of the viewers of the pirate genre film films. As the director rightly combines sword playing action sequences with adventure and humorous sequences, those minor irritants gets suppressed, thereby making it as one of the successful films and importantly successful movie franchise in movie history. On those lines, the ending of the movie was left wide open without any proper ending, for a possibility of sequel. It indeed happened, as the entire team under the helm of Gore Verbinski assembled and gave two more movies in the Pirates series, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Dead Man’s Chest” in 2006 and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds’ End” in 2007, both of which became even more successful. (Cooke, 2009). The success of this film and its sequels had a strong impact on the movie goers and the society as a whole, particularly regarding their perspective about the pirates. In reality, the pirates are known for stealing, raping, kidnapping, and killing of innocent people but as the director Verbinski created a positive image of the pirates and their lifestyle, it impacted people’s perspectives about them. There was an earlier period in Hollywood when pirate movies were very much liked by the viewers and did great business. Classic pirate genre films like Errol Flynn and Captain Blood were very famous and attracted huge audiences. However, when the interest of the viewers declined towards this genre, there were very few movies made on this genre, and all of them met with failures as well. These factors oscillated in the minds of the Disney executives when they were preparing for the Pirates of the Caribbean, but on the positive side they were not scared of the consequences. These confident executives were not only making a film on a dead genre but they also took the risk of making the studio’s first PG-13 movie. Fortunately, their hard work and planning worked and The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl changed the image of the pirate genre movies. “After box-office fiascos like Roman Polanski's Pirates and Renny Harlin's Cutthroat Island, director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer successfully revive this once-glorious genre with the fantasy-adventure Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” (Lally, n. d.). Indeed, it developed a new and positive image in the mind of the viewers about the pirate movies. In addition, The Pirates of the Caribbean has brought back with it the trend of pirate genre movies in Hollywood. Overall, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is rated as an entertaining and enjoyable film filled with great performance from the lead actors, apt and enriching music and sound, impressive cinematography and visual effects, with astute direction by Gore Verbinski. At the same time, the length of the film could have been reduced with crisper editing particularly regarding sword fights, also more jolly swashbuckling music could have been incorporated, etc. In addition, the actors, director and the entire production team through positive portrayal of the pirates have successfully managed to change the image of the pirates in general as well as pirate genre movies. On the whole, the film had right mix of action, adventure, romantic as well as humorous scenes, which made it an enjoyable and entertaining watch. References Boyar, J. (2007).Films to Go 100 Memorable Movies ForTravelers& Others, Capital Books Inc. Cooke, C. (2009). Film Sequels, Edinburgh University Press Limited. Dutton, D. (2003). “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Walt Disney Pictures, 2003).” Green Man Review. Retrieved from: http://www.greenmanreview.com/film/film_pirates_blackpearl.html Ebert, R. ( 2006). Roger Ebert’s Movie Year Book 2006. Andrews McMeel Publishing Printed in United States of America. Ebert, R. ( 2005). Roger Ebert’s Movie Year Book 2005. Andrews McMeel Publishing Printed in United States of America. “Editorial Review: Pirates of the Caribbean.” (2011). Film Tracks. Retrieved from: http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/pirates_caribbean.html Lally, K. (n. d.). “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl PG-13.” Film Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id =1000695634 Levy, Emanuel. Pirates Dead Man's Chest: Depp's Iconic Role. Retrieved from: http://www.emanuellevy.com/comment/pirates-dead-mans-chest-depps-iconic-role-7/ Wurst, B. (2007). “Director Spotlight: Gore Verbinski.” First Showing. Retrieved from: http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/director-spotlight-gore-verbinski/ Zacharek, S. (2003). “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Salon. Retrieved from: http://www.salon.com/2003/07/09/pirates_6/ Read More