Pirates Of The Caribbean Review





Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl Review




Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl is an action/adventure movie starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Geoffrey Rush. The movie was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski. The movie was released in 2003 to critical and financial success. The movie opened at #1, grossing $46,630,690 in its opening weekend and $70,625,971 since its Wednesday launch. It eventually made its way to $654,264,015 worldwide ($305,413,918 domestically and $348,850,097 overseas), becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2003.

The film's plot centres around Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of a Governor, being in possession of cursed Aztec gold. It is revealed later on that Captain Barbossa, the villain of the film, wants the gold to turn him and his crew back to being mortal because they originally stole the gold to be immortal, but as years go by they crave mortality once more. It is up to Elizabeth, her blacksmith love interest Will Turner and the drunk Captain Jack Sparrow to stop them. At beginning of the film we are also introduced to Will Turner, another central character and Elizabeth's love interest. Will has known Elizabeth since childhood, which gives them already existing connection and is how she obtained the gold, giving him relevance to the plot and creates intrigue about his character's past.

In one scene in the first act of the film we are introduced to Will as an adult. He is a Blacksmith and forged the sword for Admiral Norrington. In this scene we see Will's knowledge of swords and sees him juggle one, giving the stereotype of action movie hero and tricks the audience into believing he is the main character. However after this scene we are introduced to Captain Jack Sparrow. There are many things about this scene that works. It starts off at a over-shoulder shot, creating intrigue of what the character looks like. When it is revealed what he looks like he is wearing brown leather, different types of jewellery, belt buckles and gold teeth. The colour brown connotes strength and reliability, which is ironic as Sparrow gets captured at the beginning of the film. It also gives him a rugged and dirty look, going against the typical conventions of an action film, where the hero is seen in suits and looks handsome. This also represents the pirate lifestyle.

The score of the scene is also fantastic. This movie is composed by Hans Zimmer, who has composed other big Hollywood movies like The Dark Knight, Interstellar, The Lion King and many more. The score to the scene (the medallion calls) builds up to Jack's introduction. It depicts him as an epic hero with many different drums and violins, which is a contrast to what is depicted as a much more comedic scene, when it turns out ship he is standing on is very small and is beginning to sink. Johnny Depp plays Sparrow perfectly; he depicts him as a smart person pretending to be an idiot to trick his enemies. He doesn't seem loyal to his friends and is selfish in his goals, however Depp's charisma, charm and comedic timing allows him to not come across as an anti-hero and instead makes the audience empathise with him. 

One example of this is when his ship, The Black Pearl, is stolen from him and he is marooned on an island. The audience empathise with Sparrow as we feel sorry when things go wrong for him and by proxy, gives him more appeal. Later on in the story we are introduced to Barbossa and his crew. They establish themselves as villains when they attack the port (the main setting of the story so far), attack and kill innocent bystanders and kidnap Elizabeth one of the main character's. When we first meet Barbossa he seems like the opposite of Jack; he wears black leather, has a feather in his hat and has waistcoat. It makes look a lot more sophisticated than Jack, which once again goes against the stereotypical conventions of a film. 

The settings of film are absolutely incredible. Port Royal has a real rustic and dirty look, but is surrounded in fort and flags, giving it a patriotic feel. The Isle De Muerta is surrounded in thick atmosphere with its dim lighting, rocky caverns and treasure scattered throughout. The film's special effects have aged really well for a film made 17 years ago. The scene where Barbossa reveals his curse is great. I love when he drinks the wine and you can see it flow through his skeletal body, it creates really vivid and gory imagery and the wine could symbolise blood and how the curse has removed his humanity. In conclusion, Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl is a phenomenal movie with great performances, memorable characters, exciting action, an epic score and a simple but effective plot.

Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naQr0uTrH_s

In-Depth Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhdBNVY55oM

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