Pirates

[setra]

Ok... I'll try to make this concise and without spazzing. I was already flailing all the way home, and if I'd had a car or a phone, I might have very well stayed and gone in to see it again at the midnight showing.

The opening... felt a little overdone. Yes the EIC was evil... but martial law? Ok. Whatever. As soon as it hit the song, I was hooked. So it didn't matter much.
The transition to Singapore was beautiful. Actually, all the little songs were beautiful. From Elizabeth's 10 minutes in to Jack's at the end.

Characters:
Will - I /adored/ him in this movie. He was fighting his own battle, and I think he was the unnoticed one here. His rogue skill levels were /way/ up in this movie, making Setra quite proud once or twice. His ending was beautifully sad... but he was the perfect man for the job. And in the end.... well... the /END/ made me really happy for both of them, though I still feel for them both.
Elizabeth - Ok... cheezy corset line from Black Pearl aside. She is a beautiful, strong female character. I really felt that in DMC, and World's End only made it better. Her /passion/ and faith was brilliant to watch. Kiera was lovely and... yeah... more about her in relationships and events probably. And there's my /squee/ at the end-end. She's a strong woman.
Jack - we all knew he was nuts. The multi-Jack scenes were fun, I thought. Partially because they gave the more innocent (younger) audience something to giggle over, while the rest of us could sit there actually seeing his sanity wobble and crack on a deeper level. A couple of writer's comments from the CBP commentary really struck me, especially as he sat there going 'think like will'. Overall, it felt like he drifted through this movie until the last moment. And then he gave up his shot at immortality for Will's sake.
Barbossa - Geofrey Rush OWNED this movie. He's really the one genuine pirate among them. And seeing him and Jack in the same place (the light and dark side by side)... was awesome. Getting to see him as a character - a protagonist even - after a movie of villainy and a movie of absence... and seeing what a different person he could be even though all that had changed was /our/ take on him and not his personality really... it made me happy. And he ended up with the Pearl... putting us, in a way, right back where we started.
James (Norrington) - Oh my. ashitara's comments aside, I simply adored his character development in this movie. He didn't get the screentime that he did in the last movie, no, because he had fit himself back into the military machine, and Becket was the only one really getting screen time there. But watching the dear Admiral (and that promotion speaks again to the time past between DMC and WE) slowly grow to realize that maybe he isn't willing to compromise /everything/ for the sake of his carreer. He died a good man, though I was sad his blood had to be on Bill's hands. At least he wasn't really himself at the time.
Tia Dalma - She turned out not to be who I thought she was at all. And she wasn't in any awesome fight sequences, because it wasn't her job. I /loved. the conversation between her and Davy Jones though. ohyes. Watching her tower over them and seeing her power... that was something.
Davy Jones - I was glad they didn't turn him good. Though they had me wondering for a bit. I was also thrilled that Bill Nighy got a costume for the one scene. <3 I felt for him in the end, but he was cruel right to the end, and that didn't earn him forgiveness in my book.
Becket - Just deserts. Betrayal earns you no loyalty. Enough said.
Gibbs - <3 With wenches.
Cotton - It actually made me really happy seeing him at the wheel as often as he was. And the parrot/monkey rivalry was amusing.
Marty - Watching him actually /do/ stuff was flipping awesome. Like blast fish-men out of the air with not-quite-a-shotgun. ^_^
Pintel and Raggetti - Were not overdone this movie. And the eye being Barbossa's piece of eight was the best thing EVER. It made it important.
Jack the Monkey - I actually freaked out when they shot him out of the cannon... and then Jess was like 'it IS an /undead/ monkey' and I was ok.

Events -
The 'Wedding' - I was worried about this. I didn't know how they'd get a wedding in and still keep the feel and flow of the movie, unless it was the end. At it happened, I think it was the only way it could ever have happened for them. It was perfect and awesome.... and hell, the end-end did everything I wanted it to. So I'm glad they were married first. ^___________^
The kraken - actually made me sad
The confrontation on the sandspit - I was too busy going "Look! It's the island from the three-way fight last movie, only the tide is in!" and so don't remember the overall impression as well as I ought. The scene was awesome, though I've since been informed that the music was... maybe not so ii. And maybe that the walk took a little too long.
Gov. Swann's passing - This scene was /beautiful/. The effects and lighting. His listless, slow awakening. Elizabeth's desperate bids to save him... mourning by trying to fight as she does with everything. And then Will's question to Tia Dalma as he holds her against him, supporting her, even as they are at this bizzare non-place in their relation ship. And I didn't doubt that he would have done anything to spare Elizabeth that pain, but there was nothing to be done.
Will's last day - I actually found myself going 'uh.... disney?' But... it was good. It felt right and complete... and that last kiss... it was all beautiful.

The boat and battle effects were amazing. The number of destroyed boats probably made the prop guys cry.


The movie actually built something that I wasn't expecting at all and did a lovely job with it. And the ending was damn near perfect. Which is saying a lot, coming from me. Tomorrow, I need to rant about the cyclical nature of the movie and how many ends ended up back at their beginnings.
But now I'm passing out and my babble is getting incoherent, so I'll be back with more tomorrow after work. Off to sweet dreams of Will...