Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

You have to give it to the third Pirates movie: you can see and hear each and every dollar in it. Really loudly. Which is unusual in popcorn movies lately. Production design, effects, Zimmer’s music, the camerawork... On the technical side, almost nothing to fault. The running time certainly is over-long, there isn’t much of a screenplay and so it dwells in the “everybody plotting against everybody else" bracket. But where part two dawdled about in androgynous family entertainment going nowhere, here the Pirates have become darker and the protagonists have moved from the black and white into the gray character zone where nobody wears a halo. And that’s good, because hand in hand with it becoming more “serious", there is less humor, mainly of the infantile type. Not that it disappeared completely, but it isn’t humor at all costs like last time. And also the Jack character takes a rear seat, which is a significant improvement and does much to rehabilitate the Sparrow figure itself. The space left by him is taken up more than skillfully by Rush. And still, we get humor; “Larry" is a Monty Python caliber gag. It mainly depends what you want out of the third Pirates - if it’s some harmless way of spending time with the whole family, like the first two parts, then you will be disappointed. If it’s technically precise viewing that, despite a few little flaws (or sometimes huge ones - pointless storylines, animal escapades, multiJack etc.), is bursting with just the right pirate feel to it, then you could give this episode a go... And the neat homage to Leone and Morricone warms the heart. (24/05/2007)

I didn't mind the length of the film, but rather its momentary lack of clarity. However, I was staring with my mouth open the whole time, waiting to see what would come next, and having fun. The conclusion of the trilogy is worthy if unnecessarily long. And I wasn’t able to properly orient myself in the plot until the second time I watched it.__P.S. Orlando Bloom is a fool.__P.P.S. Because of the final bombastic three-quarters of an hour, it never ceases to annoy me that I didn't see the third Pirates in the movie theater. (04/06/2009)

The opening sequence is great, the bouncing between disparate locations is filled with a satisfying amount of jokes, the production design is eye-pleasing and Geoffrey Rush is thoroughly enjoying his poorly explained comeback. But there’s something now that feels wrong. The story goes on for a frighteningly long time towards the first (saving Jack) and second (getting out of the place from which there is no escape) goals, foreshadowing the already genuinely scary middle part, which crumbles the awkwardly paced plot between a bunch of characters acting independently and often incomprehensibly, whose scheming and subterfuge may look clever on paper but in an expensive blockbuster are as ineffectual as a guy arriving for a first date with a haircut like Adolf Hitler. And of course, the whole thing drags on like a crowd of pensioners at a Kaufland discount. Fortunately, the ending is worth the wait and the carnage at sea looks as breathtaking as the technical innovations allow, which makes the amount of unnecessary filler all the more regrettable, as it doesn’t move the film anywhere and only bluntly pushes it to achieve the attribute of GREAT by, among other things, its own bloated runtime… (07/03/2017)

The downward trend in the quality of this monstrous trilogy becomes truly unbearable in the third, and hopefully last, installment. Compared to the first part, the action sequences are unnecessarily bloated and computer-generated (the only well-shot scenes are the cannon shots). In contrast to the second part, the there’s less exaggeration and over-the-top wit from the main characters, who were not always truly funny, but the viewer was generally entertained. This can hardly be said about the third part, though. Apart from a few scenes, most situations are downright ridiculous and cliché, not to mention the incredibly muddled editing and sequence of scenes. I don't think we should incredulously shake our heads wondering if the director is serious, not even in the case of Pirates of the Caribbean. And here, there are not many restraints. (10/12/2007)

The third installment of the pirate saga frankly didn't impress me much. The running time is unbelievably excessive due to a lot of unnecessary scenes, along with some completely awkward ones, like the wedding on the ship or almost every scene with Orlando Bloom, who really got on my nerves. In terms of acting, however, the trio of Johnny Depp, Bill Nighy and Geoffrey Rush did not disappoint. In terms of technical workmanship, the film is a spectacle, full of great visual effects and excellent music, for instance the final battle by the maelstrom. All in all, this third part is full of twists and intrigue (that didn't need to be there) and unfortunately, it's not as good as the previous two. (24/10/2010)