Pirates of the Caribbean: A Critique and An Epilogue (spoilers)

[alanajoli]

I think I've stated before that I loved the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The second was funny, if not as overall good a movie as the first, and had the kind of ending that required a third movie to decide whether or not the second was actually any good. Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End didn't quite make it.

The biggest problem with PotC III is the start of a new plot that could easily have been hinted at in the second movie (since they were filmed in tandem). The first is the Court of Brethren, a pirate council that seems to be centuries old, but may actually just be the nine pirates we see in this movie. The captains, weirdly, include Jack Sparrow *and* Barbosa. Since my understanding of the first movie is that Barbosa mutinied against Sparrow in order to become captain, they couldn't have both been Pirate Lords for the previous three meetings of the Court. This is not the only bit: the first Court apparently trapped the goddess Calypso in human form at the behest of Davy Jones--which means that instead of Jones being really ancient, he's actually just not that old. (He apparently only did his hired job for ten years before deciding to do his own thing as an immortal, becoming a monster in the process. Fitting this in the continuity is a bit challenging.)

So fine, goddess, new plot line that wasn't hinted at, continuity that doesn't really make sense, but sure, whatever. Bittersweet resolution for our young lovers that--wait! doesn't quite make sense! See, the rule for the captain of the Flying Dutchman is that he only gets to come ashore once every ten years. If he's dating a goddess (see Davy Jones), this is not a problem. If he's married to a mortal woman, this is a bit more of a dilemma. So, not only bittersweet, but simply unworkable over the long haul. Not only that, but there's no real resolution between Calypso and Davy Jones, which was the most interesting part of the new plot.

This has inspired me to write what I feel was the missing scene, which wouldn't have fixed the continuity issues, but would have at least fixed the resolution a bit.

SCENE: Almost sunset. WILL TURNER is rowing back out to the Flying Dutchman, his shape on the water becoming smaller and smaller. ELIZABETH SWAN watches from the shore, and the camera focuses on her face as she is more and more obviously trying to hold back tears.

CALYPSO (not yet on screen): Does her love him then?

ELIZABETH whirls around to see CALYPSO approaching from behind her on the beach. CALYPSO is back in her human form, but she shimmers, almost translucent. As she approaches ELIZABETH, CALYPSO solidifies into her normal human form.

ELIZABETH: Enough to wait, you mean? (She looks back out in time to see the sunset and flair of green as the Dutchman disappears.) I would wait forever.

CALYPSO stands next to her, also watching the darkening sky. Her fingers touch ELIZABETH's hair lightly, kindly.

CALYPSO: But her will grow old. (CALYPSO's touch ages ELIZABETH, slowly at first, but so that she can feel the difference.) And him will be young forever. (ELIZABETH touches her face in horror.) Is that what her wants?

ELIZABETH: (A tear slides down her old face.) It's all I have.

CALYPSO removes her hand and ELIZABETH instantly goes back to being young. ELIZABETH gasps at the change.

CALYPSO: There is another way. (She walks into the sea, and as she does, her legs take on the same shimmery, slightly transparent look she had when she first approached.) If her is willing to make a trade?

ELIZABETH (suspicious): What kind of trade?

CALYPSO holds out her hand, and though ELIZABETH approaches, she does not take it. CALYPSO smiles.

CALYPSO: The sea, her is fickle. Her changes her mind when it suits her. (CALYPSO looks out at the sea, sadly.) But her also knows love.

ELIZABETH: What do you mean?

CALYPSO: Davy Jones is lost. Him soul wanderin'. There is still much to be said between us. But I cannot go to find him, unless someone watches the sea. Rules the sea. (Now she takes ELIZABETH's hand, and when ELIZABETH tries to pull away, she finds that her hand is made of sea water.) Is the sea.

ELIZABETH: I don't understand.

CALYPSO: There must always be a captain of the Flying Dutchman to guide the souls of those who died at sea. There must also always be the one who is the sea herself. Her could have a castle on an island. (CALYPSO waves her hand and a castle appears behind them, all spires, glowing against the growing dark.) Her could live in the sea. (beat) Or on a ship.

ELIZABETH (hopeful): I could...

CALYPSO: Davy Jones waited ten years, and when he came to me, I was gone. We betrayed each other. Don't make my mistake.

ELIZABETH: What must I do?

CALYPSO leads ELIZABETH into the sea, both of them becoming translucent, reflecting the stars above them on their watery skin.

CALYPSO: It already be done.

At any rate, given an extra five to eight minutes (which they could have taken out of Jack's crazy time), something like that would have provided a bit more conclusion to the loose ends. (Not that I've done well capturing the voices of the characters, but I'm sure you get the idea.)

In my mind, that's what *really* happened. ;)

Comments

Possible...

[romneous.livejournal.com]

Then again they aluded to a possible Pirates #4 looking for the fountain of youth, which could keep Elizabeth young forever while waiting for Will.

As far as the perceived discontinuties, I don't think they're are that many honestly. There were 4 meetings of the council total, with the movie witnessing #4. This could have gone on for hundreds of years, or maybe 20-30. By the way it was alluded in the story, I suspect Davy was one of the first pirate lords as well as the informant that led to Calyspo being bound. As long as the token of office was handed on, it's reasonable and Davy did love to bargain.

As for Barbarosa and Sparrow, Barbarosa could have claimed a pirate lord's token while he was roaming the seas as an undead in the Pearl. Being undead and effectively immortal it wouldn't be that hard to ambush a Pirate Lord and claim it.

Unfortunately we're having too much speculation and no real way to chronicle any of this. It'd be interesting to see the production bible for the project though.

[devoken.livejournal.com]

Oh, I really wish this had been in the movie. I found the end sequence to be completely flat. There were all these very interesting plot threads, none of which came to fruition. Not only was it disappointing, it also felt really shabby in comparison to what we know the franchise is capable of. It gave me the impression that the producers were banking on popularity to bring people in and so felt that they could throw quality to the wayside.

Anyway, to bring it back to you. (Me, get stuck on a rant and refuse to let it go until it is not just dead, it has been ripped into little shreds and scattered to the wind? Oh, definitely not. I'm far more reasonable than that.) If something like this scene had been included in the film the last 20-30 minutes of the movie would have been worth something. It would have tightened up the ending, provided a decent reason for the Calypso plot, and been a far better hook for a sequel. The more I think about it, the more fond I grow of this ending. I'm really surprised the scriptwriters didn't come up with it themselves. (Then again, I personally believe that the scriptwriters got 85% of the way through the movie and then decided to go party, probably leaving a monkey to finish up the script, so maybe it's not too surprising.)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I've also heard commentary that the second movie should have been condensed into about 15 minutes, and this movie should have been cut into two--which admittedly would have developed the plot a great deal better (and filled in the speculation holes mentioned above; the reason I call them holes is that there's such room for debate in what might fill them).

I think it's interesting that the two folks who have liked my new scene have both been women--which makes me wonder if perhaps we're more sensitive to a goddess being slighted. ;)

good call

[exoder27.livejournal.com]

I agree that that would have done a good job of wrapping up the only interesting plotline in the whole third movie. And good Lord, does that movie really need to be a full three hours long? Unbelievable. The second and third movies were ridiculously unnecessary.

Re: good call

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when we came out we were surprised that it had been a three hour movie--not 'cause it hadn't felt like it, but because we just hadn't expected it to be that long!

We'll always have the Curse of the Black Pearl... ;)