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| by Cochaman Peef with additional writing
by Bridget Petrella |
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| Disney's ‘Pirates of The Caribbean II’— Unsurpassed Action Galore. | |
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The density of the
CGI work in this motion picture is positively astounding, but probably
will be even more so as one returns to re-examine it. So much of the work
is background or subtle while all of the major effects take center stage.
Really, the guy with the hammerhead shark head is remarkable all by
himself… and yet, he is almost always in a secondary position to Davy
Jones or some new crew member that distracts you from this ultra-cool
creation. Hammerhead is a terrific addition, yet the film doesn't hit you
over the head with it [literally or figuratively]. And that is one of the
reasons why this will be a great repeat-viewing movie. |
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Despite a number of short-term
unwarranted arrests for a virtual plethora of misdemeanors,
which, for some odd reason, remain "classified", Cochaman Peef
has continued to let his beloved hemp play a substantial role in
his ever-waning life. Whether he’s smoking from a hand-blown
glass pipe while studying Eastern religion and Woody Harrelson
philosophy, or just smoking Jamaican sticks and watching Kung-Fu
with David Carradine on DVD [he claims to know Carradine
personally, a fact we've yet to dispute] you can be sure that
the fruits of the illustrious Cannabis plant are somehow
involved in the words... nuff said. |
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Captain
Jack is back. And before you can shiver those timbers, Johnny Depp
proves once again why his work is completely unsurpassed and his complex
characters unforgettable. I mean, who could possibly hope to contend with
Johnny Depp, who storms the screen with more confidence and charm than we
ever knew was possible? Returning to the role of the irascible,
irresponsible, irrepressible Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp gives one of those
rare comic performances that would win an Oscar if the Academy members
would ever dare to step away from their crusty "traditions" and recognize
comic genius. Depp says he based his performance on Keith Richards of The
Rolling Stones [who will, we're told, appear in the third film as
Sparrow's father]. But Sparrow shows us more than that. Here, this
demented, dreadlocked sailor gives us hints of singer Tom Waits, Curly
Howard, Errol Flynn and Rudolf Valentino. For all of Depp's great
performances [far too many to even list]— Captain Jack is the boldest
triumph of his career. He made an unforgettable entrance on top of a
sinking ship in the first film. He makes another unforgettable entrance
here. And the mayhem we've all come to expect never EVER stops. The basic
version of the story is that Captain Jack owes crusty [and we really do
mean that] Davy Jones his soul, but Jack has a weasel may care plan as to
how to keep it and still come out on top of his game. Young lovers Will
Turner and Elizabeth Swann get involved again because of a fiendish
bureaucrat that wants something from Jack as well. And with that we're off
and running... LITERALLY, from everything and anything one could possibly
imagine. 
Davy
Jones and his crew spend a lot of time underwater, unlike the pirates
from the first film who rode the high seas and actually showed their true
selves in the moonlight. So, accordingly, they have suffered the undying
indignities of an underwater life… from things as basic as barnacles to
the squid that has overtaken Davy Jones head. This particular effect is as
intimate and as unflinchingly real as any effect ever put on screen…
literally seamless. This is work on the level of Kong in King Kong last
year. Like Kong, the brilliance of the work here is the expressiveness.
Even the great moment you've surely seen in advertising of Jones playing
the organ with an assist from his most intimate mollusk pales a bit from
such "simple" [they make 'em look simple] moments as looking Davy Jones
square in the face as he thinks, snorts, and speaks. No small part of the
success of Davy Jones was the choice to hire the inimitable Bill Nighy to
play the role. Nighy affects a brogue which took me a while to get used to
and will have senior citizens praying for subtitles; but his eyes and
facial ticks have been recreated meticulously by the Industrial Light and
Magic folks as they might exist if he were covered in squid. The character
easily becomes the menacing villain we all love to hate. Really... look
into those tormented and somewhat demonic eyes and try not to think
they're not the stuff that pirate's nightmares are made of. Sparrow's
trusty compass is also a seafaring mystery. We don't really learn until much
later what it can do. But for our purposes, the compass is the closest
things to a moral center for this frenzied film. It gets us thinking about
each character's moral compass. What... or in most cases who... are they
willing to risk their lives for? What do they treasure in this life?
Pirates
of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has the key element which is rather
often missing in most films of its nature... it is relentlessly joyful. No
one in this movie takes themselves as seriously as the key characters from
practically every motion picture released in the past year and audiences
tend to miss that particular element when they haven't seen it in eons. In
fact, they miss the magic and joy; so much so that they will suspend their
disbelief indefinitely when greeted with a perpetually surprising film
like Dead Man's Chest. One warning however, there is indeed, especially in
the first act, quite a bit to scare most little kids. The standard you
should use as a parent is pretty basic. If they were old enough to get
through the first Pirates film with no problem at all, they will be fine
here. If they got a little panicked during the first film, they are a bit
little older and should be relatively fine here. If they cried every time
the pirates turned into skeletons in the first film, they probably won't
be able to handle this one at all as it is much darker. So a bit of
parental caution will be necessary when viewing Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest for the first time with the children.
