Pirates of the caribbean (dead mans chest)
Story:
This is the continuing saga of caption Jack Sparrow's adventures. We find old Jack in trouble again, this time with Davy Jones himself. The movie is full of fun action sequences, hilarious wtf moments, and a twist end that will leave you screaming for more. This story has a plot line worty of a episode of Buffy written by Josh Weaton, it will make you want to grab a cigarette break and come back for more.
5 out of 5
Special Effects:
The effects in this movie were absolutely incredible, with CGI in abundance with virtually seamless integration. Never have I seen special make up effects so well done. On the flip side the script called for some corny effects which kind of subtracted from the experience but were funny none the less.
4 out of 5
Acting:
Acting was top notch, especially with captain Jack's big scene at the end. Working with such suficticated effects can't be easy either so I'm awarding bonus points for that.
5 out of 5
Pirates of the caribbean (dead mans chest) gets a...
5 out of 5
Hmm... I saw this today. It was okay, but nowhere near as good as the first movie... it just seemed to be missing a lot of the 'fun' or something. It was also maybe longer than it had to be (though I didn't really mind, it could have been shorter for sure and would have been no worse...) and once I'd seen it I understood why some reviews said that the movie often replaces true 'scares' or threatening moments with more images of the disgusting members of the Flying Dutchman's crew... I was dissapointed. Not awful, but it could have been a LOT better...
One good thing though is that I thought the characters acted realistically... not something you can always say about characters on film... (though, of course, there is very little character development, but you don't expect it in a film like this)
As good as Star Wars, at least after all the fans have "fully fleshed out" the characters in their own minds and fanfiction just like they did with Star Wars.
Quote:As good as Star Wars, at least after all the fans have "fully fleshed out" the characters in their own minds and fanfiction just like they did with Star Wars.
No, not even close...
I thought all published Star Wars novels were considered canon.
I certainly consider them canon. Comic books probably count too, unless they're from the expressly noncanon line (there are some, I forget the name because I haven't read Star Wars comic books...)
It is true that movie canon trumps all other forms, so when the books contradict the films the films are the correct ones, but still, the books are certainly canon too. The only possible exceptions are the short story collections (with tales for numerous different minor characters -- are those all canon? No. For instance, the one that shows Boba Fett's origins is wrong. And I'm not sure if they are all still considered canon anyway...) and the facts in other books we now know are wrong -- the dates for the Clone Wars in the first Zahn trilogy, etc.
Anyway, they continue the story and have huge amounts of character development, so as I said, there is no comparison. Sure, the first Star Wars film didn't have a lot, but ESB? No way can anything in Dead Man's Chest compare to that, character-wise... (sure, as I said the Pirates characters act realistically, but character development wise?)
Oh yeah, and it's full of those standard silly movie conventions you come to expect like 10 minuite sword fights between goodguys where no one ever hits eachother, on a rolling water wheel which just happens to end up exactly where they needed to be, and stuff like how amazingly in each battle where lots of people die all of the major characters/crew members survive when everyone else dies... :D (Oh, this isn't a major problem, most movies do it, I just always notice it...)
Well fine, there's also "cannon" pirates books.
But really, the Star Wars movies just aren't all that deep. The people who think they are have read books that expand all the characters INTO deep people, but taken as just movies, everyone is 2D except Anakin, and he wasn't all that impressive as a character (Lucas says he DID unite the force, WITH HIS VIOLENCE, yay?).
And yes, I'm including "Empire Strikes Back". So it ends with "da revelation" that the bad guy is his dad. Why is he all that horrified by that? It's mere genetic lineage. This is coming from someone who has never really learned the idea of "pride of lineage", nor was it ever really taught. I just never cared and really it doesn't matter. So what if someone a long time ago who did something great, or bad, just so happens to have squirted some DNA fragments that eventually led to my existance? What bearing does that have on my persona? Eh, I guess that's why that particular scene always wrang hollow with me. I guess I can see him screaming because his hand was just cut off, that had to hurt.
At any rate, Pirates has all the depth the Star Wars movies could have hoped to achieve, but of course the dedicated fans of either are going to massively disagree, if for no other reason than seeing it as an insult. Star Wars just isn't "grand epic that spans ages" material. It's fun, enjoyable, and it has some good plot moments and characters that, every now and then, you might actually be able to feel for. So does Pirates.
Pirates of the Carribean books that go beyond the events in the movies? I don't think there are any, actually. Star Wars, in comparison, has dozens and dozens. Absolutely no comparison.
Quote:But really, the Star Wars movies just aren't all that deep.
The first Star Wars movie wasn't, but the others are.
Quote:And yes, I'm including "Empire Strikes Back". So it ends with "da revelation" that the bad guy is his dad. Why is he all that horrified by that? It's mere genetic lineage. This is coming from someone who has never really learned the idea of "pride of lineage", nor was it ever really taught. I just never cared and really it doesn't matter. So what if someone a long time ago who did something great, or bad, just so happens to have squirted some DNA fragments that eventually led to my existance? What bearing does that have on my persona? Eh, I guess that's why that particular scene always wrang hollow with me. I guess I can see him screaming because his hand was just cut off, that had to hurt.
Wha... HIS FATHER IS DARTH VADER! If that's not something to scream at, nothing is...
Quote: Star Wars just isn't "grand epic that spans ages" material.
If you read the books you wouldn't be saying that (at least in comparison to other similar movie/book serieses), I'm sure. Star Wars IS deeper than you suggest... even if you do restrict yourself to the films. I know that the depth of Star Wars has been argued about here over and over, but my position that it IS deep and complex has not changed one bit. If you were interested enough to look into it more, I bet you'd agree.
Quote:but taken as just movies, everyone is 2D except Anakin, and he wasn't all that impressive as a character.
That's just not true. There is plenty of character depth and change...
Quote: (Lucas says he DID unite the force, WITH HIS VIOLENCE, yay?)
He did great damage to the dark side and destroyed the ancient line of Sith masters... and in so doing helped both the good and evil sides of the force, despite his earlier evil actions. So yes, Anakin did end up uniting the force.
Eh, we differ, but Luke, Leia, Solo, Yoda, they all are pretty much the same from beginning to end, also they rebuilt the death star because they couldn't figure out something cooler to do except recycle the first movie's plot.
And yes actually, there is a 3 book series which details the life of young Jack Sparrow. I don't plan on reading it, but apparently it fleshes out a lot.
Quote:Wha... HIS FATHER IS DARTH VADER! If that's not something to scream at, nothing is...
It is. It made me scream "I saw that coming 20 minutes into the previous movie!"
Quote:Eh, we differ, but Luke, Leia, Solo, Yoda, they all are pretty much the same from beginning to end, also they rebuilt the death star because they couldn't figure out something cooler to do except recycle the first movie's plot.
Again, that's just completely wrong. Let's take one example, Yoda.
We first see Yoda in Episode I. He is the greatest living Jedi Master and is the head of the Jedi Council. He believes in the Jedi ways and traditions. He refuses Anakin as a normal student because he sees something dark in him and because he was too old (six or seven!) (and that he could not let go of his feelings for his mother). Obi-Wan becomes his teacher instead.
In Episodes II and III, Yoda continues on like this, but because of the war he is forced to fight...
After the destruction of the Jedi in Episode III, though, everything changes for him. He goes into hiding and seems to kind of lose it, as we see him in TESB (Episode V). However, he has changed from before -- the destruction of the Jedi (and revelation that the Sith still existed and were now in control) caused him to realize that his old beliefs were wrong. He decides to teach Luke despite his age and impulsiveness. True, Obi-Wan helps convince him to do it, but Obi-Wan tried that with Anakin too and went nowhere...
So no, Yoda is NOT the same from beginning to end. He has significant personal growth and ends up with the realization that Obi-Wan also came to -- that the Jedi ways as they were should not be reinstated in full after the Emperor was killed. Instead the new Jedis must change and become more open... which is exactly what Luke does in the books when he re-creates the Jedi Order.
Quote:And yes actually, there is a 3 book series which details the life of young Jack Sparrow. I don't plan on reading it, but apparently it fleshes out a lot.
Comparing that to the massive Star Wars book and comic universe is so silly it's comical...
Quote:also they rebuilt the death star because they couldn't figure out something cooler to do except recycle the first movie's plot.
Don't insult RotJ, it's my favorite Star Wars movie... :) (and why not build a new Death Star? They learned from the first one and were fixing its flaws (exhaust port... :D), and the Emperor knew that if he could get it finished he could crush the rebellion as an active fighting force (drive it underground?)... you could also take it as a sign of the Emperor's degradation -- the Emperor of the Original Trilogy is not like he was in the Prequel movies, that's for sure... he's lost a lot of his ability and intellect as a result of using the dark side too much (that also prematurely aged him, of course). He goes from a genius who manipulates the entire universe into doing his bidding and getting him onto its throne into a somewhat crazy megalomaniac who gets defeated by teddy bears... the Palpatine of EpIII would probably not have so lost, that's for sure. :)
http://grumpygamer.com/8123463
So the creator of Monkey Island sees some similarities...
I can see that, after all BOTH are based on the same source material, a theme park ride.
I will confess that during both movies I was looking for "all the important elements" of a good swashy mcbuckly story. Map, ship, crew, insult sword fighting, ghost pirates, a search for legendary treasure, and a voodoo (okay, aztec) curse, and the sequel has a voodoo priestess to boot!
Quote:Oh yeah, and it's full of those standard silly movie conventions you come to expect like 10 minuite sword fights between goodguys where no one ever hits eachother, on a rolling water wheel which just happens to end up exactly where they needed to be, and stuff like how amazingly in each battle where lots of people die all of the major characters/crew members survive when everyone else dies... (Oh, this isn't a major problem, most movies do it, I just always notice it...)
In this movie, those scenes were so blatantly tongue-in-cheek that it was funny. I applaude those scenes for being so self-aware, and just made the movie that much more enjoyable.
I don't remember much of the first movie, other than not enjoying it. So I like this one more pretty much by default, as I found it to be tremendous fun.