Pirates of the Carribbean: At the Worlds End

Went to see the final Pirates of the Caribbean film on Saturday. After a slightly disappointing second film I was hoping this one would be an improvement. Well it was and it wasn't. There is an ambiguous statement if ever there was one. In some respects it is better than the middle film. The plot strands are tied up for the most part although not in a particularly happy way. Johnny Depp is brilliant as usual with the film coming alive when he enters it in a very surreal way. However due to the plot heaviness this film lacks pace and action and even the final climactic battle isn't that grandiose.

As you would expect from a film based on pirates each character has their own agenda and double crosses everyone else to achieve those aims. Will wants to save his father, Barbossa wants the Pearl, Captain Jack is motivated by Captain Jack. Several characters die in this film but I won't divulge who they are. The resolution of the Will Turner/Elizabeth Swan love saga is not your usual disney happy ending. Finding out who Tia Dalma is has potential and is then wasted in a damp squib of a resolution, or should I say crab! The cameo by Keith Richards as Jacks dad is funny but brief. The dialogue between Jack and Barbossa is very witty and amusing. With the ending being left very much open to more films but coming also full circle leaving Jack in the same position at the end as he was at the beginning of the first film, in a small boat. However I hope they leave it, at least for a while as you can have too much of a good thing.

As a warning to parents I would not take any child under about 7-8 to this film. The opening sequence is gruesome and morbid and the themes in the film are not suitable for younger children at all.

Any spiritual themes are a soon lost. The main one being if you die in a non conventional way at sea you can be brought back from the dead. Captain Jack is stuck in a living hell on board the Black Pearl with a crew of copies of himself, these scenes being some of the most amusing and surreal in the film. There is also a sort of purgatory on board the Flying Dutchman for those that fear death and you can be bonded in servitude for 100 years. All a bit weak really and never that explained. In reality Death stalks us all and we have a choice now in this life of facing death with a hope of eternity in heaven through Christ or certain judgment and eternity away from anything good in hell. Sorry to be blunt but that is reality!

Anyway, film could have been better but not that bad a way to kill a couple of hours.