Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Of course, the actual film doesn't start until Johnny Depp appears onscreen. The scenes prior to his introduction are warm-up exercises for the eyes in order to get ready for the real thing. PotC started building itself as a franchise at a time when several more accessible ones were starting up, namely Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and X-Men. Even though PotC had tough competition and employed a rather obscure premise - pirates - it nevertheless became one of the greatest franchises in movie history, securing its place as a "Great" in movies' long history. Imaginative, wildly energetic and lively spirited, Curse fully won me over by its inoffensive humour, great script, and an exciting story + memorable characters. Even though I caught up with this movie 10 years too late, I can't wait to see the sequels, hopefully somewhere within this year. As great and somewhat original it was though, Curse acted as a spiritual successor of The Princess Bride at times, especially at the dueling sequences, most notably during the Will Turner / Jack Sparrow duel in a smithy.

The story is nothing to sneeze at. It very well could be written by either Sid Meier - in the epic moments - or by Tim Schafer - in the funny moments - and in the case of the latter, it's not even surprising since the franchise was inspired by the Monkey Island series, one of the many games in which Schafer was involved one way or another. The overall effect is a guilt-free fun and exciting ride.

From the performances, Johnny Depp made the role his own. A classic mixture of serio-comic and drunken demeanor, Capt. Jack Sparrow is easily one of the greatest eccentric personalities ever to grace the silver screen. A bumbling group of rag-tag miscreants they may be, but Sparrow's loyal followers are among the best likable and quite charming characters ever, and almost every actor nailed their part, making their respective characters interesting instead of annoying. Keira Knightley truly is a delectable English rose, and now after watching her as Elizabeth Swann, all lingering doubts have been swiftly removed. Although not a major fan of his work, Orlando Bloom was decent enough to carry portions on his shoulders but not strong enough to carry it all the way. I mean, back in the day he was still an inexperienced actor, and it shows very well in many scenes. Thankfully, skilled actors were at hand to help him, and to prevent us from getting up from our seats too soon. Geoffrey Rush was simply the tops as Hector Barbossa, the charismatic and wildly entertaining antagonist. Man, if there's one reason to watch this film, it has to be Rush, as no other actor - bar Depp - who puts a lot of skill and fun in his character.Zoe Saldana, in her short role as Anamaria, was absolutely delicious. When she first appeared, I was really hoping for her to take the centre stage, but was quickly resigned to the fact that she's just a minor side character, nothing more. Shame, really... and too bad she doesn't appear in the sequels!

In conclusion, Curse of the Black Pearl is a solidly entertaining film that is surprisingly guilt-free. None of the cringes, no offensive material, but certainly a lot of laughter and duels!

8.0/10