Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - WOW! What a story; what effects; what a movie! The basic ideas are classic ones: a damsel in distress to be saved;a damned crew to be released from their curse; a tireless man of the law hunting down outlaws.
The main character is Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) who is the one-time captain of the Black Pearl. Captain Sparrow embodies all that we stereotypically associate with pirates: bad teeth, blackened eyes, love of rum, and a scoundrel. However, you could say the main character is Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), the sole survivor of a ship attacked by the Black Pearl. It is his life, or rather his blood, that will save the crew of the Black Pearl from eternal damnation. Their fates are intertwined when Sparrow happens into the port where Turner works as a blacksmith. There are some really great one-liners in the movie, but most of them are in the trailer. That is not to say the entire movie is predictable or that it is filled with plot twists. It does draw a nice balance between the two. Enough predictability that one can watch it and kind of know what is going to happen next, but there are a few surprises in the mix.
This is one of the movies that draws on the actors abilities more so than the action and/or CG action. Unlike many of the movies out today that gather so much at the box office, there actually WAS acting going on. For my money, Johnny Depp is the most underrated actor of our time. He has yet to turn in a bad performance and many times outshines the cast and even the script. Orlando Bloom turns in a solid performance as well; you may remember him as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings movies. He is gaining my respect with his acting abilities with each movie I see him in. Geoffrey Rush plays Barbossa and has flashes of brilliance. Barbossa is the one-time first mate of Sparrow who leads a mutiny against Sparrow some time before the movie actually takes place. Kiera Knightly plays the damsel in distress, Elizabeth Swann. She also has her moments (You like pain? Try wearing a corset!) but has a good performance overall.
The effects in this movie were amazing. Not just the effects of swordfights and hand-to-hand combat, either. The moonlight showed the crew of the Black Pearl for what they were: rotting flesh on skeletons, damned souls cursed to live without death. The great effects came into play during many of the fight scenes when skeletons were fighting men; some of the time in the moonlight the skeletons were fighting, but when they came into the shadows these skeletons became like men. Much detail went into this as a fight scene towards the end of the movie had many such movements between moonlight and shadow. Also the effect that no matter where the Black Pearl was sailing, it had a mist about it.
All in all this was an enjoyable movie. Rated PG-13, if there were swearing in it I didn’t hear it. It was rated this for the violence. A very enjoyable two hours plus spent. I rate it an 8 out of 10.