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Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
R1 - America - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th December 2007). |
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The Film
 Finally the third installment of the mega-hit series bows on DVD, the summer season was filled with three-quels, third chapters of trilogies such as "Spider-man 3", "Shrek the Third", "Rush Hour 3" and "The Bourne Ultimatum" among the heavy hitters and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" was one of those anticipated pictures. Sadly almost all these installments with the exception of "The Bourne Ultimatum" didn't manage to impress the critics and their box office wasn't as strong as earlier films ("Spider-man 3" though made some serious money) but this Pirates film just didn't live up to the mammoth box office that "Dead Man's Chest" (2006) mustered (it made a ton of money but not as much as the second film). The film was much longer than the previous installment at 169 minutes, the plot was much more convoluted and bloated and the film never felt like it was going in any one direction with some coherency. Before seeing it on the big screen I remember a conversation with friends who had already seen it, they said that the film had 'no plot' and got 'bad reviews'. My response was that a pirate film needs no plot, it's all about sword fights, swashbuckling, explosions and stunts galore...do you think Black Beard ever said "Arrrrrr, I love me raping and pillaging but I wish I had a plot"? Probably not, but in retrospect I kind of wish this chapter had more to cling onto than just spectacle. Don't get me wrong the spectacle is worth the price of admission but something has gone amiss, and I believe that the pressure of shooting back-to-back and starting this production without a finished script was not the best decision. Continuing on from where the last film left off, Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) is in possession of Davy Jones' (Bill Bighy) heart and therefore commands him and the Flying Dutchman crew. Ordering them to execute anyone involved in piracy. To confront this, the nine pirate lords need to convene to decide what to do, but Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) confined to Davy Jones' locker after being swallowed by the Kraken, never appointed his successor. Because of this he must be present, so Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) along with Will (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris) and the crew of the Black Pearl attempt to rescue Jack and bring him back as they travel to World's End, the gateway to Davy Jones' locker. What results is a lot of behind the back deals, an encounter with Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) and a whirlpool battle sequence that's so outrageous that it'll have your jaw dragging the floor the entire way through. Now there were a few flaws with the second film, fewer with the first so by this trend the third is expected to have the most flaws and that is certainly the case. To begin with the plot is entirely contrived and at times too confusing to keep track of, the whole back stabbing each other and not knowing who to trust thing gets old really fast and to be honest I'm not entirely sure why this was included? It's not really needed and felt like an attempt to add drama to the action but only ended up confusing a lot of people. Not a good start. It's quite clear by the film's structure and plot lines that it was written on the fly, while the production was shooting. If only Buena Vista had waited to have a fully fleshed out script then perhaps these problems would not have presented themselves. I was also disappointed with the Kraken becoming nothing but a passing though, one of the coolest and most frightening monsters in the second film ends up dead in only a few shots of the film and a line of dialogue explaining what happened, that's just poor! I suppose the filmmaker's had to make way for the newest monster, Calypso, who isn't as impressive as they build her up to be and just ends up being a CGI version of the 50-foot woman that collapses into thousands of little crabs that run away, and supposedly start the storm in which the whirlpool forms...at the end she never really does anything to help our heroes as suggested in the film. On the outset there's a lot to complain about in this film, but there are a few constants that keep the ship from totally sinking, As usual Depp is brilliant as Jack Sparrow, the scenes including his multiple imaginary selves are mini highlights amid the 169 minutes of this film, but I was wholly impressed with Geoffrey Rush who returns fully fleshed out as Barbossa and manages to steal the show from Depp in almost every scene, not a small feat considering Jack Sparrow is largely what makes these films enjoyable to watch. Equally impressive yet again is Bill Bighy as Davy Jones, the CG captain of the Flying Dutchman makes another impression on this chapter as he finds himself in the service of the East India Trading Company and Lord Beckett. As usual all the technical stuff is up to scratch, the effects and action are unparalleled especially the whirlpool sequence which utilizes just about every trick in the special effects handbook to pull off and when fully realized is the crowning achievement of the film's effects. Overall the sense of fun was still there but the confusing who's back-stabbing who plot-line sucked a lot of the fun out. This third installment is even more bloated than the second and it seems like the filmmaker's tried to cram as much into it as possible forgetting a lot about coherency in favor of trying to created drama and blowing the roof off with continuous action set piece.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 this anamorphic transfer bursts onto DVD in brilliant fashion and marking yet another reference quality image. The picture is nicely balanced and sharp, colors are dark and occasionally muted but the transfer really shows off the photography and the intended look and feel of the film. Skin tones look very good although on one or two occasions seem a bit orange (especially Knightley who has a fake tan look about her). Blacks are deep and bold and shadow detail is consistently good. Some very minor grain can be seen but that's to be expected. Overall this is about as good as a standard definition DVD transfer can get.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included in English Dolby Digital 5.1 as well as Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English soundtrack. Much like the previous releases this soundtrack booms from every channel and is aggressive as it is active. The action sequences come off with a bang utilizing all channels and an array of sound effects that come alive from pistol fire to swords clashing to wood splintering as it explodes, it's all here and all sound natural and impacting. The ambient sounds like wind and waves also make use of the surround channels as this track certainly handles its range well and the score adds to the depth. It's a shame that Disney have dropped DTS sound on these releases (The first film had a DTS track and other region releases seem to have DTS), which would have been nice but this Dolby track does a very good job. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.
Extras
Buena Vista Home Entertainment has released this film as a 2-disc 'Limited Edition' with extras that include bloopers, 11 featurettes, deleted scenes, and an interactive feature. Below is a closer look at these supplements broken down per disc. DISC ONE: The only major extra on this disc is "Bloopers of the Caribbean" featurette that runs for 5 minutes 21 seconds and as the title suggests these are the bloopers from the production and include some line flubs, cast laughing in takes and other missed cues, etc. There are some funny moments included but overall it's not that great. Also on this disc are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Disney" spot which runs for 51 seconds. - "101 Dalmatians: Platinum Edition" which runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. - "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" which runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds. - "High School Musical 2: Extended Edition" which runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. - "Underdog" which runs for 1 minute 10 seconds. - "The Game Plan" which runs for 1 minute 3 seconds. - "Pirates of the Caribbean: Online" which runs for 1 minute 2 seconds. - "Disney Blu-ray" spot which runs for 1 minute 2 seconds. DISC TWO: First up is "Keith and the Captain: On Set with Johnny and The Rock Legend" a featurette which runs for 4 minutes 41 seconds, it was widely known that Depp based the character of Jack Sparrow on the rocker Keith Richards, who after much speculation finally made an appearance in this installment as Jack's dad Captain Teague, the keeper of the pirate's code. Here we get a short glimpse of the two on set and also interviewed for this clip. Next up is "Anatomy of a Scene: The Maelstrom" featurette which runs for 19 minutes 34 seconds, this is one of the best clips on the disc and chronicles the making of the whirlpool sequence as the process is broken down showing viewers how the sequences was created and the different tricks of the trade the filmmaker's applied. For a clip that runs under twenty minutes it goes into a lot of detail and provides us with an idea of how challenging and technical these sequences can be. Following that is "The Tale of the Many Jacks" a featurette that runs for 4 minutes 49 seconds and takes a short look at Jack inside Davy Jones' Locker and how the crew achieved creating many Jack's for those scenes. There's some cool footage of Depp doing his thing and acting to stand-ins for reference as well. Only 2 deleted scenes are included, which is a bit of a surprise as a film of this scale you'd assume there were many more scenes cut? But alas only 2, in any case these scenes can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' function and also feature optional audio commentary by director Gore Verbinski as he comments on the scenes and why they were cut, the scenes included are: - "I Like Riddles" which runs for 56 seconds. - "Two Captains, One Ship" runs for 1 minutes 32 seconds. After that we've got "The World of Chow Yun-Fat" a featurette that runs for 4 minutes 14 seconds and takes a look at Yun-Fat's involvement in this film, his character and working with the actor as we see some footage on the set. "The Pirate Maestro: The Music of Hans Zimmer" is a featurette that runs for 10 minutes 32 seconds and is an interview with the composer on the work he did on this film, as we get a closer look at the recording process of the score. In this clip we learn about the film's score and the impact and intention Zimmer wanted for the film's music as it seems to have used the first two as a template and the musical themes expanded in this third installment. Also on this disc are a series of 5 "Masters of Design" featurettes these clips show us in some detail the design elements to various aspects of the production and include: - "James Bykrit: Sao Feng's Map" runs for 6 minutes 21 seconds and is a closer look at the design of the map. - "Crash McCreery: The Cursed Crew" runs for 5 minutes 24 seconds is a closer look at the design and implementation of the cursed crew for this film with the Visual Effects crew member. - Rick Heinrichs: Singapore" runs for 5 minutes 13 seconds, the production designer takes us through the design of Sao Feng's Singapore. - "Penny Rose: Teague's Costume" runs for 3 minutes 38 seconds, the costume designer takes us through the design and creation of Captain Teague's costume, the character played by Keith Richards. - "Kris Peck: The Code Book" runs for 5 minutes 21 seconds, finally the prop master shows us the code book and it's design. "Hoist the Colors" is another featurette that runs for 4 minutes 41 seconds and takes a look at the song 'Hoist the Colors' and its inspiration, genesis and creation for the film as we get more from composer Zimmer in this clip. Finally we've got "Inside the Brethren Court" an interactive feature that allows you to explore the members of the court including bios and profiles. Included in the case is an 8-panel fold-out booklet which features chapter listing and an outline of the extras in this set.
Packaging
This DVD is packaged in an amaray case housed in a cardboard slip-cover.
Overall
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