Anthony's Film Review - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

Excellent production design, memorable characters, and intriguing plot line nicely wrap up this exciting trilogy...

If you're like me, you want to see this third installment of the Pirates franchise to end the cliffhanger of Dead Man's Chest. I can tell you this. You won't be disappointed. Questions about what happens next will be answered while new questions will come up. That's because there are revelations about some things you know so far. In fact, there are so many of them that you need more than an average attention span to sort it out and put everything together. The film assumes that you've seen The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest already. If you haven't seen both of them, you might be somewhat lost with At World's End.

The film has a running time of approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. Surprisingly, it has a plot that can easily fit into a movie running 1 hour and 30 minute, but it is stretched out because of extensive and carefully written dialogue, particularly with these numerous subplots. The villain is Lord Beckett, the ruthless one who sees at nothing to get rid of pirates once and for all. On the other side are the pirates slowly forming one alliance to fight for freedom. It's not just the usual characters we're all familiar with. There are also pirates from around the world past the edge of the map illustrating the Caribbean.

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns as his usual goofy self along with the brave Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and the beautiful maiden-turned-pirate Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). Without spoiling Dead Man's Chest, I will also mention that Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and the squid-faced Captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) return here in memorable on-screen performances. Then there are a few new faces, particularly the Singapore pirate Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat).

The Curse of the Black Pearl alternated between plot development and breathtaking action while Dead Man's Chest focused more on the plot. At World's End continues this trend, but it still delivers a climactic battle sequence that is fitting enough for wrapping things up. The special effects involved in other scenes are great, including those taking place in Davy Jones's Locker where a crew look for Jack Sparrow. I won't say much about the production design overall because it's as great as it was in the other two Pirates films. It was wise to shoot this third film right after the second. I wouldn't want to wait longer than a year to see it.

There are enough things wrapped up in At World's End to wrap up the trilogy. At the same time, there are enough ways to produce spin-off adventures if the filmmakers wanted to. Or maybe they could change their mind and continue the storyline with the main characters, though I wouldn't necessarily want them to. As it stands, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is a magnificent set of films. I would still consider The Curse of the Black Pearl as my favorite of the three with At World's End and Dead Man's Chest as close ties for second place.

The question I have isn't whether spin-offs would be produced but which characters would be featured. Then again, if the excellent quality of Pirates is maintained, I probably wouldn't care.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my review of the following:

The Pirates of the Caribbean Films

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales