tjkraz
07-13-2006, 05:14 AM
I'm not in the mood to write a legitimate review, so here are a collection of random comments.
* I LOVED IT!!! It's what a sequel should be. I'll openly admit it took me several years to warm up to the original, yet watching Dead Man's Chest was like visiting old friends.
* I knew it was a long movie going in and some had complained about the length. For whatever reason, it had my attention throughout and I never once looked at my watch.
* I really love good writing and I am totally in awe of Elliott and Rossio after this film. I had read that they intended on picking up some of the loose threads from the first film to help make the trilogy seem pre-ordained, but the manner in which they did it was brilliant. As I watched POTC 2, I picked up on a few of them (East India Trading Company, Jack's tattoo, Jack's compass), but I'm sure even more have escaped me.
I watched the first 45-60 minutes of Black Pearl today, and there's a line where Jack is talking to someone and we hear just hear the end of a story where he says something like "...and that's when the tribe made me their chief." ;)
The best thing about these little crossover comments: they never seemed forced.
* Loved seeing Norrington and Barbosa again. I really enjoyed both of them in the first. Both parts were well-written and well-acted. Geoffrey Rush is great and I look forward to seeing a lot more of him in the final film.
(I actually picked-up on his return about 20 seconds before he appeared on screen and whispered it to my wife. She looked at me and said "but he's dead"--yeah, like that matters. ;) )
So, Tim, that's an awful lot of gushing. Is there anything you DIDN'T like?
Yeah, but no deal-breakers:
* The plot was a little convoluted, but I really like they way they tipped their caps to that fact with Jack's line about "you're going to do this, so that I'll do that, so that he'll do the other thing." That was great writing.
* 90% of the special effects were really, really good, but some seemed sorely lacking. Depp's last scene just didn't strike me as being as impressive as a lot of the other work.
* For as long as the film was, it seemed rushed in unfortunate areas. One of the things I've come to appreciate about the first film was some of the slow and deliberate shots early in the film as the characters are introduced. It felt like viewers were given a better chance to appreciate what was happening. In POTC 2, most of the action continued to move at a pretty furious pace.
All-in-all, it was a great summer popcorn film. I'm sure a few more flaws will appear after repeated viewings, but this is clearly a case where I'm glad I steered clear of spoilers and went into the theater ready to simply enjoy the ride. :D
* I LOVED IT!!! It's what a sequel should be. I'll openly admit it took me several years to warm up to the original, yet watching Dead Man's Chest was like visiting old friends.
* I knew it was a long movie going in and some had complained about the length. For whatever reason, it had my attention throughout and I never once looked at my watch.
* I really love good writing and I am totally in awe of Elliott and Rossio after this film. I had read that they intended on picking up some of the loose threads from the first film to help make the trilogy seem pre-ordained, but the manner in which they did it was brilliant. As I watched POTC 2, I picked up on a few of them (East India Trading Company, Jack's tattoo, Jack's compass), but I'm sure even more have escaped me.
I watched the first 45-60 minutes of Black Pearl today, and there's a line where Jack is talking to someone and we hear just hear the end of a story where he says something like "...and that's when the tribe made me their chief." ;)
The best thing about these little crossover comments: they never seemed forced.
* Loved seeing Norrington and Barbosa again. I really enjoyed both of them in the first. Both parts were well-written and well-acted. Geoffrey Rush is great and I look forward to seeing a lot more of him in the final film.
(I actually picked-up on his return about 20 seconds before he appeared on screen and whispered it to my wife. She looked at me and said "but he's dead"--yeah, like that matters. ;) )
So, Tim, that's an awful lot of gushing. Is there anything you DIDN'T like?
Yeah, but no deal-breakers:
* The plot was a little convoluted, but I really like they way they tipped their caps to that fact with Jack's line about "you're going to do this, so that I'll do that, so that he'll do the other thing." That was great writing.
* 90% of the special effects were really, really good, but some seemed sorely lacking. Depp's last scene just didn't strike me as being as impressive as a lot of the other work.
* For as long as the film was, it seemed rushed in unfortunate areas. One of the things I've come to appreciate about the first film was some of the slow and deliberate shots early in the film as the characters are introduced. It felt like viewers were given a better chance to appreciate what was happening. In POTC 2, most of the action continued to move at a pretty furious pace.
All-in-all, it was a great summer popcorn film. I'm sure a few more flaws will appear after repeated viewings, but this is clearly a case where I'm glad I steered clear of spoilers and went into the theater ready to simply enjoy the ride. :D