Second movie review
Jul. 10th, 2006 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veronica_richMy sister and I went to see "Dead Man's Chest" again yesterday. I liked this viewing better, because I knew what was going to happen, and I could just sit back and watch technique and execution and such.
Jack, I believe, is nearly everyone's favorite character, and for good reason. He comes across sometimes as clownish upon first viewing, but on the second, he's more astute and simply FRIGHTENED of what's coming for him. I think he's probably being as noble as he can under the circumstances. Put simply, he's fucked and there's no real way out of it beyond never setting foot in the water again - and that's not something Jack can go without.
Will was my favorite character in this movie besides Jack. He almost edged him out in a couple of scenes, eve. And it's not because Will is overly heroic or handsome or noble - it's because he's grown and is more complex than in the first one. Despite everything he knows, everything the tricks he's learned and the shortcuts he could take, when it comes to real people who are in no position to help themselves, he's there to do it. (And, I must confess, I have more faith in Orlando's acting than seemingly many critics. I've always said a simple pretty face doesn't interest me, and it still doesn't.)
Elizabeth ... This one is harder to reconcile. I liked her better in the second viewing, and I think it's because I saw her for what she was. She's used to getting her way from Daddy and probably with Will, used to making demands and having them met, and one cannot simply do that with Jack Sparrow. As someone else pointed out, when she tries to play his own game against him, he flummoxes her by being ready to take advantage of what she's (not) offering. She's not yet old enough, either, to understand that one can desire another person without either (a) acting upon it or (b) feeling guilty about it. Nor does she understand the difference between desire for a person and desire for what that person REPRESENTS; I think what she wants is the freedom and the expanse Jack represents, not necessarily Jack himself (at least not for any length of time). I think the reason she chains him to the ship is twofold: She's wanting to avenge what Jack did to Will by sending him to Davy Jones; and she's trying to remove her own temptation.
Norrington is fabulous. I can't help it - I honestly thought his reaction in the first one was more out of character than here. It's not that he can't be a good man - he TRIED to be a good, upright man, and look where it got him, is his POV. He suffered a great loss, presumably, and is angry, indignant, and scared.
As for pairings - I can't help still seeing more chemistry between Jack and Will than between Jack and Elizabeth. There just aren't enough basic differences between J and E to make that pairing interesting or lasting, in my opinion - I need a little "opposite" in my preferred pairings.
EDIT: Who thinks there is the remotest chance that, like Star Wars, we'll find out that Jack is Luke- er, I mean, Will's, father? Or related in some other way? (Yeah, Will's blood was needed to break the curse, but would Jack's have done as well? We'll never know because of the way the blood was shed.)
Jack, I believe, is nearly everyone's favorite character, and for good reason. He comes across sometimes as clownish upon first viewing, but on the second, he's more astute and simply FRIGHTENED of what's coming for him. I think he's probably being as noble as he can under the circumstances. Put simply, he's fucked and there's no real way out of it beyond never setting foot in the water again - and that's not something Jack can go without.
Will was my favorite character in this movie besides Jack. He almost edged him out in a couple of scenes, eve. And it's not because Will is overly heroic or handsome or noble - it's because he's grown and is more complex than in the first one. Despite everything he knows, everything the tricks he's learned and the shortcuts he could take, when it comes to real people who are in no position to help themselves, he's there to do it. (And, I must confess, I have more faith in Orlando's acting than seemingly many critics. I've always said a simple pretty face doesn't interest me, and it still doesn't.)
Elizabeth ... This one is harder to reconcile. I liked her better in the second viewing, and I think it's because I saw her for what she was. She's used to getting her way from Daddy and probably with Will, used to making demands and having them met, and one cannot simply do that with Jack Sparrow. As someone else pointed out, when she tries to play his own game against him, he flummoxes her by being ready to take advantage of what she's (not) offering. She's not yet old enough, either, to understand that one can desire another person without either (a) acting upon it or (b) feeling guilty about it. Nor does she understand the difference between desire for a person and desire for what that person REPRESENTS; I think what she wants is the freedom and the expanse Jack represents, not necessarily Jack himself (at least not for any length of time). I think the reason she chains him to the ship is twofold: She's wanting to avenge what Jack did to Will by sending him to Davy Jones; and she's trying to remove her own temptation.
Norrington is fabulous. I can't help it - I honestly thought his reaction in the first one was more out of character than here. It's not that he can't be a good man - he TRIED to be a good, upright man, and look where it got him, is his POV. He suffered a great loss, presumably, and is angry, indignant, and scared.
As for pairings - I can't help still seeing more chemistry between Jack and Will than between Jack and Elizabeth. There just aren't enough basic differences between J and E to make that pairing interesting or lasting, in my opinion - I need a little "opposite" in my preferred pairings.
EDIT: Who thinks there is the remotest chance that, like Star Wars, we'll find out that Jack is Luke- er, I mean, Will's, father? Or related in some other way? (Yeah, Will's blood was needed to break the curse, but would Jack's have done as well? We'll never know because of the way the blood was shed.)
