veronica_rich (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
veronica_rich) wrote2006-07-10 10:02 pm
veronica_rich) wrote2006-07-10 10:02 pm
Entry tags:
Second movie review
My 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.)
no subject
See! There's my problem with the second movie - the plot deviates too much from the chemistry. They're desperately trying to push Jack and Elizabeth together (to make the movie, oh, I don't know, more heterosexual perhaps???) and it does. not. work.
Why?
*makes eyes at icon*
no subject
no subject
1) So much of Jack's personality is about performance. He flounces about always trying to convince someone that he's the opposite of their expectations of him, no matter what those expectations may be. To the authorities, he pretends to be a baffoon. To Will, he pretends to be nonchalant. To Elizabeth, a lecher and a coward. He's always got something else going on beneath the surface. This is one of the reasons why he is perhaps the wiliest character to grace the screen in years. To him, to be pinned down as any one thing is to be boxed in, even by those he does actually care about and seeks to protect. He takes the notion of freedom to that extreme. Thus, I don't think we can take too much stock in some of the more frivolous exchanges in the film as representative of Jack's true feelings. Certainly they are a part of his personality, since no one can be that bumbling and swishy merely by design, but he rarely gives us a true glimpse of his heart.
2) For Jack to be sexually interested in Will at this point in the cannon is still IMO entirely plausible. Of course, Jack and Will share much less screen time, most of which is rather more life or death than in the first film (given what eventually does happen at that cliffhanger ending), which doesn't exactly lead to flirtatious banter. But for him to love Will more than fraternally and physically has always been a stretch within the bounds of the cannon we know. Indeed, both of your stories have them involved in all sorts of adventure before love, er, blooms. Also, Jack's terrified for his own life, for his own soul. That is far weightier than physical attraction. Lastly, he is still obsessed with Will's genitalia. That has to count for something.
3) I wanted to make a point about how Jack can't get the compass to go where he wants it to, thinking that maybe it could be construed as leading him to Will, but I think I'm going to have to pay more attention the next time I see it to be sure of my bearings. Anyway, point is that he can't get it to work any more than Elizabeth, which begs the question, where does his heart really want it to go?
Thanks for all the plot for thought, I love reading your musings!
-G. ;D
no subject
no subject
no subject