Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2539)

Content

Anywhere Out of the World: The Work of Bruce Chatwin

Jonathan Chatwin

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

By the time of his death in 1989 at the age of 48, Bruce Chatwin had become one of the most...

David McK (3695 KP) rated Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) in Movies

Nov 27, 2020 (Updated Nov 27, 2020)

"Captain Jack Sparrow. You are, without a doubt, the worst Pirate I have ever heard of" / "Ah, but you have heard of me ..."

The first Pirates of the Caribbean film (based on a Disney theme ride!), this is far less bloated and self referential than any of the later sequels, with Johnny Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow a breath of fresh air (at the time) in a genre that had become increasingly stale: indeed, I can't even remember there being any other pirate films in my lifetime other than 1995s Cutthroat Island.

The plot, here, makes much use of the superstition and folklore of the Caribbean - "You better start believing in Ghost stories again, Miss: you're in one!" (to paraphrase a certain other character - with the crew of the Black Pearl all cursed to an everlasting life by an ancient Aztec curse unless they can restore all the stolen coins.

And this is where Will Turner comes in, as the son of 'Bootstrap' Bill, a colleague of Captain Jack Sparrows before his crew mutinied, stole the treasure, and were cursed. When the governors daughter Elizabet Swann is kidnapped, Turner sets off to rescue here in the company of Sparrow and a crew of n'er do wells, in a very entertaining slice of Pirate action!