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I saw this at midnight and I thought it was an excellent movie that neatly ties together everything (for the most part anyway). While the story does get a bit convoluted halfway through (does Jack plan things out ahead of time, or does he just do them and succeed by the luck of the devil?!) the end result is a very satisfying fantasy adventure. (LOTS of swashbuckling, numerous battle scenes on land and sea, and a ton of humor strewn throughout. I didn't realize Jack Sparrow had multiple personality disorder.) I'm trying to keep the spoilers light, so I won't say too much more, but do stay after the credits for a brief scene that finishes off the Will and Elizabeth story arc. Oh and to answer your question, yes, the end is left open for an all new adventure, but I admittedly would look forward to another film if they do it as well as this.

Also, if you're lucky, a new extended preview of "Transformers" will be included in the trailer reel. The movie looks amazing and I for one, will be there opening night/day!

Though I said "I would what for DVD" my daughter wanted tp go and since I had the day off I also went. It's better than the second film, but that isn't fair to say because this is a three part story. What I would have done if I wanted to make a film out of these three pictures is keep the first film, completely trash the second, and add the last hour of the third.

Ouch! The second "Pirates" film takes a lot of abuse, but I rather enjoyed it. Ditto for the "final" installment in the trilogy. Sure the story gets muddled and the special effects take center stage more often than not, but I still can't get enough of this stuff. It's very hard for me to not like these films.

I really wanted to slap Keira Knightley by the end of this film.  If it wasn't for the fact she showed off a bit of leg, I think I would have rushed the screen with my cutlass screaming blue murder [yes, I had a cutlass, a few friends and I semi-dressed up]

Overall this was kind of 'meh'.  I'm annoyed I didn't wait till the end of the credits, I would have liked a bit more closure on that storyline, but at the same time, I give them kudos for that part of the ending.  I certainly didn't expect it to end quite like that.

BUT, other than that piece of good news, the rest is fairly sub-par.  Sure there's some fun moments which made this film good enough, but I kind of expected it to be better.  The structure of the plot was a bit frustrating, and most of the characters [other than Sparrow of course] all seemed a bit 'off'.  I can't really explain it, but it seems like they were out of character for most of the film.

Overall it was a fun viewing, but didn't really satisfy me enough to call it great.

dean, I agree that some of the characters were "out of character...."

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Especially Admiral Norrington. He goes from being an opportunist that is desperate to regain his honor by any means necessary (as seen in "Dead Man's Chest") but in "At World's End," he is the complete opposite. After he learns that Elizabeth's father is dead, he has a total change of heart and helps her out! What gives?! Luckily this sudden change of heart (i.e. bad scriptwriting) gets him killed by Will Turner's senile fish-man/father.

END OF SPOILERS!

One image keeps playing across my mind and wipes away all the negative thoughts about the film: A midget being thrown backwards into a hole by the force of his massive gun! LOL!

The character of Will Turner actually comes forward more and almost becomes an Errol Flynn type and Elizabeth as a pirate was great.

I saw this yesterday with my family. I enjoyed it overall, though, like dean, I wanted to slap Elizabeth several times. In this installment, she seems to alternate between trying to be seductive or trying to be tough, and her facial expression is the same for both: head down, jaw jutted forward.

***Spoilerishness***

I'm glad they completed the story arc between Will and Elizabeth, especially without domesticating Jack Sparrow in any way. If they opt to make a fourth installment, hopefully those characters will be gone or at least relegated to a small part. I was actually impressed that the scriptwriters managed to give every major character complex motivations for accomplishing the same end. It was occasionally confusing, but it added some welcome depth to the storyline.

I will disagree to an extent with Jordan's assessment of Norrington. In the first movie, he does the right thing by letting Jack escape, proving he is able to think beyond simple duty. Yes, he does it for Elizabeth, but he still does it. In the second film, when he is at the bottom with nowhere to go but up, he does some less-than-ethical things to get back to what he thinks he wants. In the third installment, he is conflicted, partly because of his sense of duty, partly because of his sense of justice, and partly because of his lingering feelings for Elizabeth (who by this time is probably the most genuinely pirate-like character in the movie, willing to do anything to anyone to get her way). His sense of justice wins out as he realizes that there is no real difference between the East India Trading Company and the pirates, and the pirates are at least up front about their ethics. He helps Elizabeth and her crew escape, and pays for it with his life, but with his honor intact. He is the only genuinely decent human being in the films, and he gets continually screwed over by the other, less ethical characters. I felt truly sorry for the guy.


***End of Spoilerishness***

I was in WalMart Yesterday and saw that they are selling kids' books featuring a young Jack Sparrow (Pirate Babies? Ugh!). I haven't read them, but they have got to be awful! Has anyone else noticed these abominations?

You make some very excellent points Derf, Karma for you! Your assessment of Norrington's motives is very in depth and I should've probably put more thought into my previous post. Norrington is a tragic figure, but his death seemed to happen too early on, and his lack of screentime in this entry makes his change of heart all the more sudden. After the major role he played in the last film, it is a shame that he is relegated to a smaller role in "At World's End."

MORE SPOILERS AHEAD, JUST TO LET YOU KNOW!


And speaking of characters dying, I think the most tragic death in the film is the one we don't see, and I'm not talking about Elizabeth's father. I'm talking about the poor Kraken. I was severely disappointed to find that the mighty cephalopod was deceased.

Well, I don't know.. I liked it, but somehow it just didn't, for me, "jell" completely. 



(spoilers)
Among other things, I thought it was cheap the way they killed the Kraken off-camera.
Another bigass plothole... okay, you got a supernatural monster who does what you tell him to only because you're holding on to the one thing that can kill him, he's starting to get antsy and not quite following your order, so what do you do?

Well, take the one thing that can kill him and... (wait for it) place it aboard HIS SHIP.  That way you can...er... no, actually, that's a real DUMB idea.  Oh sure, it's under guard, but that's Davy's FREAKING ship!  With his crew!  You mean to tell me they couldn't simply overpower whoever's watching the chest and break the only hold Beckett has over him?

Just doesn't make any sense...

(end spoilers)

I saw the film, and I liked it alot.

A couple of things to note.

The pirate flags ran up in the film. They were actual flags used by various pirates in the history of piracy.

The speech made by Jack (Depp) to the two floozies. Listen carefully. While there have been a number of film that contsin a multitude of double entendres (i.e. "Lair of the White Worm") that speech Jack makes is one long double entendre, and thus the longest double entendre I have ever heard.

How the third film sets up the possibility of a fourth film.

And stay to after the credits are over.

I liked this movie way better than "Dead Man's Chest" but not as much as I liked the first one.

*******Spoilers*******

-Things I didn't like-

Jack Sparrow was a minor character!  WTF?!  Audeinces love Depp/Jack (and so do I) so why not give him more to do?  He's the face of the franchise.

Norrington shows up for a minute and then gets aced by Bootstrap.  And Liz's dad gets offed for no real decernable reason. 
Chow Yun Fat (one of my all-time favorite Asian actors) isn't given anything to do really.

The movie was all about plot and story-lines and not enough about character...which is weird that the movie came in at almost three hours.  I find that movies with lots of character development tend to be on the long side and plot/story type movies are shorter.  This one is the opposite.

And finally, why would the vastly superior British fleet leave when their flag ship was destroyed?  And why didn't Beckett fire on the the Pearl and Dutchman?   That made no freakin' sense.  (Oh and the opening scene was creepy and a bit morbid for the light-hearted series).

-Things I liked-

Geoffery Rush!  Clearly having a good time and chewing any scenery he can get his hands on.  Plus you get to see what a Sparrow/Barbossa commanded Black Pearl might have looked like before the first film.  Great dynamic.  Keith Richards' cameo.  A lot of people are trashing it.  I thought it was cool.

The special effects!!!  Wow!  The detail and seemlessness is awesome in the literal sense of the word.  The Maelstrom ship battle was pure popcorn fun.

The ending was well done.  I like how everyone ends up pretty much how you think they will.  They could end the series or they could do one more film.  I think that if they want to do another Pirates movie they have to keep it simple.  Scale everything back.  People will still come to see Depp as Sparrow.  I know I will.

********Spoilers End***********

I just saw the movie and my opinion of it is that the first and second acts were extremely choppy and problematic, but the final act more than makes up for this. The battle sequence in the whirlpool is easily the best part of the film, and, in my opinion, the best action sequence in all three movies, period, rivalled only by the Will / Jack / Norrington three-way swordfight in the second movie.

Oh goddammit, I forgot to stay until the end of the credits! I was with my niece and she was getting fidgety so we left without giving it another thought. Can someone just tell me what happened, please? I don't have the time or $$ to see it again on top of not having the patience to wait for the DVD.

Thanks.

Anyway...

***spoilers and such***

-Multiple Jacks to take the place of less Jack. Bit of a ploy, but fun.

-At the end there...was that the first time Jack said "Savvy" since the first one, or was that just me. Loved how he had his Mom's shrunken head on his belt.

-So, Barbossa was hellbent on freeing Calypso because she brought him back from the dead...right? He had a conscious apparently(?)

-Yeah, Jones' heart on his ship...bit of a poor set-up for Will to take his place. I honestly saw that coming, but it didn't impact my enjoyment at all.

-Though it had some moments, I thought this one really lacked the humor of the first two.

-Chow did have a purpose...he set up the first exchange that began the first of many allegiance
swaps in the movie. He was the set up guy for the plot convolution.

-I was really hoping the other pirate ships would fight.

-I think this one could have easily been two movies, but the producers knew that option was off the table, especially after the way they ended Dead Man's Chest.

All that said, I loved it. Though a bit incoherent, it was truly awesome. And seeing as Lucio Fulci is one of my favorite directors, I can't really complain about incoherence. The three way sword fight at the end of Dead Man's is still the best part of the trilogy for me (I thought the whole marriage thing was a bit much).

I enjoyed it, but I think I still prefer #2. "Dead Man's Chest" is easily the most humorous of the three, and IMHO this is why they get away with the plot holes and the cartoonish situations (remember the island of the cannibals?). I think this doesn't work as well here, because the tone of the film is much more serious.

Still, it's great to see a blockbuster that delivers. It's a long ride, sure, and what little plot it has gets very annoying, but it's still fun, and sometimes quite inventive, such as when they show us the limbo in which Jack Sparrow ended up after #2, or the "up is down sequence. And finally, we have a great battle that wraps things up quite nicely... although next time they show me two fleets ready for action, they'd better have some use for all the other ships, rather than act as expectators. 

No one else seems to be discussing it, so I'll go ahead and bring it up. What did everyone think of what wound up happening to Beckett's assistant Mercer? :teddyr:

All I have to say about it is... "OMG teh tentacle pr0n!"