"Begun by blood - by blood undone."
Hello everyone!
Why?
No one knows. It's a mystery!
Anyway, this year during vacation I decided I was going to have a little watch party and refresh my memory about all this stuff, and while I didn't get to finish with the last movie quite yet (because I ran out of time and real life is unfortunately a thing) I DO plan on going through number five again as soon as humanly possible.
Until then, however, I can probably work on my collection right here on this blog.
Because not only do I NOT have the entire thing, I only have numbers three and five and the others are nowhere to be seen.
So without further ado, let's start at the very beginning which, as the song goes, is a very good place to start. Rum, ahoy! The Curse of the Black Pearl needs explaining.
The year is ... actually scratch that because I can never remember the years here, BUT, a ship is travelling from England to the Caribbean, carrying young Elizabeth Swann and her father when they run into a blown-up vessel that was VERY obviously attacked by pirates. They fish a boy out of the water - Will Turner - and Elizabeth takes a golden medallion from him, hiding it from the adults.
Fast forward eight years and Governor Swann is VERY into this idea that his teenage daughter (Keira Knightley) marry Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport), while she's pining over handsome Will (Orlando Bloom), the blacksmith who makes all the stuff in his master's workshop but the drunkard gets all the credit.
While this is all going on, none other than Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) makes his way to Port Royal in a VERY flimsy boat, looking for a ship, but what he ends up with instead is needing to save Elizabeth when she faints because of a corset that's cinched too tight midway through Norrington's proposal, falling into the sea.
This NATURALLY doesn't go well because Jack's a pirate, so everyone and their mother gives chase after him, and it's a fluke he gets caught because even after Will and he spar rather masterfully, he would have run off if not for Will's drunk master smashing a bottle over his head.
The story might have ended here, but after a dream remembering the crossing, Elizabeth has taken to wearing that golden medallion again, and while in the water it had given out a call, which lures the ship all other ships in the Caribbean fear to Port Royal: The Black Pearl.
Its crew kill a bunch of people, set fire to the town, and take Elizabeth hostage after she demands to parley with the captain, thinking on her feet and introducing herself as Elizabeth Turner (ironically, she'd have been safer under her own name, but as you do).
The Pearl takes off with her towards Isla de Muerta, and naturally the men in Port Royal are at their wits' end with regards to Elizabeth, but only Will has the bright idea to go to Jack, who does indeed know the ship that just came through; and he pins a note into the fact Will's family name is Turner, promises to help, and Will gets him out of prison. Together, they commandeer a ship in a neat little switcheroo that lands them on board the fastest ship in the Caribbean behind the Pearl, then they're off.
They head for Tortuga, a regular warren and den, there to find one Master Gibbs (Kevin McNally), former crew member of the Pearl, apparently, or at least resident pirate lore expert, who tells Will all about how Barbossa led a mutiny against Jack to have all the gold from Muerta for himself, left Jack marooned on an island in the middle of nowhere, and Jack now carries that pistol with one shot for him.
We learn more of the story from Barbossa himself, who explains that the gold from the island was Aztec blood gold, and it cursed them to be living dead, finding no pleasure in food, drink or women anymore, and everyone who was there for the taking must repay the debt before they can be freed.
The only one yet to do so is Bootstrap Bill Turner, who just so happens to be Will's father - a pirate.
Unfortunately, dead pirate.
Also unfortunately, Elizabeth is NOT a Turner, so her blood doesn't work for the ritual, but at the very least Will gets her out of there to the ship and crew Jack gathered in Tortuga, while Jack parleys with Barbossa since their motivations currently align ... sort of.
The Pearl runs the navy ship for all she's worth, eventually beating her at her own game, and the only reason no one gets killed is Will, who accepts his lineage and threatens to shoot himself if Barbossa doesn't do as he asks.
Sadly no one but Jack knows how to strike a bargain with ole Hector, so obviously Jack and Elizabeth end up marooned on the SAME island Jack was dumped off on before, and Will's taken to Isla de Muerta for the ritual, with the caveat they MIGHT just kill him to spill ALL his blood this time around.
Of the pair on the island, it's Elizabeth who comes up with the idea of burning the rum to make a smoke signal which lures the Royal Navy to them, and she promises Norrington she'll marry him just as long as he rescues Will.
So, Norrington ends up at Muerta too, where things literally go haywire as Jack steals one of the coins to make himself a zombie, frees Will, and the two of them fight Barbossa while the rest of the crew go fight Norrington's men. Elizabeth joins in on the pirate fight in the cave, and after a lot of back and forth, the trio manage to get ALL the pieces into the chest with the needed blood, and Jack finally shoots Barbossa, which comes into effect to kill him as the curse lifts.
Jack is taken back to Port Royal to be hanged because HIS crew abandoned him with the Black Pearl in their hands, but Will prevents Norrington from hanging him, and Elizabeth changes her mind to stand by Will, choosing him over Norrington. Jack escapes after the Pearl makes her reappearance and comes to get him, and Norrington gives them a day's head start to nurse his broken heart in the meantime.
And just as you THINK things might settle down, the post-credit scene of this happy, kissy-kissy ending, reveals that Barbossa's monkey (also called Jack) stole a piece of the Aztec gold from the chest, because ... monkey.
FIN.
Adventure, swashbuckling, pirates, romance, the high seas ... what more could anyone want out of a movie?
The Curse of the Black Pearl re-invigorated the lore of pirates and introduced us to characters that remain just as beloved today as they were nearly twenty years ago. Verbinski and Bruckheimer somehow managed to take a Disneyland ride and modernize it with little bits here and there that tickled our wildest dreams.
The cast was both star-studded and young, and the story was brilliantly set without too many complications outside the linear 'cursed gold - retribution' story.
Jack Sparrow, on the whole, launched himself into our collective minds as the greatest pirate of all times, and it stands to reason it would be one of Johnny Depp's best roles, even though he's an A-list actor to begin with.
The movie really makes a mark because it was shot on location, too, something that subsequent years sort of nixed until recently when directors once again started favouring real locations to CGI (though the Volume in which Disney films its Star Wars shows is to be commended).
But it has it all. Drama, humour, love, belly laughs, and unforgettable characters.
So if you've somehow slept on this one ... how?!? Go see it right away!
Then come back next week for its continuation.
xx
*images and video not mine
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