'You're mad . . . well it probably wouldn't work if I wasn't.'

At World's End - June 7th

A welcome return by Captain Jack and his piratical escapades in the third of this blockbusting trilogy. Gore Verbinski is on more than fine form after a luke-warm middle set, which, as El Blogador so rightly points out, is as much to do with the resurrection of Cpt Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) who most superbly fulfills all of our piratical expectations.

An engaging plot-line of love, trust and betrayal is as old as mankind himself. There can be little doubt that the basic structure rest firmly on well-trodden ground, and is not so very different to that of Star Wars whose success it seems to have mirrored. With the Black Pearl replacing the Millenium Falcon, the somewhat bland Will Turner struggles to save his pouting princess, and the love triangle is completed by the eccentric Cpt Jack, not so very dissimilar to the Skywalker, Leia, Solo trio. Furthermore in a contemporary sweep the evil empire is replaced by the wicked corporate monster and its subsequent destruction at the hands of plucky underdogs surely accounts for this currrent success as it did for George Lucas in '77.

El Blogador further points out that the film is refreshingly free of bogus counter-cultural cause which undermines so much of the Matrix trilogy, however I do not believe it is entirely devoid of content. In our rapidly homogenising age it taps in to and voices our own not-so-latent concerns about globalisation and social and cultural pasteurisation. In a rare moment of consensual sincerity Messrs. Barbosa and Sparrow survey the slain Kraken. 'The world is a smaller place' mutters one ruefully. ' No' replies the latter ' not smaller, there's just less in it.'

The greatest vehicle for our attention however is its excellent humour, and here one of the finest supporting roles is Jack Davenport playing the straight man to Depp's eccentric. This he achieves with consummate ease in such away that adds a unique Carry On humour, something that has perennially evaded the Hollywood moguls. The humour is ingenious as with its almost surreal one-liners it draws us in to the secret band of piracy and makes the viewer identify more closely with each character. 'Sea turtles' growls Capt Teague in a moment of abstracted humour and we chuckle knowingly at the piratical in-joke.

Most of all I enjoyed the sincerity with with the director passes a nod to a few of his distinguished fellows, a gracious cinematic respect for those gone before takes on a more visual conceit. A nod to Stanley Kubrick in the superb manifestation of Davy Jones's locker, a tot of rum to Sergio Leone in the six man standoff (with Morricone-styled music supplied), and a rattle-of-the-cutlass to John Woo as the wicked Cutler Becket descends from the poop as his ship disintegrates behind him in all-but balletic motion. 

My favourite of all, and I am sure I am not imagining this, the hat-waving to Werner Herzog's Fitcarraldo as the Pearl cascades majestically down a hillside of sand.

This film does what it says on the tin, even if it took three episodes for someone to finally don an eye patch. Furthermore anyone who can create and entertain so many people from so many cultures and countries deserves some respect. Apart from all that it is a darn good yarn - so raise the colours high for the sheer entertainment, and as for the rest just take what you want, or rather, 'take what you can, give nuthin’ back arrrr arrrr..'