Cecilia's! And Pirates 3

[girlofprey]

I went to Cecilia's. We bought sunglasses and underwear. She wouldn't let me buy flowers though, which was a bit rubbish of her. CAN'T STOP ME BUYING THEM HERE THOUGH DUDE. But we did have pancakes for breakfast one morning, which is a kind of greatness.

Also we saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3, after having a Chinese buffet and discussing the probability of being able to hire a narrowboat for any decent length of time. Long enough to become Pirates, obv. It would be like a Pirates crossover with Hot Fuzz.

But anyway. I'm sure I had a lot more reactions at the time, but basically, it wasn't great, was it?

I don't know, it's a bit weird for me. I really like films that are swimming with mythology. Or that you can bring a lot of mythology into, and play around with. But, y'know - all this just wasn't there in Pirates 1. If they had all been surrounded by mythology in the first film, and then it gradually built up and they had to finally deal with it in the third, that would have been fine. Instead they took the characters from the first film, that had been quite interesting, and sort of slowly drowned them out. For, essentially, special effects. So, I don't know, I did enjoy the mythology bits on one level. But mostly I was just really disappointed with what they did to the characters - both ignoring some and ruining others.

Well, I was clearly at a disadvantage not supporting /caring about Will or Elizabeth. They sort of - I don't know. Elizabeth almost got raped once. Then she became a Pirate King. That was quite good, in an unexpected way. But we didn't see her doing much as King, or as a pirate captain, besides shouting 'hoist the colours' once. From another ship. Will got to be a bit backstabby, but mostly I just find him really boring to look at, or think about, so maybe I wasn't paying attention. I loved his Bandanna of Power! when he became the new Davy Jones though. That quite good, quite an interesting ending to the Will/Elizabeth thing. But why - after credits spoiler - she didn't continue pirating is beyond me. Since she was Pirate King. And had no family to stay on land for. And - would have got to see Will more that way, possibly? I wasn't too clear on how the whole ship thing worked with Will. And then she would have been a Pirate King in Singapore whose husband was the king of the sailor dead. OH IT MADE NO SENSE.

Anyway. Things I hated:

• Norrington's death. Probably not a shock, given that he was my favourite character in the last one. And the one before probably. Though Jack was better in that. It started out so well. He was being all sarcastic about Beckett summoning him, and then seemed to be having misgivings about the mass executions thing, and it seemed like he would probably redeem himself by turning on Beckett and fighting with the others. But, I could tell from when he started looking ashamed of himself in front of Elizabeth, and then he just died. And not really for anything, which was the really annoying thing. It seemed like it was just to get Elizabeth off the ship and to prove Bootstrap had gone a bit mad. Hmph. I love that he stabbed Davy Jones in answer to his offer to join the crew though. In fact, I love that he ordered the fish men around in general. But then it was just over. I had a wild hope when we got a long "omg, isn't it terrible he's dead?" shot of his body that he might be brought back by someone later on in a "ha ha!" sort of a way, but no. I was expecting a bit more of a redemption, and him getting away from Elizabeth a bit. But no. His arc was the worst I'd ever seen.



• The bit where Elizabeth's father died was very well done, but it didn't seem to get mentioned again. Except to torture Norrington (and he was never allowed to make up for it), and once in an off-hand way, when it hadn't otherwise occured to me as Elizabeth's motivation. So not well-handled, really.



• Tia Dalma. In the second film, she was a voodoo priestess, with mysterious powers that the other characters relied on. That was quite cool. In this film, she was a trapped goddess. By definition, not in full possession of her powers and at the mercy of others. That was much less cool. Also, she was trapped by her lover for not being onshore when - she was not in human form and couldn't really have been expected to be onshore. Also, how long ago was she trapped? In the nine 'Pirate Lords'' lifetimes? Was the junk theirs, or passed down? Given that Barbossa didn't know which Jack's piece was, probably passed down. And since Sao Feng didn't know - she had been trapped. Oh. They could really have made it make more sense. Also, she didn't really do anything at the end, did she? That plotline was a bit redundant. Except that people can make the characters ask her for things in fic.



• Jack was a Pirate Lord. No, he clearly wasn't. They wouldn't have made him lord of anything. Great pains were taken in films 2 and 3 to show he was a bit incompetent. And even if he'd been quite competent, as he seemed to be at the end of the first film, I can't really see him taking on the title, except maybe if he saw a benefit to himself from it down the line, on a whim. Was Barbossa a Pirate Lord too, I forget? Did they make him one after he had an Aztec curse, or before? And. Blah.



• The death of the Kraken. Why would Beckett make Davy Jones kill the Kraken? I'll admit that the sight of it on the beach was quite effective, and possibly showed Jack and the others what the odds they were really up against. But it was part of why Davy Jones was so powerful on the seas. It was the thing people mostly feared. So why make him kill it? Not use it, yes. Kill it, no. It was just another death that seemed to be thrown in to make one particular scene. Then be forgotten about. MAYBE CALYPSO (?? CECILIA POINTED OUT THIS IS A DRINK) RESURRECTED IT? It seems a bit of a shame for it otherwise.



• Sao Feng. He mostly existed to be cowardly, as Elizabeth said, and betray them, didn't he? I like how he thought Elizabeth was Calypso though. As opposed to the mystical one covered in shells. I also like how he made a goddess captain. After trying to rape her. But really, I was expecting more of a character out of him, especially after the racism in the second film. And his ladies in black, who turned out to be great at fighting. One of them died, and the other looked at her in a vengeance-y sort of a way, and I expected her to become a bit more of a character. But then she just died too. It was really all a bit disappointing.



• Pretty much all of it, really.

But I liked Barbossa. His entry was brilliant. And the way he had to remind Elizabeth not to be a psycho. And he just went through all of it being great, and clever. It was hard to work out what he was doing to get Calypso free, to complete his bargain, and what he was doing because he was him, but mostly I just loved him. As I did in the first film. I slashed him with Jack in that as well, and he gave me no reason to stop. I love that he called him 'lad'. It makes me want to read fic about when they were first on the Pearl together. I love that they had to run the ship together, and Jack got all jealous of his telescope. I love that Jack hid behind him. I LOVED IT. He went a bit funny at the end, when he married Will and Elizabeth - interesting scene, but not what I would have expected from him. But fandom seems content to screw up my favourite characters' characterisation lately. Clearly Jack knew at the end that Barbossa would have come back after him when he realised the chart was missing, and they would end up back on the ship together again. So that's alright.

Beckett also slashed himself a lot with Jack, to Cecilia's appreciation, but since the writers didn't seem to think we ever needed to know what their backstory was, I found it hard to get into. They did negotiate with fans though. That was quite good. But then Beckett just sort of screwed up his characterisation by not having one at the end. Other people than me have pointed out that Jack and Will killed a whole lot of people on the Endeavour at the end by blowing it up. I'll let them keep to it.

Come to think of it, the ending was a bit like the Wizard of Oz, with Elizabeth. "Jack, I think I'll miss you most of all". Except that Toto's the King of the Dead now. At any rate, maybe that was a good way to end it, given that we started with her. Except for the part where she didn't keep pirating. It didn't really make sense.

Anyway.

• Someone please make me an 'emo tentacles' icon.


• I really want a Beckett "Pretend to faint?" icon.


• And you know what I'd really like to see? A series of AUs where different people were Calypso. Will could have been her, for no reason. My personal favourite would of course be Norrington.

The worst part is, my OT3 of Jack/James/Barbossa is just completely unworkable now. Especially the James/Barbossa bit. Damn it.

Also we watched zombies and evil stuntmen. Zoe Bell is great. So is Rose MacGowan. And we watched Anchorman. And Doctor Who. It's probably wrong that I mostly fancied the boy who is Will Scarlett in Robin Hood, even through the possession And the bad reception. I really enjoyed it though. Clearly every fan wants a copy of that notebook. And I love that next week's episode, whatever the full title may be, is FoB, like the watch. And we had chocolate tart. Probably you're all jealous.

Anyway. I'm off to watch a film now, and have some pringles. I'm mostly glad it's a bank holiday tomorrow.

Comments

[whatho.livejournal.com]

I can't believe Norrington and Barbossa never met. My drabble could quite easily have been canon if the film had gone in an entirely different direction. Boo.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

IN MY HEAD IT'S CANON. It's sort of better canon. Honestly though, they could totally have kept Norrington alive. And had him meet all the pirates. He could have gone to the pirates council, and they could have all reflected on the irony, and then planned themselves a sea battle. Instead he just got sort of...wasted. Growl.

I love your fic.

[nerdcakes.livejournal.com]

OH OH THANK GOD. Everyone on my flist LVOED IT LIKE MAD PEOPLE. Whatho loved it but was judgey on all the right things, that was quite nice. But OH, YOU ARE GREAT.

And OH MY GOD, YES, Tia Dalma turning from Voodoo Priestess to Trapped Goddess hadn't occured to me but now that you mention it, absolutely, yes.


Ohh, the Doctor's Notebook was so terribly cool. Well done, Doctor.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

Did they?? Most of the people I've read hated it. Cecilia hated it too. Probably she will post about it, unless she's too busy and/or saddened by the whole thing. YOU ARE GREAT ALSO. We read your post the night we saw it, and thanked God you were sane. IT WAS A TERRIBLE FILM.

It seems like a shame the coolest thing the Doctor's ever done was done while he was John Smith. I think he should keep the notebook and give it to new companions so they can catch up. The HUGE picture of Rose will be a clue, obviously.