Warning: this page contains spoilers!
I really enjoyed this film - it was a lot better than I'd expected it to be. When I saw the trailer for it, I thought "I like the music, not sure about the rest of it." But I thought it was entertaining, and very well cast. And I didn't notice how long it was until it was over. So, now I probably ought to get round to watching Bend it like Beckham (which also stars the lead actress from this film) - I avoided it when it first came out, since I'm not a football fan, but I've heard good things about it since. Incidentally, this film does have a brief extra scene after the end credits, so that's worth watching.
Speaking of the music from this film, I'm currently listening to the soundtrack album as I write this. I'd like to get the sheet music for it, if I can find it anywhere, and if there is a version that sounds recognisable on piano alone.
One thing I liked about this film was that Commodore Norrington was actually portrayed as a pretty decent guy. Normally, the trend seems to be that if you have the "crowd-pleasing" love interest (Will Turner in this film), then the rival is made to look as bad as possible. E.g. the fiance in Titanic. However, in this film, Norrington is brave (willing to fight unkillable pirates), intelligent, articulate, and loyal. He puts his duty before his own desires (which probably explains how he got promoted to such a high rank at a relatively young age), without being an emotionless robot. He also shows mercy to a defeated enemy, rather than exacting revenge.
Actually, that's another thing I liked about the film - the eloquence of most of the characters. There's a quote from Speed, where the villain says "Oh! In two hundred years we've gone from 'I regret but I have one life to give for my country' to 'Fuck you!'?" In this film, I think they did a lot better, although I can't give any specific examples off the top of my head.
This page was last updated on 2003-12-29 by John C. Kirk