One thing I noticed on my rewatch of black purl is that Jack was never really that bad of a guy. He doesn't kill anyone when he steals the interceptor, he blows his own cover to save Elizabeth and one of the most famous stories about him is that he ransacked a port without even firing a shot. Gentleman pirate Jack
yeah... real pirates steal at gunpoint and unlock safes with barbaric tortures, the first movie is just suspension of disbelief, making four additional movies off suspension of disbelief is insane, but they did it anyway
@@eplantitrue, just like real spider bites don't give you powers, that's why I gave up on those Spider-Man movies after the first few 😂 the movies aren't claiming to be historical fiction, why is that what turned you from them?
I really appreciate how much casual warmth is in this video! It's like going home after a movie, grabbing a pizza on the way, and happily overanalyzing the film and storytelling and life problems on the couch until 3 AM sneaks by.
I love Dead Man's Chest, as far as I'm concerned this franchise is a duology. I agree it's messier and not nearly as neat and tidy as Curse was, but I think it does what all good sequels do - delve deeper into the themes of the first film with more of a focus on the characters and set up for a shitty plot centered third movie rather than have its own ending. I think the "love triangle" with Elizabeth is almost the sole reason I've watched DMC as many times as I have. I don't think it's actually a love triangle, but I do think she wants Jack to think that's what it is, which is why it's so on the nose. I think Elizabeth hates Jack with a seething passion and fears his chaotic influence on her life. If Jack is a trickster god, Elizabeth recognizes that he is dangerous and unpredictable and fears what he'll do to satiate his own greed, and sets out to kill the god. Elizabeth is my favorite character in this film, and that's not despite her only being given "lady" things to do, but because I think the opposite is true. I think she's the most level headed and proactive character in the movie, despite ultimately being wrong about the conclusion she comes to; she more so is the only one thinking about why anything is happening and what can possibly be done about it, while Jack is too petrified of death to think straight (he doesn't know what he wants because he thinks he's going to die and that sends him on a spiral of bucket list thoughts) and Will is caught up in the emotions of discovering his father's fate. In the end, like Will before the events of the first film, Elizabeth chose to believe in the system of law that robbed her of her wedding and to blame the pirate way of life that openly defies the rule of law. In the end, she had to become what she feared Jack to be in order to get rid of him - treacherous. But in the face of the grief she caused everyone who trusted Jack, it suddenly dawns on her that in her desperation she used him as a scapegoat to excuse the real villains (capitalism, greed in its final boss second phase, it's just good business) for the injustice done to her and her fiance (making her crusade as "Pirate King" against Beckett at least cathartic on paper). Watching the guilt crush her in that final scene is the emotional gut punch of the second movie more than what happens to Jack, and the promise of bringing him back is less a promise of a fan favorite character's return, but a promise that Elizabeth will have to answer for what she did. Promises promises. The entire premise of Dead Man's Chest is that Jack's time as a god has come to its end, and he is put in a position of sacrificing mortals to regain his immortal status, figuratively speaking... or literally? I dunno. So Will is the unwitting victim, and Davy Jones' death grip on Will's family is the metaphorical cost of Jack's greedy nature, which he overcomes, but not before Elizabeth catches onto the fact it all sources to him and his irresponsibility as a captain. It's a serious interrogation of the first film's whimsical ideals surrounding piracy and greed. I think it's sophisticated. Kinda. Jack goes back to save his crew in the end, and that's what Elizabeth fails to consider when she takes matters into her own hands and closes the trap she was laying out for him throughout the entire movie. It had nothing to do with the monster being after him, it had everything to do with her blaming him for her misfortunes and seeking her own justice. It was especially about her seeking freedom from Jack's influence, hence Jack's final accusatory word to her, "pirate." Jack suddenly realized what she'd really been doing the whole time - learning from him, pretty much doing to him the same thing he did to Barbosa (which is why it's thematically rad as heck that it's Barbosa who's back at the end to save him). Thematically, DMC is about diminishing freedom. The walls of systematic greed are closing in around all the characters, and that pushes them to cross the lines they drew in the sand in the first film. It's a series about pirates, so of course it's about what pirates care about, things like a feeling of freedom and the vices of greed. These characters are in search of the power to attain those things in a world with superpowers of industry threatening to take everything they care about. Of course that power, in this universe, comes from a bunch of weird pirate folk lore trinkets. And yes, there is no real freedom and that's the point. Nobody is content with what they have. Jack finally has the Black Pearl, but it cost him everything he thought it would bring him. Elizabeth wasn't content to have Will, she wanted Will minus the life of piracy she knew came strings attached when she found him afloat at sea. Will wasn't content with winning Elizabeth's affection, he wanted to free his father from the consequences of his own greed. The only point to the events of At World's End is the outcome in relationship to the themes DMC lays out. I do think DMC is the best of them all because, despite its messiness, it builds on the first film's story in such a complex and interesting way, and challenges the characters in ways the more straight forward adventure of the first film didn't. You can't really argue that any sequel would have established a franchise without the first film breaking ground. Would The Empire Strikes Back have been able to kick start Star Wars without the first movie's explanation of the Force and the Empire's super nice and fun space politics? Would Terminator 2 have been able to kick start that series without the first movie establishing what a terrifying force of nature the machines were? Most of the best sequels in cinematic history tend to have a subversive quality to them, existing in conversation with their predecessor. Would Dead Man's Chest be as great as I think it is without Curse of the Black Pearl? Nope. It would be nonsense without that initial context. But I really think it succeeds in taking it a step further in the right direction... before driving it off a cliff in a very confused about where to take things third installment. Sorry I'm gushing, but if I give you an entire essay response you know I found your video interesting; not that I don't know I'm a little out of pocket for assuming anyone will read my incessant rambling.
I read it! All very fair points, I don't think the series goes really off the rails until AWE. I think everything you're identifying is absolutely there, I just wish the plot were tighter and the themes more pronounced. The fact that it isn't is, I think, foreshadowing for the series' eventual derailment. Thanks for the watch! :)
The woman absolutely KILLING IT on the cello at the 10min mark was simultaneously so fucking lit and so fun it made me almost giggle, I love it so much.
I sat here for about an hour watching a drunk tear apart one of my favorite childhood franchises without the rum-tinted glasses most gaze upon it nowadays, and loved every single second of it. Instant sub lass, keep making more.
My darkest secret is that I watched all 7 movies in 1 day. I will never tell anyone in person. It was really rough near the end but the beginning was fire.
It's okay, your secret is safe with us. Also, all the Pirate's just mainlined into your brain made you hallucinate two additional movies. It's fine, it happens sometimes...usually with no adverse effects...
"Big blockbuster movies [are] basically the only place we get A LOT of money and resources put into people making art" and "It's an appreciation for the beauty in language that exists outside of the information being conveyed (and that's really awesome)" are two of my favorite statements ever heard. Awesome work, this channel should be bigger.
I absolutely ADORE ADORE ADORE this channel. I was a bit dissolusioned with the video essay genre, to a point that I did not watch any video essays for almost a year. I feared I had lost my taste for critical thought or long-form videos, but you, oh my god thank you, proved me wrong!! these videos are giving me the rush I was missing-the inspiration and drive that motivated my choice of tertiary education. so, in short, you reminded me why I love my degree and love analysis. keep it up!!!
"LOOK'T THAT!"" I've been mimicking her saying that for the last hour LOL And then, AND THEN, she's just got these two big beautiful brown eyes that I like staring at because I prefer girls with brown eyes. It's like looking into the eyes of a baby deer LOL
I feel like people often confuse entertainment value for actual quality and "goodness". I've watched every one of these movies with friends or family and despite poking fun while we watched we all agreed that it was a fun time.
I personally love the mythology introduced with Dead Man’s Chest and as a myth nerd, it’s my favorite (and then the lore parts of the other movies like the pirate court). I think the whole backstory of Davy Jones and Jack’s deal was overlooked as a story option and theme structure. Like if they made it clear why the 100 souls thing was because of the slave ship and Jack’s rebellion and commitment to his morals (a change of heart haha?) it could have made the movie about following your heart to do what’s right. Davy Jones could have been either made to return to being the ferryman for the dead and seeing his role in making the afterlife better than the living world. Or he could have been killed and someone else taking that role and then the whole Davy Jones/Dutchman thing gets dropped. The big thing that sours Jones is his over usage in the later movies. He has a fantastic presence in the second movie and seeing him in the later movies feels like more fan service than actual good usage of a character
Completely agree. The theming is so tight in the first one, all they had to do was the same thing but bigger. It blows my mind how many opportunities they missed
I saw the original Pirates 8 times in the theatre. I watched the next two sequels once each, and skipped the rest. I can't describe the falling quality any better than that.
@@themorbidzoo Agreed. That's the puzzler for me. I think your analysis is excellent as to what was wrong, and what could fix it. But WHY did that happen? What made the first film able to be great that was missing from the later films? That's where my head hits the ceiling. If you take away the first film, the Pirates series is at best average, but they all fit together. But not the first one. So the first film bugs me the most.
@@Ocrilat If you ask me (and you did 😁), it's because Hollywood at that point hadn't developed the idea of a shared universe yet. The MCU is such a big project, and is only possible because of very recent developments in culture and film technology. But the movies themselves, outside the actual Avengers movies, are comparatively small. Before the MCU proved audiences had that kind of attention span, it was inconceivable to think of a franchise as anything more than one huge moneymaking splash that you just bleed until the returns get too small. So basically they didn't trust the Pirates movies to be successful unless they were massive and groundbreaking from an industrial perspective. I think if they were made today the franchise would look completely different.
You know, I went into this video thinking that the first 3 were amazing movies that were near flawless, but as I continued watching, I found myself agreeing with literally everything you said. Almost all of your problems with those first 2 sequels are the exact same things I noticed when I first watched them, but the movies were just so damn fun that I didn't even think about the parts I didn't like for more than two seconds lmfao. Also, your channel is a hidden goldmine, and I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing it grow.
40:12, I interpreted it as the heart of Davy Jones, as in he wants immortality but doesn't want the responsibility of ferrying souls. I think this is explained more in the third movie, where Will says "you have to do the job though Jack". Plus, Barbossa and Jack pondering the cost of immortality and being the last of something alive. They could have definitely gone into more detail on this though.
I like this! It could have turned into something pretty deep, a good legacy for the franchise and a theme deserving of the aesthetic beauty of At World’s End. Even the title of the film hints toward issues of mortality and legacy. Oh well! 🫠 thanks for the watch :)
@@themorbidzoo I am very biased towards the first 3 movies, and I rewatched them after watching Uncharted so I enjoyed how they at least felt like people were trying with them lol
@@themorbidzoo 100%, I wrote an essay for my college about how they're an example of auteur theory and a perfect representation of the adventure genre and I got a perfect grade for it so clearly I spun some bullshit😂
In Davy Jones' introductory "do you fear death-a" scene it seems like his whole deal is going to be trying to prove to everyone that his choice (remaining in the world and refusing to accept that he is essentially dead and his duty is to carry souls to the afterlife) is natural and the choice that any sensible person would make. And it's so cool! There's a feeling in that scene that he's a kind of ghost and can only appear to the lost sailors because they're hovering right on the brink of death, and you can see how a villain who embodied that theme would be a great foil for Jack, a guy who thinks he's a sensible materialist coward but who is always doing heroic things in spite of himself. It's a shame they don't follow through with that! They don't even hold onto that idea for all of Deadman's Chest. The gambling scene onboard the Flying Dutchman immediately muddle it, where it seems like sometimes the crew are gambling to win additional years of service, which makes sense because presumably they've all said yes to the "do you fear death" question and once your service is up you go on to the afterlife. But then Jones seems to think that an eternity of service on the Dutchman is a punishment for Bill Turner. Like *we* should think it is, that's what all the crabs and stuff seem to represent, but why does he think so?
Jones is well aware that the deal he made wasn't worth it, but he can't renege on it now. He can't die naturally and can't set foot on land so his options are sink to the bottom of the sea and wallow in eternal loneliness or captain the Flying Dutchman in a malicious compliance kind of way. He's preying on the raw, primal fear of death to convince someone to sign their soul into servitude because nobody can sail a ship alone. If you asked the average person "would you rather die right now, or in 100 years?" the answer will rarely be right now. As far as the Liar's Dice scene, pirates like to gamble and pretty much the only thing any of them have to gamble except for Jones is how many years are left on their contract. However, Bill gambles eternal servitude to save his son from the dire consequences. We see in at least one scene that if you serve on the ship long enough, you can *literally* become part of the ship, stuck in a wall as the marine life that has been growing on you finally takes over. Serving on the Dutchman forever would eventually be a fate worse than death, which is the implication.
Bruh, this video feels like I’m your friend, you invited me to some cuba libre and pizza, but not for me, and you just cant stop talking about pirates of the caribean you marathoned the weekend. Good video lol
I know it’s been a year but just discovered your content. When I was a kid I stayed at the resort that the cast of stranger tides was at. Shared an elevator with a very drunk Barbosa and my dad said he was doing “character work.”
@@themorbidzoo no way that’s wild! did you also see the zombie guy Deobia Oparei everywhere? He was super nice to my 10 year old self and family. That’s how a scary pirate zombie became my comfort character.
I actually agree with almost everything you say, but i still can't help but to love dead man's chest. The whole movie is just so enchanting and entertaining even if it isn't about anything at all. Anyways, good video, im subscribing
You unlocked a core memory - in 8th grade computer class we could bring in an CD to have played during class. I brought in the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. The response was tepid. Nobody else ever brought in a CD. I stand by my choice. Also is incredible music for running.
Found your channel through your Run Hide Fight analysis, and I really appreciate your videos! The tone, the horror focus (in politics and film), and the argumentation are all top-tier! A few years back, some friends and I tried to think of Pirates characters in terms of D&D classes, so I really appreciate the mythological approach to Jack as a Trickster God! Beckett, under the D&D framework, fits quite nicely as a Warlock, someone who utilizes arcane and supernatural relics and means not to solve existential problems (like Jack’s continual deals with devils), but to gain a political grip on the world around them. While on the nose, I looove Beckett’s introduction with the mural map of the world and the raising clock face. We know what his deal is visually without much explanation. As far as Davy Jones, I find him as an Oathbreaker Paladin His ethos as a villain isn’t political, nor does he provide an existential threat like Norrington or Barbosa do in Curse of the Black Pearl. He is a religious figure who doesn’t partake in the Pirate Council and who uses his spiritual authority not to assist those who perished too soon, but to enslave and corrupt to spite that what which first gave him purpose. If I understand Jone’s “spiritual charge/ministry” correctly, it is less that he is meant to ferry souls to the other side and more to give folks an opportunity to come to terms with death. That’s what his whole “do you fear death” monologue is all about, and his indiscriminate killing, cruelty, and spite shows the perversion of that religious charge. So he’s a clergyman, one who was promised that with sacrifice would come reward or comfort. And not receiving that, turns their disenchanted sorrow onto their flock, telling them *they* have to sacrifice it all for *their* eventual comfort. His themes, under this analysis, would then be less about romantic disillusionment and more about spiritual abuse. And the visual theme for that would be, like the apple in Curse, Davy Jones’ locket. A reminder of a time when he actually believed the words coming out of his mouth, when he had faith in what he was doing, and he loved the god whom he sailed for. And there are still whispers of that being the case. When he plays the organ, it is almost masterbatory, almost forcing himself to give in to a level of passion or ecstasy, but among his shipmates, there is just the guile and cruelty. Which might be why he’s relegated to a secondary villain for the third movie, because if industry is utilizing the tools and symbols of religion for control, religion has very little power to combat. It would be interesting to see Davy Jones take a Rasputin or Melisandre role and make fanatics against Beckett, but given Jones’s enduring cynicism, I can see why he lacks the power or control to be anything but the imperial lapdog.
Rum Recommendations: My younger brother is a major rum fan, and I took pub crawling etc on his birthday for a few years in University so we learned a lot together - Goslings Black Seal Navy Rum: My personal favorite, a very dark rum that is full of flavor. Works Well In: A Dark and Stormy - Pyrate Rum: A top shelf spiced rum that goes down entirely too easy with or without ice. Works Well: Straight Up, or On The Rocks - Kraken: 90 Proof (45% ABV) but it mixes fine. Very nice, interesting flavors for a spiced rum and definitely worth a try. Works Well: just with Cola, brings out the best in each.
Ugh your videos are just extraordinary. I'm going through your catalogue one by one and I'm continually blown away by your insight, research, and contextualization of media to the real world. Thanks so much for the work you're doing and may you be blessed with a million subs
Incredible concept! I'd love to see a Treasure Planet aesthetic of weird science-fantasy with mismatched technology and culture and magical-realist gods that exist in a liminal ambiguity of deification. Then suffuse it with honest-to-piracy anarchist themes and a focus on race and class that's easier to digest when made fantastical. Bring some weirdness back to space as a setting!
What an excellently presented video, your dedication to understanding the most seemingly basic decisions of film making is truly appreciated. Keep up the fantastic work👍
I never really felt like there was any actual love triangle between the main three. I guess I'd have to revisit the movies to see how it is handled exactly, like how the script and the visual language of the film treats this plot point, but from a character perspective I always saw the flirting between Jack and Elizabeth as an extention their dynamic in the desserted island of the first movie, meaning its Elizabeth taking advantage of Jack's attraction (or even as a concious continuation from both of the joke that "it would've never worked out between us", like something playful between friends). I never once felt like the feelings there were geniune (at least not entirely in Elizabeth's case). But regardless it does grate on me, specially because of how it affects Will's and Elizabeth's dynamic in the third movie. Not that I hate their falling apart, it creates some tension and it's realistic for a couple to go through a rough patch like that, as well as it beautifully parallels Calipso and Jones's relationship (they show a dark reflection of what Will and Elizabeth could've become if they didn't make an effort to comunicate and fix things, and viceversa, Will and Elizabeth show what Calipso and Jones could've been had they not been bitter, vengeful distrusting "people"). It's just not very fun to watch them be awkward around each other and it does no favor to Will's character in particular.
Also, about Elizabeth's rise to king, I agree it would've been cool to see her earn it more, or at least have more of an active role in the decisions that lead to her coronation, she's quite a passive character being passed around throughout the whole sequence of events that resolve with her being King. But I would say she is actually quite competent from the get go in the pirate world, even in the first movie Annamaria remarks that her plan to escape the Pearl was a good plan, they just happened to be out of their depth given the supernatural elements at play. She handles herself very gratefully throughout that whole movie (and the second one when she escapes Beckett and makes it to Tortuga all on her own), and despite Barbosa's fear tactics during her kidnapping, the sexism and the terrorising, she's never that scared of him (other than the whole skeleton sequence and whenever she's under immediate threat of death). She's ready to fight back from the beginning and she was always the type of character to give that rousing speech about freedom in At World's End, in fact she's been telling every single pirate she meets how they're supposed to act from minute one, always quoting the Code and whatnot; at that moment she just happened to be in a leadership position that would facilitate everyone actually listen to her.
Anyway sorry for the long comments, those are just a couple of things I felt the need to share, but I'm really enjoying the video and all your takes, great work :)
@@fightingmedialounge519 I know I know, I just don't think the side of Elizabeth+Jack is ever taken seriously by either of them or the narrative (only by Will for a brief moment)
My favorite thing about Jack and Barbossa's relationship is definetily their dialogue right after discovering the krakken's dead body during the third movie. All the theatrics and rivalry gone for a moment as the two of them speak in serious tone and meaning to each other with an unexpected sincerity, truly like two gods who gave it a rest between crazy shenanigans to reflect on what just happened. It's also a scene that truly makes me believe that, once in the past, these two worked well together as captain and right hand, not only in fighting, but also as two pirates that respected each other enough to make the arrangement work. Barbossa saying "The world used to be a bigger place" and Jack answering back "The world is still the same. There's just... less in it" is their best interaction and really shows how experienced, as well tired, these two are at that point. It's also very interesting to see Jack show empathy for the creature that made his life a living hell and eventually killed him in the previous movie, it really shows the layers of the trickster and the things he care more about. The krakken was the last of it's kind and now it's gone. One more unique and fantastical element of the sea gone. It's scenes like these that make a lot of people, me included, a lot of times ignore the very bad elements of the sequels (At least the second and third one), every now and then you get a hidden pearl like such moments. Just like you said, between all the corporate cynism and greed, good art and storytelling moments also come every now and then.
Weren't the 2nd and 3rd movies notoriously being written while they were being shot? And, allegedly, after all the praise Depp got after the first movie, he was allowed to improvise to his heart's content on the sequels, leaving the writers to hastily write follow-up scenes based on whatever random crap one actor said. If you really want to know why the first one is such a solid film, it's probably because it was the only one written entirely before production started. Never underestimate the power of pre production.
This video is a gem. I try to make my own videos but it's really bloody hard. Much unlike that pizza I can appreciate the delivery on this one. I'll admit I've only seen the first movie. Through my ignorance of the sequels I gain value in reviews like this. For all the work you have going on you still lay in the ground work to deliver many novel points. There's also the dramatic exile of a cat, the synchronised Depp quote, the asynchronized blink around the 44 min mark when the rum kicks in, and yet no break in pace. You're a pro. I was honestly surprised when it was over because I was so engaged. And what a way to spend and hour. Thank you for this :)
@30:50 I love that furry little trouble maker. Also dig the points you made. This was a fantastic breakdown of the franchise. I need more drinking reviews.
I love the genre and setting so much, I do really wish they had just gone near pure anthology. Like, maybe have Jack or Barbossa or Will and Elizabeth come back for parts, but not as some kind of almost requirement. Instead, learn what they could from letting Depp be weird and hire the actors that do weird shit and seeing what happens. Jeff Goldplum Pirate! What does that look like? What will Judy Greer do with a role? Bet Nicholas Hoult would do something cool. Shit. Unleash Daniel Radcliffe on a Pirates movie with a blank check and it'll be pure gold. And also think the big misconception was that Jack was the best PROTAGONIST. He's a great character, but in the same way Han Solo is the the fan favorite in Star Wars. Part of what allows him to be great is that the plot ISN'T resting so heavily on his shoulders. He GETS to be a little coy and quippy without it making problems. By slowly moving Jack into the driver seat, his antics just play different. When he's the ONLY major returning character and the DEFINITE protagonist, it's even worse.
@@themorbidzoo Hard to forget about the 3D when so many shots in the film are objects sharply protuding towards the camera. I found pirates 4 got quite claustrophobic with how many shots were framed soley for reminding people that they paid more to watch the film with a pair of plastic specs on...
I had a similar re awakening with these movies when my fiancé asked me if I thought the pirate sequels were good. I said, “you mean the ones where there’s a bunch of Jacks running around performing slapstick? No.” But the first movie is perfect I agree.
There are themes in the sequels : Dead Man’s Chest is about surviving in an unfair world. At World’s End is about making justice and love survive a corrupted greedy world. On Stranger Tides is about escaping god’s judgment by chasing immortality. And Dead Man Tell no Tales, while being a character assassination for Jack, is about combining scientific and mythological studies to find the biggest treasure of the sea.
I understood that he helped Pirate Court to imprison her after she did not appear after 10 years, as a form of revenge. Also he became Captain of the Dutchman as the act of love for her. And yeah souls do go to the other side but cannot find the way fully without Dutchman. That is why we see bunch of small boats in limbo in Worlds end (could work better if they did not go into same direction, symbolising that they are lost souls, but what can you do)
Great video and analysis. I forgot there were so many of these films. I didn't watch any films further than Dead Man's Chest. You're absolutely right that the creature designs in that movie are incredible, though. I just wish there were more swashbuckling pirate movies. I grew up with the 1983 Pirates of Penzance film. Then there was Goonies, which is pirate movie ... ish. And Princess Bride which mostly just talked about a pirate. Hook was good, but it's more Peter Pan. Cutthroat Island was ... a movie and there were pirates in it. Other than that ... it was the barren seas. So Curse of the Black pearl was fantastic. In some ways, I wish it was the only Pirates film I have seen.
I definitely think DMC would be way better with some more pronounced themes and less weird Elizabeth nonsense, but the aesthetic and feeling that the language (so glad you mentioned that!) , costumes and just general atmosphere creates is just so enjoyable to me. I don't even care that it makes no sense its like emotional eye candy and lets be serious literal eye candy lol
Firstly I absolutely LOVED this analysis, as a diehard pirates fan who played games, read accessory books, owned toys, etc. It was refreshing to hear a lot of your takes, and I loved the delivery of this breakdown. My only real source of disagreement I think would come from your view of the fourth movie. I think its better than either the 3rd or the 5th, and it has an interesting religious subtext that I think is overlooked. George III is literally a fat protestant caricature next to the sexy, unnamed god-fearing Spaniards who kinda tip the whole macguffan on its head at the end of the movie. And I actually enjoy the relationship between the priest character and the mermaid, partly because I think it contradicts your point at 42 minutes where you say that any proverbial avenue to “cheat death” or live comfortably is cursed. Far as we know, the priest and the mermaid get an happy ending where the priest escapes the evils of the material/surface world, and ascends/descends to a realm where he can experience unconditional love. This is another example of that weird Christian subtext I mentioned that I think gets overlooked. Opinions on religion aside, I think theres an interesting thematic flourish regarding the ideas of faith and fate in that movie that makes it amusing to me. Also I think Penelope Cruz’ character is great meta-irony in the sense that she is the character who (literally) most closely resembles Jack in her actions, abilities and persona, yet she still falls short in comparison to the OG. Both in the film, and outside of it. Anyways, I know I’m late, but this video convinced me to sub. I absolutely love it! Cheers!
I love the "girl, come over so I can talk at you about these movies for an hour, I'll get us pizza" vibe. Like I know _we_ as a TH-cam audience are supposed to work to keep our parasocial tendencies in check, but this video felt like it was the _creator_ who invited herself over and brought a bottle of rum for the trouble ❤
Love this video, but I can't help but disagree with your analysis of Davy Jones. I think Davy Jones can be read as an honest-to-God sailor's folktale. He falls in love with Calypso (who represents the sea), serves as the captain of the flying Dutchman for ten years with the assumption that Calypso will return to him, only for her to not return. He rebels, spiting her for centuries by captaining the Dutchman in the land of the living. Eventually he dies and is finally returned to Calypso. In short, he's just a sailor foolishly who fell in love with the sea, not realizing the sea could never love him back, and the only way to actualize that love is to give your life for her and commend your body to her. It doesn't make sense in a Disney movie, I'll give you that, but the fact that so many people let this story go over their heads IN A PIRATE MOVIE sort of bothers me.
Wow, what a cool channel. You are super funny and i love the minimalist editing style. No bullshit. Feels like having a genuine conversation with someone about something. Also tasty looking Pizza haha
this was a fun watch. 45:06 I remember a book I got at a school fair as a kid was about old lore or backstories of a younger jack Sparrow and other major characters, cant remember. I wouldn't be surprised if they just went back in time like that, I expect it to be as neutered as the 4th movie tho.
I am an engineer. I have a very specific brain, that lacks the experience and capability to analyze why I enjoy certain movies more than others. I can't explain why I don't enjoy certain movies that are so popular among others. Frankly, that makes these videos so enjoyable. Not that it gives me an opinion to voice, but it presents explicit ideas that I struggle to initially acknowledge myself. Thank you for all of your videos
I'm just going to say the only reason I like pirates of the Caribbean on stranger tides, is because of that mermaid scene. It was the best depiction of mermaids in any form of media that I've ever seen.
The note about the theme song in the second movie is really interesting. If you listen to much of the music from the first movie next to the soundtrack to Gladiator's, you realize that they lifted many of the motifs almost verbatim and just made them jaunty and piratical. Just listen to 'The Battle' once in isolation from the context of the movie and you immediately realize that the Pirates 1 main theme is like a royalty-free ripoff at parts. Not to say that's an inherently bad thing (the most iconic parts of the Gladiator theme are themselves heavily inspired by Holst's Mars after all). The changes they made in adapting it to the pirate theme and setting are transformational and I couldn't imagine a better, more fitting theme for the movie. The second movie's Jack theme, however, is a whole lot more original. It still retains the core motifs of the first movie's main theme, but is bigger, more indulgent, more boisterous, and even jauntier. I also don't think it is actually better. Sort of representative of the direction the series was heading.
At World's End is a messy, silly, prolonged escapade, but because my nostalgia modifier is so high, I love it all the same. Excellent analysis. I can't wait for more content. Side note: The whole pirate queen motif represented in Elizabeth and Black Beards Daughter is a cultural archetype with roots in actual history. It doesn't work for the purposes of the story because they don't really earn it, but it still bears mention.
25:09 genuinely did NOT expect to see Canadian comedy treasure Jared Keeso pop up in this thoughtful analysis of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. A pleasant surprise.
Regarding the ridiculous budget of Stranger Tides: Personally, I assume it's just the barely legal fraud (or regular fraud) accounting that all Hollywood studios run on. This is sometimes understandable-ish--"We spent 30 million dollars on cameras we're going to use for our next 20 movies, but we want the tax break this year, so we're accounting it in this film's budget" And sometimes it's probably just regular fraud to save on taxes.
A few comments : - On the contrary, I find it pretty smart to have the final antagonist of the trilogy being a military guy who holds control over the sea. It brings a metaphorical view of the colons who commit monstruous acts for the sake of « progress », especially with the goddess of sea saying « There is a devil on the sea ». The ultimate enemy in a series of film about pirates can’t be anyone else than someone who just wants to get rid of all the fantasies of the sea, because he doesn’t get it. He is like an atheist in a church. - It’s very reductive to summarize the praise of the second and third movie to « Look at that it’s weird ». No, the praises of the second and third movie come from the great character arcs of Elizabeth coming from being the governor’s daughter to the pirate king, Jack Sparrow obsessed with finding immortality before realizing what he wants more is to be a good man, and Will holding on to the promises he made to his father and his lover to become a mythological figure and find a compromise between what he wants and what he needs. The weirdness of the second and third movie isn’t gratuitous. It has thematic purpose. The scene with Jack in Davy Jones’ locker shows Jack reflecting on his life after Elizabeth’s betrayal that broke him psychologically. The crabs are just a visual way to show the manifestation of Calypso, who brings the Pearl to the rest of the crew, which is paid off in the final fight when she becomes a crab. Summarize all of that to « Yo that’s weird » is on the same level as the people who say « Star Wars is just a series of movies about space wizards with laser swords and space battles intended for children ». - 17:30 In the first movie, Elizabeth shown signs of dominating the pirates’ world. She perfectly understands how much the Aztec gold means to the pirates, she frees the crew on the Black Pearl, she got rid of the monkey that even Jack feared, and at the end she is the one who saves Will. In the second movie she steals the letters from Beckett and Jack perfectly sees in her that she has a taste for piracy. The fact that she has become respected after she becomes pirate king is all the point of that story. It shows the subtlety of how hierarchy is subverted by all the deals and betrayals happening in this insane world, and how someone who is technically weaker can become the strongest by vertue of playing with the rules. Plus her speech feels real as it perfectly embraces what piracy is about. So I don’t consider it a plot problem, it has been sufficiently justified and it’s appropriate with the thematics of this movie. - 18:10 time has passed after the second movie. Plus Barbossa at the beginning of At World’s End is still a pawn to Tia Dalma who resurrected him through her magic. Thus he is not in the same dominating position as he was in the first movie. Plus, he was only acting as frightening and agressive in the first movie because of the curse. If he didn’t have the curse Barbossa could have been sympathetic to the main couple. - 18:27 Why is this lazy ?? They believe they will die, so they remember that what they want the most was to marry the other ! It’s a callback to the beginning of the second movie ! This is good writing ! Plus, Barbossa marrying them highlights the fact that Barbossa is in fact sympathetic. In the first movie, he just wanted some of Bill Turner’s blood to break the curse. He didn’t plan to kill Elizabeth out of cruelty. When he plans to kill Will, it’s only after Elizabeth and Will disrupted his plan and provoked him. (Sorry if I’m that passionate, but At World’s End is my favorite Pirates of the Caribbean movie and I needed to give back its merits) - Salazar is a cool concept but it has one major flaw : it’s a Beckett rip-off. He is just a military guy who holds control of the sea by exploiting a cursed crew and a legendary pirate. The only difference is that Salazar is Spanish. - 35:31 I strongly disagree. The third movie perfectly highlights the love of Davy Jones and Calypso during the scene where they meet back and Davy Jones says that his heart will always belong to her. At the end when Calypso does the Maelstrom, Davy Jones believes she is on his side which motivates him more. Thus the heart still plays a metaphorical role in the story. There is even a parallel with Will and Elizabeth when Tia Dalma says to Will that there is a touch of destiny attached to him, or during the climax when Davy Jones purposely stabs Will to break their love. Plus at the end they become the new métaphore of Calypso and Davy Jones, as Will took Jones’ place and Elizabeth keeps his heart and waits for him. They have become myths themselves. So no, the heart isn’t just a McGuffin, it is only for Beckett who uses that as a mean to his end. - 37:36 Easy to say, harder to prove. Dead Man’s Chest is about how much you are willing to do to escape death. Jack flees his problems which makes them bigger (with the cannibals), Will still wants to save the woman he loves and then his father in order to be able to live with himself, Elizabeth takes her own destiny into her own hands even if it means becoming a pirate and betraying Jack to save the crew, and Norrington dooms everyone to selfishly regain his life back on track after unfairly losing everything. And At World’s End is about how to live with ourselves in modern society where morality is a mask to hide the monsters, and how to live up to our own mythos when the legends are dying. Elizabeth helps find Jack in order to live with herself, and then after her father and Norrington die she fully embraces her rebel self to brings a sense of morality and order to this disorganized pirates world. Will holds on to the promise he made to his father, still believing in his sense of morality and not realizing he is corrupted by a selfish goal, which causes him to be forced to serve the dead like a mythological figure. And Jack is at his best in this movie. After being rescued from the Davy Jones’ locker, he is obsessed with finding immortality in order to secure his own self, but after his dad tells him what matters most is living with himself forever, he lets Will kill Jones so he can survive, and he goes back to having his Black Pearl stolen and continues sailing on the sea but this time with his conscience clean, knowing he has become a good man.
say what you will about the first 3 pirates movies, but verbinski directs the hell out of those movies. there’s so much energy that isn’t present in the 4th and 5th
the windmill fight going on for too long reminds me of the scenes in these scenes in the hobbit that are also like rides: they also go on for far too long.
I'm only 3 minutes in, so maybe it'll be mentioned later on in the video, but I don't want to forget to remark THAT PotC's script originated from the script for a scrapped movie adaptation of the Monkey Island franchise! And I think it's a good chunk of why this movie (not counting the sequels, who cares) suddenly did everything right about making pirates fun and exciting when other movies before had failed spectacularly.
There's one thing they can do. Make Jack have a kid. Someone he can pass the mantle off to. Worked with GoW, will work here. End it on that note. Leave the mystery of Jacks end exactly that. The sequels years from now can deal with this. The mystery of Jacks death or transcendence and his kids adventures
12:13 I'd say it depends on what a writer was planning when they thought of any given line(so in this franchise's case you're likely right). I will say that i don't think a lack of theme is the problem with later movies. Both because bad movies can also have themes, and audiences often times will enjoy a movie with their own theme in mine regardless of if it is what the creative team intended(you even see it in these comments). The main issue seems to be that, like star wars, once they realize they had a potential franchsie on their hand after the first moive they tried to add details and depth to the world inspite of it not really complimenting the more simplistic format that help the first films story. They just did it in far less time.
The whole Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy has meaningful themes, not just the first movie. Dead Man’s Chest is about loyalty, with Jack Sparrow being unfaithful to even his friends at the beginning, and slowly learning to be loyal to them, Will Turner acting as a loyal agent of Beckett, only to become loyal to himself by fulfilling the promises he made to his wife and his father, Elizabeth trying to change Jack so he becomes loyal to his title of Captain, but then she becomes unfaithful herself, Norrington fighting to regain his title by being loyal to Beckett, and both main villains attack our heroes because they weren’t loyal to some higher authority (the crown or Davy Jones’ crew). At world’s end is about not fighting what we hate but saving what we love. Davy Jones is the bad example because he gave up on love as for him love is just a ridiculous concept that can easily be shattered, as his story with Calypso supports that idea. In this movie, Davy Jones loves no one and his objective is to profit of the situation to get free of Beckett and become the god of the oceans again. Will and Elizabeth both need to fight for what they love, which is respectively the life of Will’s father and the world of pirates, but most importantly they realize that they matter to each other as they marry themselves during the final battle. Beckett doesn’t care about any of the pirates because he loves no one of them. Sao Feng is convinced to help because he loves Elizabeth as he believes she is Calypso. Norrington remains a respectable and fine man until the end as he frees Elizabeth because he loves her unconditionally even after she joined the pirates. Barbossa is ready to do anything to regain his freedom after he’s been back from the dead, and he learns to care about Elizabeth’s and Will’s love, as he marries them. Calypso gained a certain wisdom about how love can be turnished and she advises Will that he will have to choose between love and duty. And finally Jack proves Davy Jones to be wrong when he saves Will in order to make Will and Elizabeth’s love immortal. The last scene where Will comes back after 10 years and Elizabeth is still there supports that idea.
This video was posted a year ago so idk if you will even read this or care, but I wanted to put my opinion in here about the Will/Elizabeth/Jack love triangle plotline. (I just discovered your channel btw and I am having a blast catching up on videos) While I agree there is something strange about Elizabeth having any attraction to Jack, or even alluding to it. I do believe it is all a set up to the ending scene where she tricks Jack with a kiss. You bringing up the narrative gods help put that into more perspective even now as I watch this video. Elizabeth is the woman who ultimately condemned the "trickster god" Captain Jack Sparrow to death while all others who tried to kill him failed miserably when it ought to be fairly easy to kill him. Now onto Will and Elizabeth: The man she really loves is overall a simple man, however boring their story is, it mirror's Calypso and Davy Jones almost a T. She is Calypso in that way that her heart has always belonged to the sea, and Will represents that to her, and in the end she ends up exactly in Calypso's place, bound to land while her love remains bound to the sea because of a curse that simply cannot be broken. (hence my hatred for the final film, which undoes all of this for a happy ending we didn't need) I'm not an essayist so probably everything I am saying is jumbled and out of place, but I appreciate your criticism on this franchise and look forward to consuming more content :)
As one of the biggest fans of the franchise in the world: yes, #2 and #3 are amazing movies. No, they are not better than Curse of the Black Pearl, which is, to this day, one of the only perfect movies I have ever seen.
The bad thing about dead man's chest is that there's just things happening on screen. The good thing about it is that those things are pretty interesting. The worst thing is that those motifs have no theme either in their own movies or throughout the series.
And now I am going to rewatch and actually watch the ones I haven't. I think watching something purely to appreciate one or more aspects is something I need to develop, as I am unintentionally snobby/ very ADHD about what I feel able to engage with or give enough of a chance, despite not actually wanting to be this way. I mentioned it on another video, but it bares repeating, I would love to hear you talk about Black Sails and particularly the kinda abdication of revolution and laissez-faire, stoic, hedonistic, isolationist attitude it ends up having. Great stuff. Thank you!
PotC is the 2nd poster child of 'Love at First Sight' movies (#1 being Star Wars), where audiences fall so head over heels for a an amazingly well timed, perfectly executed, boardroom-interference-free movie that people will come back 2, 3 4+. times in hopes of gazing one more time at that lighting in a bottle. I love them because they prove always that capitalists are terrible at capitalism. When the artists are standing against the MBAs and investors, shut off any media that backs the latter.
The only things wrong with this video are: 1. The almost full rum bottle - where's your megapint!? 😤 2. When the heck did you scratch yourself 😅 3. EAT THE PIZZA it's gonna go cold 😑 dangling pizza made me nervous But otherwise. . Impeccable video essay. . Subbed right away!!! Excited to see what you create in the future 🤗
Listen buddy, I'm a Dillards petite with an alcohol allergy, I did my best. Rest assured all pizza was eventually eaten in the making of this video. Thanks for the watch! 😁
In an alternate universe, all the Pirates movies are bangers. It's the same one that has Guillermo del Toro's version of the Hobbit. :( Thanks for the watch!
Hey, I take weirdness very seriously too! My mom even comments sometimes about "all that weird stuff you watch, Christopher," while she's passing through the room. LOL! I'm glad The Algorithm served your channel up to me, but I'm also very angry at it that it took its sweet time. I've binged just about all your videos in a few days; I should slow down so I don't feel like I'm sitting here with nothing to do waiting for the next drop. Your stuff is dense however, so there's several videos I need to sit through two or three more times to fully understand your points. Thank you for making such great videos!
Oh man... I wish I could draw... you said "melting zebra" and I immediately thought of a punk-rock fruit/stripe gum zebra in a Lisa Frank world. Gonna have to fire up Stable Diffusion.
As a historical clothing enthusiast I'm still mad that they did that whole extended corset bit in the 1st movie although at that time women wore stays, not corsets, and those were custom made and pretty comfortable. Especially given how amazing the costumes are.
The notion that pirates were subversive in terms of race is, unfortunately, a romanticized view that is not held up by what we know about this period. When pirates captured slave ships, they sold the slaves. They would occasionally press some into their crew if desperate, but slaves typically made poor sailors, because they simply didn't know how to run a ship. Pirates did impress merchant crews and fishermen, but it's pretty clear from the records that Pirates preferred knowledgable seamen, and slaves being brought across the Atlantic were typically inland Africans that had been brought to the coat by imperialist kingdoms like the Kingdom of Dahomey, and sold to the traders. A good book on the subject is "Black Flags and Blue Waters," which is a pretty intensive dive into the economic world of colonial piracy.
@@thomasemerson404 it’s not that pirates were beacons of human rights and social order lol that’s not the argument. The argument is simply that rejection of social mores meant rejection of -all- social mores, and anyone who proved themselves useful wouldn’t be rejected from a crew just because of who they were, nor could any special social position be claimed for the same reason. The social structure of a pirate crew is about as meritocratic as it gets, for good or ill.
I feel like a PG-13 animated Pirates movie could work really well, if Disney were actually interested in making PG-13 animated movies every once in a while.
I know this is old but I believe that Jack not knowing what he wanted did get resolved, I always assumed in the scene where the boat is getting attacked by the kraken that when Jack opened the compass while contemplating what to do next, it pointed to where the ship was. They don’t show it but I assumed that’s what it said and why he looks at it the way he did. I think the movie was about doing the right thing even when it’s hard to do, basic but at least it’s something.
I think there's 2 types of pirates in the public consciousness. There's actual pirates, thieves, killers, marauders. And there's adventure pirates, who only seem to rob from, and fight, other pirates, ancient magical hoards, and authoritarian governments. One Piece pirates, basically. Notably, the only crew we see in the films (that I can remember) pillage a peaceful community is Barbossa's cursed crew.
One thing I noticed on my rewatch of black purl is that Jack was never really that bad of a guy. He doesn't kill anyone when he steals the interceptor, he blows his own cover to save Elizabeth and one of the most famous stories about him is that he ransacked a port without even firing a shot. Gentleman pirate Jack
Aaaand if he had just shot Will at the beginning he never would have been thrown in prison!
@@themorbidzoo I know this was like a year ago, but the only reason he doesn't shoot Will in that scene is that he's saving the bullet for Barbossa.
Yeah just ignore the whole incident with the Endeavour, fuckin double broadside courtesy of the Black Pearl AND the Dutchman.
yeah... real pirates steal at gunpoint and unlock safes with barbaric tortures, the first movie is just suspension of disbelief, making four additional movies off suspension of disbelief is insane, but they did it anyway
@@eplantitrue, just like real spider bites don't give you powers, that's why I gave up on those Spider-Man movies after the first few 😂 the movies aren't claiming to be historical fiction, why is that what turned you from them?
Holy shit. A long-form video essayer who can actually do interesting analysis and give original thoughts. My new favorite channel.
Thank you!!
Yes, and not just copy what everyone else is saying.
@@Ocrilat Thanks so much!
And on top of that, using Alestorm in the ending credits 🤘
I really appreciate how much casual warmth is in this video! It's like going home after a movie, grabbing a pizza on the way, and happily overanalyzing the film and storytelling and life problems on the couch until 3 AM sneaks by.
Thank you! 😄
I love Dead Man's Chest, as far as I'm concerned this franchise is a duology. I agree it's messier and not nearly as neat and tidy as Curse was, but I think it does what all good sequels do - delve deeper into the themes of the first film with more of a focus on the characters and set up for a shitty plot centered third movie rather than have its own ending.
I think the "love triangle" with Elizabeth is almost the sole reason I've watched DMC as many times as I have. I don't think it's actually a love triangle, but I do think she wants Jack to think that's what it is, which is why it's so on the nose. I think Elizabeth hates Jack with a seething passion and fears his chaotic influence on her life. If Jack is a trickster god, Elizabeth recognizes that he is dangerous and unpredictable and fears what he'll do to satiate his own greed, and sets out to kill the god.
Elizabeth is my favorite character in this film, and that's not despite her only being given "lady" things to do, but because I think the opposite is true. I think she's the most level headed and proactive character in the movie, despite ultimately being wrong about the conclusion she comes to; she more so is the only one thinking about why anything is happening and what can possibly be done about it, while Jack is too petrified of death to think straight (he doesn't know what he wants because he thinks he's going to die and that sends him on a spiral of bucket list thoughts) and Will is caught up in the emotions of discovering his father's fate. In the end, like Will before the events of the first film, Elizabeth chose to believe in the system of law that robbed her of her wedding and to blame the pirate way of life that openly defies the rule of law.
In the end, she had to become what she feared Jack to be in order to get rid of him - treacherous. But in the face of the grief she caused everyone who trusted Jack, it suddenly dawns on her that in her desperation she used him as a scapegoat to excuse the real villains (capitalism, greed in its final boss second phase, it's just good business) for the injustice done to her and her fiance (making her crusade as "Pirate King" against Beckett at least cathartic on paper). Watching the guilt crush her in that final scene is the emotional gut punch of the second movie more than what happens to Jack, and the promise of bringing him back is less a promise of a fan favorite character's return, but a promise that Elizabeth will have to answer for what she did. Promises promises.
The entire premise of Dead Man's Chest is that Jack's time as a god has come to its end, and he is put in a position of sacrificing mortals to regain his immortal status, figuratively speaking... or literally? I dunno. So Will is the unwitting victim, and Davy Jones' death grip on Will's family is the metaphorical cost of Jack's greedy nature, which he overcomes, but not before Elizabeth catches onto the fact it all sources to him and his irresponsibility as a captain. It's a serious interrogation of the first film's whimsical ideals surrounding piracy and greed. I think it's sophisticated. Kinda.
Jack goes back to save his crew in the end, and that's what Elizabeth fails to consider when she takes matters into her own hands and closes the trap she was laying out for him throughout the entire movie. It had nothing to do with the monster being after him, it had everything to do with her blaming him for her misfortunes and seeking her own justice. It was especially about her seeking freedom from Jack's influence, hence Jack's final accusatory word to her, "pirate." Jack suddenly realized what she'd really been doing the whole time - learning from him, pretty much doing to him the same thing he did to Barbosa (which is why it's thematically rad as heck that it's Barbosa who's back at the end to save him).
Thematically, DMC is about diminishing freedom. The walls of systematic greed are closing in around all the characters, and that pushes them to cross the lines they drew in the sand in the first film. It's a series about pirates, so of course it's about what pirates care about, things like a feeling of freedom and the vices of greed. These characters are in search of the power to attain those things in a world with superpowers of industry threatening to take everything they care about. Of course that power, in this universe, comes from a bunch of weird pirate folk lore trinkets.
And yes, there is no real freedom and that's the point. Nobody is content with what they have. Jack finally has the Black Pearl, but it cost him everything he thought it would bring him. Elizabeth wasn't content to have Will, she wanted Will minus the life of piracy she knew came strings attached when she found him afloat at sea. Will wasn't content with winning Elizabeth's affection, he wanted to free his father from the consequences of his own greed. The only point to the events of At World's End is the outcome in relationship to the themes DMC lays out.
I do think DMC is the best of them all because, despite its messiness, it builds on the first film's story in such a complex and interesting way, and challenges the characters in ways the more straight forward adventure of the first film didn't.
You can't really argue that any sequel would have established a franchise without the first film breaking ground. Would The Empire Strikes Back have been able to kick start Star Wars without the first movie's explanation of the Force and the Empire's super nice and fun space politics? Would Terminator 2 have been able to kick start that series without the first movie establishing what a terrifying force of nature the machines were?
Most of the best sequels in cinematic history tend to have a subversive quality to them, existing in conversation with their predecessor. Would Dead Man's Chest be as great as I think it is without Curse of the Black Pearl? Nope. It would be nonsense without that initial context. But I really think it succeeds in taking it a step further in the right direction... before driving it off a cliff in a very confused about where to take things third installment.
Sorry I'm gushing, but if I give you an entire essay response you know I found your video interesting; not that I don't know I'm a little out of pocket for assuming anyone will read my incessant rambling.
I read it! All very fair points, I don't think the series goes really off the rails until AWE. I think everything you're identifying is absolutely there, I just wish the plot were tighter and the themes more pronounced. The fact that it isn't is, I think, foreshadowing for the series' eventual derailment. Thanks for the watch! :)
The woman absolutely KILLING IT on the cello at the 10min mark was simultaneously so fucking lit and so fun it made me almost giggle, I love it so much.
Her name is tina guo, she is a main stay in Hans Zimmers Orchestra
You should hear her cello solo in Bear McCreary's "Apocalypse". She's a madwoman with a bow.
Thought I recognized her play style. Rock on, Tina Guo
I sat here for about an hour watching a drunk tear apart one of my favorite childhood franchises without the rum-tinted glasses most gaze upon it nowadays, and loved every single second of it. Instant sub lass, keep making more.
Aye capn 🫡
In Australia, Salazar's revenge was called "dead men tell no tales" which I think is more fun
same in the uk
I always thought that was the title… here in the USA when it came out I could’ve sworn that’s what it’s been called
It is@@nyxeo
Wait, that Is not the tittle of the movie?
yea thats what its called in the us
My darkest secret is that I watched all 7 movies in 1 day. I will never tell anyone in person. It was really rough near the end but the beginning was fire.
By 7 do you mean 5? Are there 2 movies I don’t know about??? 😬
@@themorbidzoo Dude, I dont know where I made up 2 other Pirates movies. Yeah, 5. Still a rough day. Great stuff man
the two forbidden Pirates movies were lost at sea
What a day that must’ve been that 2 more films manifested solely for you before shifting back into the ether. A dark secret indeed
It's okay, your secret is safe with us. Also, all the Pirate's just mainlined into your brain made you hallucinate two additional movies. It's fine, it happens sometimes...usually with no adverse effects...
"Big blockbuster movies [are] basically the only place we get A LOT of money and resources put into people making art"
and
"It's an appreciation for the beauty in language that exists outside of the information being conveyed (and that's really awesome)"
are two of my favorite statements ever heard. Awesome work, this channel should be bigger.
I absolutely ADORE ADORE ADORE this channel. I was a bit dissolusioned with the video essay genre, to a point that I did not watch any video essays for almost a year. I feared I had lost my taste for critical thought or long-form videos, but you, oh my god thank you, proved me wrong!! these videos are giving me the rush I was missing-the inspiration and drive that motivated my choice of tertiary education. so, in short, you reminded me why I love my degree and love analysis. keep it up!!!
Thank you so much! 😊😭
Your delivery is so entertaining. And you've got the smarts too, wow
Thanks bby ❤️
Yea. And a woman, too. So unusual.
"LOOK'T THAT!"" I've been mimicking her saying that for the last hour LOL
And then, AND THEN, she's just got these two big beautiful brown eyes that I like staring at because I prefer girls with brown eyes. It's like looking into the eyes of a baby deer LOL
agreed :)
@@dukaduka506 your intentions are vague
I don't undertand why you don't have more subs, this content is great and really entertaining.
Haha thanks! Maybe the algorithm will bless me someday :)
I feel like people often confuse entertainment value for actual quality and "goodness". I've watched every one of these movies with friends or family and despite poking fun while we watched we all agreed that it was a fun time.
I personally love the mythology introduced with Dead Man’s Chest and as a myth nerd, it’s my favorite (and then the lore parts of the other movies like the pirate court). I think the whole backstory of Davy Jones and Jack’s deal was overlooked as a story option and theme structure. Like if they made it clear why the 100 souls thing was because of the slave ship and Jack’s rebellion and commitment to his morals (a change of heart haha?) it could have made the movie about following your heart to do what’s right. Davy Jones could have been either made to return to being the ferryman for the dead and seeing his role in making the afterlife better than the living world. Or he could have been killed and someone else taking that role and then the whole Davy Jones/Dutchman thing gets dropped. The big thing that sours Jones is his over usage in the later movies. He has a fantastic presence in the second movie and seeing him in the later movies feels like more fan service than actual good usage of a character
Completely agree. The theming is so tight in the first one, all they had to do was the same thing but bigger. It blows my mind how many opportunities they missed
I saw the original Pirates 8 times in the theatre. I watched the next two sequels once each, and skipped the rest. I can't describe the falling quality any better than that.
The plummet is so fast it gives me vertigo
@@themorbidzoo Agreed. That's the puzzler for me. I think your analysis is excellent as to what was wrong, and what could fix it. But WHY did that happen? What made the first film able to be great that was missing from the later films? That's where my head hits the ceiling. If you take away the first film, the Pirates series is at best average, but they all fit together. But not the first one. So the first film bugs me the most.
@@Ocrilat If you ask me (and you did 😁), it's because Hollywood at that point hadn't developed the idea of a shared universe yet. The MCU is such a big project, and is only possible because of very recent developments in culture and film technology. But the movies themselves, outside the actual Avengers movies, are comparatively small. Before the MCU proved audiences had that kind of attention span, it was inconceivable to think of a franchise as anything more than one huge moneymaking splash that you just bleed until the returns get too small. So basically they didn't trust the Pirates movies to be successful unless they were massive and groundbreaking from an industrial perspective. I think if they were made today the franchise would look completely different.
I liked when the cat got arrested for eating pizza
You know, I went into this video thinking that the first 3 were amazing movies that were near flawless, but as I continued watching, I found myself agreeing with literally everything you said. Almost all of your problems with those first 2 sequels are the exact same things I noticed when I first watched them, but the movies were just so damn fun that I didn't even think about the parts I didn't like for more than two seconds lmfao. Also, your channel is a hidden goldmine, and I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing it grow.
40:12, I interpreted it as the heart of Davy Jones, as in he wants immortality but doesn't want the responsibility of ferrying souls. I think this is explained more in the third movie, where Will says "you have to do the job though Jack". Plus, Barbossa and Jack pondering the cost of immortality and being the last of something alive. They could have definitely gone into more detail on this though.
I like this! It could have turned into something pretty deep, a good legacy for the franchise and a theme deserving of the aesthetic beauty of At World’s End. Even the title of the film hints toward issues of mortality and legacy.
Oh well! 🫠 thanks for the watch :)
@@themorbidzoo I am very biased towards the first 3 movies, and I rewatched them after watching Uncharted so I enjoyed how they at least felt like people were trying with them lol
@@AcornPlays they’re a fucking capital A Adventure
@@themorbidzoo 100%, I wrote an essay for my college about how they're an example of auteur theory and a perfect representation of the adventure genre and I got a perfect grade for it so clearly I spun some bullshit😂
@@themorbidzoohave you seen rango?
"Magical maritime MacGuffin" is a delightful turn of phrase, great job
In Davy Jones' introductory "do you fear death-a" scene it seems like his whole deal is going to be trying to prove to everyone that his choice (remaining in the world and refusing to accept that he is essentially dead and his duty is to carry souls to the afterlife) is natural and the choice that any sensible person would make. And it's so cool! There's a feeling in that scene that he's a kind of ghost and can only appear to the lost sailors because they're hovering right on the brink of death, and you can see how a villain who embodied that theme would be a great foil for Jack, a guy who thinks he's a sensible materialist coward but who is always doing heroic things in spite of himself. It's a shame they don't follow through with that!
They don't even hold onto that idea for all of Deadman's Chest. The gambling scene onboard the Flying Dutchman immediately muddle it, where it seems like sometimes the crew are gambling to win additional years of service, which makes sense because presumably they've all said yes to the "do you fear death" question and once your service is up you go on to the afterlife. But then Jones seems to think that an eternity of service on the Dutchman is a punishment for Bill Turner. Like *we* should think it is, that's what all the crabs and stuff seem to represent, but why does he think so?
Jones is well aware that the deal he made wasn't worth it, but he can't renege on it now. He can't die naturally and can't set foot on land so his options are sink to the bottom of the sea and wallow in eternal loneliness or captain the Flying Dutchman in a malicious compliance kind of way. He's preying on the raw, primal fear of death to convince someone to sign their soul into servitude because nobody can sail a ship alone. If you asked the average person "would you rather die right now, or in 100 years?" the answer will rarely be right now.
As far as the Liar's Dice scene, pirates like to gamble and pretty much the only thing any of them have to gamble except for Jones is how many years are left on their contract. However, Bill gambles eternal servitude to save his son from the dire consequences. We see in at least one scene that if you serve on the ship long enough, you can *literally* become part of the ship, stuck in a wall as the marine life that has been growing on you finally takes over. Serving on the Dutchman forever would eventually be a fate worse than death, which is the implication.
Bruh, this video feels like I’m your friend, you invited me to some cuba libre and pizza, but not for me, and you just cant stop talking about pirates of the caribean you marathoned the weekend.
Good video lol
Bahahha good, that was the idea 😄 thanks for watching!
I know it’s been a year but just discovered your content. When I was a kid I stayed at the resort that the cast of stranger tides was at. Shared an elevator with a very drunk Barbosa and my dad said he was doing “character work.”
You and I were in Hawaii at the same time, I saw them filming the arrival to shore 🤝
@@themorbidzoo no way that’s wild! did you also see the zombie guy Deobia Oparei everywhere? He was super nice to my 10 year old self and family. That’s how a scary pirate zombie became my comfort character.
@@cals1343 ha I didn’t! I was staying at a family member’s house so I just got to drive my the sets and gawk 😁
This is an incredible mood shift when coming straight from the pretzel jack video. Like straight up whiplash in video form. I love it
Haaahaha, just trying to keep everyone on their toes, I guess 😅
I actually agree with almost everything you say, but i still can't help but to love dead man's chest. The whole movie is just so enchanting and entertaining even if it isn't about anything at all. Anyways, good video, im subscribing
Thanks! There’s a lot to love about dead man’s chest, no shame.
You unlocked a core memory - in 8th grade computer class we could bring in an CD to have played during class. I brought in the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. The response was tepid. Nobody else ever brought in a CD. I stand by my choice.
Also is incredible music for running.
I'm so impressed that I never saw any of the pirates movies, and yet you managed to hold my attention for an hour. Another great video as always!
You've NEVER seen them?? Mm we might have to fix that. Thanks for the watch :)
@@themorbidzoo yeah it's so weird that I haven't, but I'll get on it!
Oh. Oh my... "This action sequence begins here. And it is the opening action sequence."
Agreed! The 1st movie is sooo nostalgic and I loved you going through why this franchise is so remembered (both good and bad) :)
Thanks so much!! 😊
Found your channel through your Run Hide Fight analysis, and I really appreciate your videos! The tone, the horror focus (in politics and film), and the argumentation are all top-tier!
A few years back, some friends and I tried to think of Pirates characters in terms of D&D classes, so I really appreciate the mythological approach to Jack as a Trickster God!
Beckett, under the D&D framework, fits quite nicely as a Warlock, someone who utilizes arcane and supernatural relics and means not to solve existential problems (like Jack’s continual deals with devils), but to gain a political grip on the world around them. While on the nose, I looove Beckett’s introduction with the mural map of the world and the raising clock face. We know what his deal is visually without much explanation.
As far as Davy Jones, I find him as an Oathbreaker Paladin His ethos as a villain isn’t political, nor does he provide an existential threat like Norrington or Barbosa do in Curse of the Black Pearl.
He is a religious figure who doesn’t partake in the Pirate Council and who uses his spiritual authority not to assist those who perished too soon, but to enslave and corrupt to spite that what which first gave him purpose.
If I understand Jone’s “spiritual charge/ministry” correctly, it is less that he is meant to ferry souls to the other side and more to give folks an opportunity to come to terms with death. That’s what his whole “do you fear death” monologue is all about, and his indiscriminate killing, cruelty, and spite shows the perversion of that religious charge. So he’s a clergyman, one who was promised that with sacrifice would come reward or comfort. And not receiving that, turns their disenchanted sorrow onto their flock, telling them *they* have to sacrifice it all for *their* eventual comfort.
His themes, under this analysis, would then be less about romantic disillusionment and more about spiritual abuse. And the visual theme for that would be, like the apple in Curse, Davy Jones’ locket. A reminder of a time when he actually believed the words coming out of his mouth, when he had faith in what he was doing, and he loved the god whom he sailed for. And there are still whispers of that being the case. When he plays the organ, it is almost masterbatory, almost forcing himself to give in to a level of passion or ecstasy, but among his shipmates, there is just the guile and cruelty.
Which might be why he’s relegated to a secondary villain for the third movie, because if industry is utilizing the tools and symbols of religion for control, religion has very little power to combat. It would be interesting to see Davy Jones take a Rasputin or Melisandre role and make fanatics against Beckett, but given Jones’s enduring cynicism, I can see why he lacks the power or control to be anything but the imperial lapdog.
This is such a gorgeous interpretation, wow I never thought of that
So happy to be a viewer of your channel before you hit 100k subscribers.
Rum Recommendations: My younger brother is a major rum fan, and I took pub crawling etc on his birthday for a few years in University so we learned a lot together
- Goslings Black Seal Navy Rum: My personal favorite, a very dark rum that is full of flavor. Works Well In: A Dark and Stormy
- Pyrate Rum: A top shelf spiced rum that goes down entirely too easy with or without ice. Works Well: Straight Up, or On The Rocks
- Kraken: 90 Proof (45% ABV) but it mixes fine. Very nice, interesting flavors for a spiced rum and definitely worth a try. Works Well: just with Cola, brings out the best in each.
Ugh your videos are just extraordinary. I'm going through your catalogue one by one and I'm continually blown away by your insight, research, and contextualization of media to the real world. Thanks so much for the work you're doing and may you be blessed with a million subs
I would love if they took a complete weird turn and embrace Jack and a trickster god… re-emerging in a new golden age of piracy… space piracy lol
Incredible concept! I'd love to see a Treasure Planet aesthetic of weird science-fantasy with mismatched technology and culture and magical-realist gods that exist in a liminal ambiguity of deification. Then suffuse it with honest-to-piracy anarchist themes and a focus on race and class that's easier to digest when made fantastical. Bring some weirdness back to space as a setting!
What an excellently presented video, your dedication to understanding the most seemingly basic decisions of film making is truly appreciated. Keep up the fantastic work👍
I never really felt like there was any actual love triangle between the main three. I guess I'd have to revisit the movies to see how it is handled exactly, like how the script and the visual language of the film treats this plot point, but from a character perspective I always saw the flirting between Jack and Elizabeth as an extention their dynamic in the desserted island of the first movie, meaning its Elizabeth taking advantage of Jack's attraction (or even as a concious continuation from both of the joke that "it would've never worked out between us", like something playful between friends). I never once felt like the feelings there were geniune (at least not entirely in Elizabeth's case). But regardless it does grate on me, specially because of how it affects Will's and Elizabeth's dynamic in the third movie. Not that I hate their falling apart, it creates some tension and it's realistic for a couple to go through a rough patch like that, as well as it beautifully parallels Calipso and Jones's relationship (they show a dark reflection of what Will and Elizabeth could've become if they didn't make an effort to comunicate and fix things, and viceversa, Will and Elizabeth show what Calipso and Jones could've been had they not been bitter, vengeful distrusting "people"). It's just not very fun to watch them be awkward around each other and it does no favor to Will's character in particular.
Also, about Elizabeth's rise to king, I agree it would've been cool to see her earn it more, or at least have more of an active role in the decisions that lead to her coronation, she's quite a passive character being passed around throughout the whole sequence of events that resolve with her being King. But I would say she is actually quite competent from the get go in the pirate world, even in the first movie Annamaria remarks that her plan to escape the Pearl was a good plan, they just happened to be out of their depth given the supernatural elements at play. She handles herself very gratefully throughout that whole movie (and the second one when she escapes Beckett and makes it to Tortuga all on her own), and despite Barbosa's fear tactics during her kidnapping, the sexism and the terrorising, she's never that scared of him (other than the whole skeleton sequence and whenever she's under immediate threat of death). She's ready to fight back from the beginning and she was always the type of character to give that rousing speech about freedom in At World's End, in fact she's been telling every single pirate she meets how they're supposed to act from minute one, always quoting the Code and whatnot; at that moment she just happened to be in a leadership position that would facilitate everyone actually listen to her.
Anyway sorry for the long comments, those are just a couple of things I felt the need to share, but I'm really enjoying the video and all your takes, great work :)
Most lost triangles don't really have the focul point character deeply love both their options
@@fightingmedialounge519 I know I know, I just don't think the side of Elizabeth+Jack is ever taken seriously by either of them or the narrative (only by Will for a brief moment)
@@ohwow1626 yeah, that's basically most love triangles. Their really only there for extra character drama.
My favorite thing about Jack and Barbossa's relationship is definetily their dialogue right after discovering the krakken's dead body during the third movie. All the theatrics and rivalry gone for a moment as the two of them speak in serious tone and meaning to each other with an unexpected sincerity, truly like two gods who gave it a rest between crazy shenanigans to reflect on what just happened. It's also a scene that truly makes me believe that, once in the past, these two worked well together as captain and right hand, not only in fighting, but also as two pirates that respected each other enough to make the arrangement work. Barbossa saying "The world used to be a bigger place" and Jack answering back "The world is still the same. There's just... less in it" is their best interaction and really shows how experienced, as well tired, these two are at that point.
It's also very interesting to see Jack show empathy for the creature that made his life a living hell and eventually killed him in the previous movie, it really shows the layers of the trickster and the things he care more about. The krakken was the last of it's kind and now it's gone. One more unique and fantastical element of the sea gone.
It's scenes like these that make a lot of people, me included, a lot of times ignore the very bad elements of the sequels (At least the second and third one), every now and then you get a hidden pearl like such moments. Just like you said, between all the corporate cynism and greed, good art and storytelling moments also come every now and then.
Weren't the 2nd and 3rd movies notoriously being written while they were being shot? And, allegedly, after all the praise Depp got after the first movie, he was allowed to improvise to his heart's content on the sequels, leaving the writers to hastily write follow-up scenes based on whatever random crap one actor said. If you really want to know why the first one is such a solid film, it's probably because it was the only one written entirely before production started.
Never underestimate the power of pre production.
Some of that information is fairly questionable.
This video is a gem. I try to make my own videos but it's really bloody hard. Much unlike that pizza I can appreciate the delivery on this one.
I'll admit I've only seen the first movie. Through my ignorance of the sequels I gain value in reviews like this.
For all the work you have going on you still lay in the ground work to deliver many novel points.
There's also the dramatic exile of a cat, the synchronised Depp quote, the asynchronized blink around the 44 min mark when the rum kicks in, and yet no break in pace. You're a pro.
I was honestly surprised when it was over because I was so engaged. And what a way to spend and hour. Thank you for this :)
Thank you so much ☺️
I remember going to see pirates in the theatres as a 6 year old and I thought captain jack was the coolest mf to ever walk the earth
A person who listed to the commentary to On Stranger Tides. Ah....a better human than I. We salute you!
A Pirates prequel based on a freed slave ship is an awesome premise.
@30:50 I love that furry little trouble maker. Also dig the points you made. This was a fantastic breakdown of the franchise. I need more drinking reviews.
She was trying to turn off my mic
I love the genre and setting so much, I do really wish they had just gone near pure anthology. Like, maybe have Jack or Barbossa or Will and Elizabeth come back for parts, but not as some kind of almost requirement.
Instead, learn what they could from letting Depp be weird and hire the actors that do weird shit and seeing what happens. Jeff Goldplum Pirate! What does that look like? What will Judy Greer do with a role? Bet Nicholas Hoult would do something cool. Shit. Unleash Daniel Radcliffe on a Pirates movie with a blank check and it'll be pure gold.
And also think the big misconception was that Jack was the best PROTAGONIST. He's a great character, but in the same way Han Solo is the the fan favorite in Star Wars. Part of what allows him to be great is that the plot ISN'T resting so heavily on his shoulders. He GETS to be a little coy and quippy without it making problems. By slowly moving Jack into the driver seat, his antics just play different. When he's the ONLY major returning character and the DEFINITE protagonist, it's even worse.
25:59 - 3d cameras, 900 crew members who want raises, and $55 mil straight to JD? Great video! Very in depth
I did forget about the 3D cameras. Lol that was a sound investment. Thanks for the watch!!
@@themorbidzoo Hard to forget about the 3D when so many shots in the film are objects sharply protuding towards the camera. I found pirates 4 got quite claustrophobic with how many shots were framed soley for reminding people that they paid more to watch the film with a pair of plastic specs on...
I had a similar re awakening with these movies when my fiancé asked me if I thought the pirate sequels were good. I said, “you mean the ones where there’s a bunch of Jacks running around performing slapstick? No.”
But the first movie is perfect I agree.
There are themes in the sequels :
Dead Man’s Chest is about surviving in an unfair world. At World’s End is about making justice and love survive a corrupted greedy world. On Stranger Tides is about escaping god’s judgment by chasing immortality. And Dead Man Tell no Tales, while being a character assassination for Jack, is about combining scientific and mythological studies to find the biggest treasure of the sea.
idk why but that part with the cat made me laugh so hard :D
may I add that I think you are extremely beautiful and charming? :)
I understood that he helped Pirate Court to imprison her after she did not appear after 10 years, as a form of revenge. Also he became Captain of the Dutchman as the act of love for her. And yeah souls do go to the other side but cannot find the way fully without Dutchman. That is why we see bunch of small boats in limbo in Worlds end (could work better if they did not go into same direction, symbolising that they are lost souls, but what can you do)
Great video and analysis. I forgot there were so many of these films. I didn't watch any films further than Dead Man's Chest. You're absolutely right that the creature designs in that movie are incredible, though. I just wish there were more swashbuckling pirate movies. I grew up with the 1983 Pirates of Penzance film. Then there was Goonies, which is pirate movie ... ish. And Princess Bride which mostly just talked about a pirate. Hook was good, but it's more Peter Pan. Cutthroat Island was ... a movie and there were pirates in it. Other than that ... it was the barren seas. So Curse of the Black pearl was fantastic. In some ways, I wish it was the only Pirates film I have seen.
I definitely think DMC would be way better with some more pronounced themes and less weird Elizabeth nonsense, but the aesthetic and feeling that the language (so glad you mentioned that!) , costumes and just general atmosphere creates is just so enjoyable to me. I don't even care that it makes no sense its like emotional eye candy and lets be serious literal eye candy lol
Firstly I absolutely LOVED this analysis, as a diehard pirates fan who played games, read accessory books, owned toys, etc. It was refreshing to hear a lot of your takes, and I loved the delivery of this breakdown.
My only real source of disagreement I think would come from your view of the fourth movie. I think its better than either the 3rd or the 5th, and it has an interesting religious subtext that I think is overlooked. George III is literally a fat protestant caricature next to the sexy, unnamed god-fearing Spaniards who kinda tip the whole macguffan on its head at the end of the movie. And I actually enjoy the relationship between the priest character and the mermaid, partly because I think it contradicts your point at 42 minutes where you say that any proverbial avenue to “cheat death” or live comfortably is cursed. Far as we know, the priest and the mermaid get an happy ending where the priest escapes the evils of the material/surface world, and ascends/descends to a realm where he can experience unconditional love. This is another example of that weird Christian subtext I mentioned that I think gets overlooked. Opinions on religion aside, I think theres an interesting thematic flourish regarding the ideas of faith and fate in that movie that makes it amusing to me.
Also I think Penelope Cruz’ character is great meta-irony in the sense that she is the character who (literally) most closely resembles Jack in her actions, abilities and persona, yet she still falls short in comparison to the OG. Both in the film, and outside of it.
Anyways, I know I’m late, but this video convinced me to sub. I absolutely love it! Cheers!
I love the "girl, come over so I can talk at you about these movies for an hour, I'll get us pizza" vibe.
Like I know _we_ as a TH-cam audience are supposed to work to keep our parasocial tendencies in check, but this video felt like it was the _creator_ who invited herself over and brought a bottle of rum for the trouble ❤
Love this video, but I can't help but disagree with your analysis of Davy Jones. I think Davy Jones can be read as an honest-to-God sailor's folktale. He falls in love with Calypso (who represents the sea), serves as the captain of the flying Dutchman for ten years with the assumption that Calypso will return to him, only for her to not return. He rebels, spiting her for centuries by captaining the Dutchman in the land of the living. Eventually he dies and is finally returned to Calypso. In short, he's just a sailor foolishly who fell in love with the sea, not realizing the sea could never love him back, and the only way to actualize that love is to give your life for her and commend your body to her. It doesn't make sense in a Disney movie, I'll give you that, but the fact that so many people let this story go over their heads IN A PIRATE MOVIE sort of bothers me.
i get a lot of $hit adverts with things i watch but with this i get Alan Watts breathing air into existence. You're doing something very right.
Girl you hit all the spots! You gave me thirst and many laughs. So a toast for you and your enjoyable brillant content, Yoho! Be well!
Thank you thank you! Cheers! 🍻
You’re incredibly good at this! I’ve gone down a TH-cam rabbit hole of just your channel haha
Haha thank you! 😁
Now what we need is for you to jump into Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland, Haunted Mansion, and Jungle Cruise.
Wow, what a cool channel. You are super funny and i love the minimalist editing style. No bullshit. Feels like having a genuine conversation with someone about something. Also tasty looking Pizza haha
Thanks! 😁
you should make these vids more often :) great fun to watch
Thanks 😁
That praise to johny deep doesn't sit well when you know what kind of person he is and what he did.
Uncomfortably, shitty people sometimes do not-shitty things.
this was a fun watch.
45:06 I remember a book I got at a school fair as a kid was about old lore or backstories of a younger jack Sparrow and other major characters, cant remember. I wouldn't be surprised if they just went back in time like that, I expect it to be as neutered as the 4th movie tho.
I am an engineer. I have a very specific brain, that lacks the experience and capability to analyze why I enjoy certain movies more than others. I can't explain why I don't enjoy certain movies that are so popular among others. Frankly, that makes these videos so enjoyable. Not that it gives me an opinion to voice, but it presents explicit ideas that I struggle to initially acknowledge myself. Thank you for all of your videos
I'm just going to say the only reason I like pirates of the Caribbean on stranger tides, is because of that mermaid scene. It was the best depiction of mermaids in any form of media that I've ever seen.
The note about the theme song in the second movie is really interesting. If you listen to much of the music from the first movie next to the soundtrack to Gladiator's, you realize that they lifted many of the motifs almost verbatim and just made them jaunty and piratical. Just listen to 'The Battle' once in isolation from the context of the movie and you immediately realize that the Pirates 1 main theme is like a royalty-free ripoff at parts. Not to say that's an inherently bad thing (the most iconic parts of the Gladiator theme are themselves heavily inspired by Holst's Mars after all). The changes they made in adapting it to the pirate theme and setting are transformational and I couldn't imagine a better, more fitting theme for the movie.
The second movie's Jack theme, however, is a whole lot more original. It still retains the core motifs of the first movie's main theme, but is bigger, more indulgent, more boisterous, and even jauntier. I also don't think it is actually better. Sort of representative of the direction the series was heading.
At World's End is a messy, silly, prolonged escapade, but because my nostalgia modifier is so high, I love it all the same. Excellent analysis. I can't wait for more content.
Side note: The whole pirate queen motif represented in Elizabeth and Black Beards Daughter is a cultural archetype with roots in actual history. It doesn't work for the purposes of the story because they don't really earn it, but it still bears mention.
25:09 genuinely did NOT expect to see Canadian comedy treasure Jared Keeso pop up in this thoughtful analysis of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. A pleasant surprise.
Regarding the ridiculous budget of Stranger Tides: Personally, I assume it's just the barely legal fraud (or regular fraud) accounting that all Hollywood studios run on.
This is sometimes understandable-ish--"We spent 30 million dollars on cameras we're going to use for our next 20 movies, but we want the tax break this year, so we're accounting it in this film's budget"
And sometimes it's probably just regular fraud to save on taxes.
A few comments :
- On the contrary, I find it pretty smart to have the final antagonist of the trilogy being a military guy who holds control over the sea. It brings a metaphorical view of the colons who commit monstruous acts for the sake of « progress », especially with the goddess of sea saying « There is a devil on the sea ».
The ultimate enemy in a series of film about pirates can’t be anyone else than someone who just wants to get rid of all the fantasies of the sea, because he doesn’t get it. He is like an atheist in a church.
- It’s very reductive to summarize the praise of the second and third movie to « Look at that it’s weird ». No, the praises of the second and third movie come from the great character arcs of Elizabeth coming from being the governor’s daughter to the pirate king, Jack Sparrow obsessed with finding immortality before realizing what he wants more is to be a good man, and Will holding on to the promises he made to his father and his lover to become a mythological figure and find a compromise between what he wants and what he needs.
The weirdness of the second and third movie isn’t gratuitous. It has thematic purpose. The scene with Jack in Davy Jones’ locker shows Jack reflecting on his life after Elizabeth’s betrayal that broke him psychologically. The crabs are just a visual way to show the manifestation of Calypso, who brings the Pearl to the rest of the crew, which is paid off in the final fight when she becomes a crab.
Summarize all of that to « Yo that’s weird » is on the same level as the people who say « Star Wars is just a series of movies about space wizards with laser swords and space battles intended for children ».
- 17:30 In the first movie, Elizabeth shown signs of dominating the pirates’ world. She perfectly understands how much the Aztec gold means to the pirates, she frees the crew on the Black Pearl, she got rid of the monkey that even Jack feared, and at the end she is the one who saves Will.
In the second movie she steals the letters from Beckett and Jack perfectly sees in her that she has a taste for piracy.
The fact that she has become respected after she becomes pirate king is all the point of that story. It shows the subtlety of how hierarchy is subverted by all the deals and betrayals happening in this insane world, and how someone who is technically weaker can become the strongest by vertue of playing with the rules.
Plus her speech feels real as it perfectly embraces what piracy is about.
So I don’t consider it a plot problem, it has been sufficiently justified and it’s appropriate with the thematics of this movie.
- 18:10 time has passed after the second movie. Plus Barbossa at the beginning of At World’s End is still a pawn to Tia Dalma who resurrected him through her magic. Thus he is not in the same dominating position as he was in the first movie. Plus, he was only acting as frightening and agressive in the first movie because of the curse. If he didn’t have the curse Barbossa could have been sympathetic to the main couple.
- 18:27 Why is this lazy ?? They believe they will die, so they remember that what they want the most was to marry the other ! It’s a callback to the beginning of the second movie ! This is good writing !
Plus, Barbossa marrying them highlights the fact that Barbossa is in fact sympathetic. In the first movie, he just wanted some of Bill Turner’s blood to break the curse. He didn’t plan to kill Elizabeth out of cruelty. When he plans to kill Will, it’s only after Elizabeth and Will disrupted his plan and provoked him.
(Sorry if I’m that passionate, but At World’s End is my favorite Pirates of the Caribbean movie and I needed to give back its merits)
- Salazar is a cool concept but it has one major flaw : it’s a Beckett rip-off. He is just a military guy who holds control of the sea by exploiting a cursed crew and a legendary pirate. The only difference is that Salazar is Spanish.
- 35:31 I strongly disagree. The third movie perfectly highlights the love of Davy Jones and Calypso during the scene where they meet back and Davy Jones says that his heart will always belong to her. At the end when Calypso does the Maelstrom, Davy Jones believes she is on his side which motivates him more. Thus the heart still plays a metaphorical role in the story.
There is even a parallel with Will and Elizabeth when Tia Dalma says to Will that there is a touch of destiny attached to him, or during the climax when Davy Jones purposely stabs Will to break their love. Plus at the end they become the new métaphore of Calypso and Davy Jones, as Will took Jones’ place and Elizabeth keeps his heart and waits for him. They have become myths themselves. So no, the heart isn’t just a McGuffin, it is only for Beckett who uses that as a mean to his end.
- 37:36 Easy to say, harder to prove. Dead Man’s Chest is about how much you are willing to do to escape death. Jack flees his problems which makes them bigger (with the cannibals), Will still wants to save the woman he loves and then his father in order to be able to live with himself, Elizabeth takes her own destiny into her own hands even if it means becoming a pirate and betraying Jack to save the crew, and Norrington dooms everyone to selfishly regain his life back on track after unfairly losing everything. And At World’s End is about how to live with ourselves in modern society where morality is a mask to hide the monsters, and how to live up to our own mythos when the legends are dying. Elizabeth helps find Jack in order to live with herself, and then after her father and Norrington die she fully embraces her rebel self to brings a sense of morality and order to this disorganized pirates world. Will holds on to the promise he made to his father, still believing in his sense of morality and not realizing he is corrupted by a selfish goal, which causes him to be forced to serve the dead like a mythological figure. And Jack is at his best in this movie. After being rescued from the Davy Jones’ locker, he is obsessed with finding immortality in order to secure his own self, but after his dad tells him what matters most is living with himself forever, he lets Will kill Jones so he can survive, and he goes back to having his Black Pearl stolen and continues sailing on the sea but this time with his conscience clean, knowing he has become a good man.
insanely underrated channel
say what you will about the first 3 pirates movies, but verbinski directs the hell out of those movies. there’s so much energy that isn’t present in the 4th and 5th
The way i ate this video up, please make more! ❤❤❤
I just love Davy Jones so much, I guess I forgive any other flaws.
the windmill fight going on for too long reminds me of the scenes in these scenes in the hobbit that are also like rides: they also go on for far too long.
I'm only 3 minutes in, so maybe it'll be mentioned later on in the video, but I don't want to forget to remark THAT PotC's script originated from the script for a scrapped movie adaptation of the Monkey Island franchise! And I think it's a good chunk of why this movie (not counting the sequels, who cares) suddenly did everything right about making pirates fun and exciting when other movies before had failed spectacularly.
There's one thing they can do. Make Jack have a kid. Someone he can pass the mantle off to. Worked with GoW, will work here. End it on that note. Leave the mystery of Jacks end exactly that. The sequels years from now can deal with this. The mystery of Jacks death or transcendence and his kids adventures
Yeah, just have it so that Penelope Cruz was telling the truth that she was with child.
12:13 I'd say it depends on what a writer was planning when they thought of any given line(so in this franchise's case you're likely right).
I will say that i don't think a lack of theme is the problem with later movies. Both because bad movies can also have themes, and audiences often times will enjoy a movie with their own theme in mine regardless of if it is what the creative team intended(you even see it in these comments).
The main issue seems to be that, like star wars, once they realize they had a potential franchsie on their hand after the first moive they tried to add details and depth to the world inspite of it not really complimenting the more simplistic format that help the first films story. They just did it in far less time.
I'm seven minutes through and I already love this.
Hope you still loved it by minute 50! :)
I heard a theory that jack could have severe life long dehydration that could explain his behavior and thought process always loved the theory.
The whole Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy has meaningful themes, not just the first movie.
Dead Man’s Chest is about loyalty, with Jack Sparrow being unfaithful to even his friends at the beginning, and slowly learning to be loyal to them, Will Turner acting as a loyal agent of Beckett, only to become loyal to himself by fulfilling the promises he made to his wife and his father, Elizabeth trying to change Jack so he becomes loyal to his title of Captain, but then she becomes unfaithful herself, Norrington fighting to regain his title by being loyal to Beckett, and both main villains attack our heroes because they weren’t loyal to some higher authority (the crown or Davy Jones’ crew).
At world’s end is about not fighting what we hate but saving what we love. Davy Jones is the bad example because he gave up on love as for him love is just a ridiculous concept that can easily be shattered, as his story with Calypso supports that idea. In this movie, Davy Jones loves no one and his objective is to profit of the situation to get free of Beckett and become the god of the oceans again. Will and Elizabeth both need to fight for what they love, which is respectively the life of Will’s father and the world of pirates, but most importantly they realize that they matter to each other as they marry themselves during the final battle. Beckett doesn’t care about any of the pirates because he loves no one of them. Sao Feng is convinced to help because he loves Elizabeth as he believes she is Calypso. Norrington remains a respectable and fine man until the end as he frees Elizabeth because he loves her unconditionally even after she joined the pirates. Barbossa is ready to do anything to regain his freedom after he’s been back from the dead, and he learns to care about Elizabeth’s and Will’s love, as he marries them. Calypso gained a certain wisdom about how love can be turnished and she advises Will that he will have to choose between love and duty. And finally Jack proves Davy Jones to be wrong when he saves Will in order to make Will and Elizabeth’s love immortal. The last scene where Will comes back after 10 years and Elizabeth is still there supports that idea.
This video was posted a year ago so idk if you will even read this or care, but I wanted to put my opinion in here about the Will/Elizabeth/Jack love triangle plotline. (I just discovered your channel btw and I am having a blast catching up on videos)
While I agree there is something strange about Elizabeth having any attraction to Jack, or even alluding to it. I do believe it is all a set up to the ending scene where she tricks Jack with a kiss. You bringing up the narrative gods help put that into more perspective even now as I watch this video. Elizabeth is the woman who ultimately condemned the "trickster god" Captain Jack Sparrow to death while all others who tried to kill him failed miserably when it ought to be fairly easy to kill him.
Now onto Will and Elizabeth:
The man she really loves is overall a simple man, however boring their story is, it mirror's Calypso and Davy Jones almost a T. She is Calypso in that way that her heart has always belonged to the sea, and Will represents that to her, and in the end she ends up exactly in Calypso's place, bound to land while her love remains bound to the sea because of a curse that simply cannot be broken. (hence my hatred for the final film, which undoes all of this for a happy ending we didn't need)
I'm not an essayist so probably everything I am saying is jumbled and out of place, but I appreciate your criticism on this franchise and look forward to consuming more content :)
I wouldn't say it almost mirrors them considering how different will is from Davy jones..
Your videos are soo good. Can’t believe I haven’t stumbled on you sooner!
As one of the biggest fans of the franchise in the world: yes, #2 and #3 are amazing movies. No, they are not better than Curse of the Black Pearl, which is, to this day, one of the only perfect movies I have ever seen.
The bad thing about dead man's chest is that there's just things happening on screen. The good thing about it is that those things are pretty interesting. The worst thing is that those motifs have no theme either in their own movies or throughout the series.
And now I am going to rewatch and actually watch the ones I haven't. I think watching something purely to appreciate one or more aspects is something I need to develop, as I am unintentionally snobby/ very ADHD about what I feel able to engage with or give enough of a chance, despite not actually wanting to be this way.
I mentioned it on another video, but it bares repeating, I would love to hear you talk about Black Sails and particularly the kinda abdication of revolution and laissez-faire, stoic, hedonistic, isolationist attitude it ends up having.
Great stuff. Thank you!
Just gotta applaud your use of Alestorm at the end there!
🏴☠️🫡
PotC is the 2nd poster child of 'Love at First Sight' movies (#1 being Star Wars), where audiences fall so head over heels for a an amazingly well timed, perfectly executed, boardroom-interference-free movie that people will come back 2, 3 4+. times in hopes of gazing one more time at that lighting in a bottle. I love them because they prove always that capitalists are terrible at capitalism. When the artists are standing against the MBAs and investors, shut off any media that backs the latter.
The only things wrong with this video are:
1. The almost full rum bottle - where's your megapint!? 😤
2. When the heck did you scratch yourself 😅
3. EAT THE PIZZA it's gonna go cold 😑 dangling pizza made me nervous
But otherwise. . Impeccable video essay. . Subbed right away!!! Excited to see what you create in the future 🤗
RE: 2, she did it at 37:37! I notice continuity mistakes all the time, so I HAD to go track down and see if that was captured.
@@SaintMark5 😅 that was soooo quick and smooth I didn't even notice. Good catch!
Listen buddy, I'm a Dillards petite with an alcohol allergy, I did my best. Rest assured all pizza was eventually eaten in the making of this video. Thanks for the watch! 😁
totally agree, the original is a decent movie, and the best of the bunch by far.
In an alternate universe, all the Pirates movies are bangers. It's the same one that has Guillermo del Toro's version of the Hobbit. :(
Thanks for the watch!
Just found your channel. Love this. Keep at it!
Thanks so much 😄
that cut to black with Dropkick Murphys was brilliant, just like it is in the movie lol
Hey, I take weirdness very seriously too! My mom even comments sometimes about "all that weird stuff you watch, Christopher," while she's passing through the room. LOL! I'm glad The Algorithm served your channel up to me, but I'm also very angry at it that it took its sweet time. I've binged just about all your videos in a few days; I should slow down so I don't feel like I'm sitting here with nothing to do waiting for the next drop. Your stuff is dense however, so there's several videos I need to sit through two or three more times to fully understand your points. Thank you for making such great videos!
One example of a praised recent pirate show I can think of is Our Flag means Death
Also One Piece! We’re fucken back baby!
I've just found your channel, and I love it! Owards to at least 100K, heh.
Oh man... I wish I could draw... you said "melting zebra" and I immediately thought of a punk-rock fruit/stripe gum zebra in a Lisa Frank world. Gonna have to fire up Stable Diffusion.
As a historical clothing enthusiast I'm still mad that they did that whole extended corset bit in the 1st movie although at that time women wore stays, not corsets, and those were custom made and pretty comfortable. Especially given how amazing the costumes are.
The notion that pirates were subversive in terms of race is, unfortunately, a romanticized view that is not held up by what we know about this period. When pirates captured slave ships, they sold the slaves. They would occasionally press some into their crew if desperate, but slaves typically made poor sailors, because they simply didn't know how to run a ship. Pirates did impress merchant crews and fishermen, but it's pretty clear from the records that Pirates preferred knowledgable seamen, and slaves being brought across the Atlantic were typically inland Africans that had been brought to the coat by imperialist kingdoms like the Kingdom of Dahomey, and sold to the traders.
A good book on the subject is "Black Flags and Blue Waters," which is a pretty intensive dive into the economic world of colonial piracy.
@@thomasemerson404 it’s not that pirates were beacons of human rights and social order lol that’s not the argument. The argument is simply that rejection of social mores meant rejection of -all- social mores, and anyone who proved themselves useful wouldn’t be rejected from a crew just because of who they were, nor could any special social position be claimed for the same reason. The social structure of a pirate crew is about as meritocratic as it gets, for good or ill.
I feel like a PG-13 animated Pirates movie could work really well, if Disney were actually interested in making PG-13 animated movies every once in a while.
Great content. My favorite role re: Faramir is Audrey in Moulin Rouge. Short but sweet.
I know this is old but I believe that Jack not knowing what he wanted did get resolved, I always assumed in the scene where the boat is getting attacked by the kraken that when Jack opened the compass while contemplating what to do next, it pointed to where the ship was. They don’t show it but I assumed that’s what it said and why he looks at it the way he did. I think the movie was about doing the right thing even when it’s hard to do, basic but at least it’s something.
I think there's 2 types of pirates in the public consciousness.
There's actual pirates, thieves, killers, marauders.
And there's adventure pirates, who only seem to rob from, and fight, other pirates, ancient magical hoards, and authoritarian governments.
One Piece pirates, basically.
Notably, the only crew we see in the films (that I can remember) pillage a peaceful community is Barbossa's cursed crew.