“Yo ho, yo ho, raise the colors high…”

So begins the third installment of the beloved trilogy of Pirates of the Caribbean. The pirate song is sung several times throughout the movie, a wonderful way of tying events and characters together. It is sung first by a cabin boy, who is then joined by his fellow doomed pirates. The song leads us to the dark and mysterious Singapore and to the introduction of the much-changed Elizabeth Swann. Elizabeth is dressed in an Oriental outfit- much different from her prim dresses and boy’s clothes of the past two movies. Her soft singing is interrupted by someone else who knows the song- and its meaning. This man is Tai Huang, part of the Sao Feng, the Asian Pirate Lord’s crew.

The scene in Sao Feng’s abode is great- mostly dramatic, but with touches of comedy here and there. Keira Knightley proves in this scene that she can handle physical comedy. In the hands of another actress, the removal of Elizabeth’s abundance of weapons might have been a little long and tedious. The amount of weapons that Elizabeth is hiding on her person is, in itself, humorous, but the way that Keira goes about presenting them is very funny. Captain Barbossa is also back, and Geoffrey Rush’s comic skills are on display in this scene, as are actors Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook’s. I was very happy to see these two pirates back- their on-screen chemistry is a joy to watch.

While we meet many new characters in the scenes in Singapore, we are soon revisiting one of the most popular movie characters in the history of filmmaking- Captain Jack Sparrow. For those who need a refresher, Jack (oops, sorry, Captain Jack) is in Davy Jones’ Locker, having been eaten by the Krakken in DMC. Being in the Locker is not the same as being dead, as Tia Dalma explains in a later scene (“Barbossa was only dead. Jack is taken body and soul”). The Locker is sort of a purgatory, and what is more of a purgatory for Jack than having his precious Black Pearl… but not being able to sail it? The crabs in this scene are a bit… odd. We find out their purpose later in the movie, but it is perhaps a little too late- the audience has quite forgotten about the odd little rock-crabs by their next appearance.

I was very intruiged by the map- I loved how the words lined up and it was just pretty cool. It was a bit of puzzle that I- and probably most of the audience- enjoyed finding out the answers to.

The evil Lord Cutler Beckett is also back, and crueler than ever. He now controls the Flying Dutchman indirectly- he gives Jones the orders, and if Jones knows what’s good for him, he’ll follow them. We find out that Beckett has forced Jones to kill the Krakken to that Beckett might interrogate the survivors of the Flying Dutchman’s attacks. Beckett is a bit of a control freak and wishes to control all of the seas- and this means he must dispose of all pirates and people who associate with them (hence all those being hung in the movie’s opening scene). I must say, I really like Tom Hollander, and I like him more every time I see him. He is a pretty short guy, but can still pull of a large, powerful role like Beckett, adding charm to the character that sometimes fools people into thinking that he’s on their side.

In the employ of Lord Beckett are the rather miserable Governor Swann and Admiral Norrington. Governor Swann, I believe is working for Beckett so that his daughter might live, but I don’t think even Norington knows why he’s working for Beckett, exactly. I’m sure it has something to do with getting some honor back to his name, but it’s still pretty unclear what he’s doing there (though no complaints on the actor front here- I absolutely love Jack Davenport in the role.)

Possibly my favorite scene in the movie is the one between Elizabeth and her father. Governor Swann’s “usefulness” comes to an end and he somehow ends up dead. I think the most powerful part about this scene is that the audience knows that Swann is dead, but Elizabeth does not. Ecstatic, thinking that they’re back to the world they fell off the end of, Elizabeth calls to her father to join them on the ship. While she shouts excitedly and throws a rope to her father’s small boat, the other inhabitants of the ship exchange miserable looks- they all know what is going on. Swann makes a sad little speech about why he is dead and how proud he is of Elizabeth. Slowly, Elizabeth begins to understand that her father is dead and almost jumps off the ship in order to rescue him from a fate he has already suffered. It’s a heartbreaking scene that caused me to sob both times that I saw it and cry for a good ten minutes after it ended.

One thing I did not like was the Multiple Jack stuff. It was a little unnecessary, and a little… second-movie-ish. I’m sure there were other, less bizarre ways they could have done those parts.

I really like what has become of Will at the start of the third movie. He’s grown up a lot since the first movie, and I like him very much now. As much as I like Elizabeth, I’m kind of glad that Will has the confidence in himself to question Elizabeth’s actions; he’s not a lovesick little boy anymore. He is able to stand on his own two feet, and I like that.

The reason that the crew had to save Jack and get Sao Feng was because the Bretheren Court was meeting for the fourth (?) time. Although this was a good incentive to get Jack back and meet Sao Feng, I thought this goal was kind of lost. I suppose it’s because in order to get to the Brethern court, they needed Jack, and getting him back was not that easy, so that became the main goal of the movie. Perhaps that’s why it was so long.

It was a great twist that Elizabeth was first made Captain of the Empress and then Pirate King. It was great to see a female character make such a transition. Look at the changes in Elizabeth since the first movie!

Sao Feng’s death was very unexpected. I expected him to be a much bigger character. I liked the small character detail of Tai Huang being indignant that Elizabeth was given the captaincy. It made it feel more real to me, rather than having the crew just be like, “Oh, okay.”

The scene between Elizabeth and Bootstrap was very sad, and very well acted on both parts. I really like Stellan Skarsgard, he was a wonderful choice, and having only seen him as the scary villain, it’s nice to see him as a caring father. It was sad enough that Bootstrap said that Will wouldn’t choose him, but it was even sadder that he didn’t remember the conversation seconds after it happened.

So… what side IS Norrington on? Well, it doesn’t really matter anymore because he died! I was so shocked and sad when he died. And what was with Bootstrap being all evil for a second? He seemed perfectly nice a few scenes before. But I wish Norrington hadn’t died…

I was ecstatic to see Murtogg and Mullroy back again. I was disappointed that they weren’t in PotC 2, and so was very happy to see them again. Their circular conversations were very welcome.

Something I didn’t like was the whole Calypso subplot. It seemed like it was only put in there so Sao Feng would have some reason to take Elizabeth, and while I liked that scene, I didn’t like the whole Calypso thing. It was unnecessary and I liked Tia Dalma being Tia Dalma. It was one pirate story too many. This was not helped by Tia Dalma/ Calypso growing into a giant.

The end of the movie was shocking- mostly due to Will’s death. I was so surprised that this happened, especially since it looked like Jack would stab the heart first. But I liked that Will had time to say good-bye to Elizabeth. And, of course, the fact that she stayed true to him made me very happy.

Overall, it was a great movie- it made me see that the second one was a bit sub-standard. If I have anything to say about it, I’ll be seeing it many more times.