journal features

movie review - Pirates of the Caribbean

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Kokubunji, 2021.09.19

Another semi-lockdown quarantine movie review with the kids. I have to say this one has aged very well, it really is an outstanding action movie worth another viewing. Unlike its sequels and the sub-genre that it seems to have spawned in recent years. The casting and direction are spot on with this thing, which comes across in the abundant chemistry between the actors. It gets a touch frenetic at times, with not enough breaks between the rapidly spinning cameras, but honestly there's more to the plot in this story than I remembered so it's no wonder. It just feels great, like the first Star Wars movie did, it looks amazing, and it has no pretense. Everyone is likeable in ways that aren't always easy.

I will say this: end-credit scenes should never, ever be plot-bearing. This punched a hole in the Avengers movies and it did so with the second or third in this series as well when Barbossa returns. Annoying!

Strongly recommended. Get a high-quality version.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges