PIRATES OF THE CARRIBBEAN : AT WORLD'S END

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/atworldsend/
PLOT : This be the last, aaargh !
THOUGHT : Why am I so sad ?

It started weak. After the opening teaser, we find our leading lady (the svelte and saucy Kiera KNIGHTLEY) and our second favorite resurrected pirate (Geoffrey RUSH, 2nd to Mr. Depp, naturally) in Singapore. I distinctly (stupidly) remember thinking, "Really ? The world's end is...Singapore ? Is that racist ?"

The film unwound slowly, even more slowly than Pirates 2, which was disappointing, given this was the proclaimed final installment in the hugely successful PIRATES series. Some highlights included seeing Kieth RICHARDS of the Rolling Stones (aka "the Human Riff") cameo as Captain Teague, i.e. Jack Sparrow's father. Also, you'll get to see (spoiler alert ?) the real face of Cpt. Davy Jones (Bill NIGHY) and the real identity of Tia Dalma (Naomie HARRIS). Orlando even kind of grows a pair, which made me kind of respect him. But in all, the movie left me very...sad. And I don't want to say why, but I actually cried, I was so sad. Then again, I cried during TARZAN when Tarzan hugged the gorilla mamma and said, "You will always be my mother." Just thinking about it, I'm tearing up right now. What can I say, Disney movies make me cry. It's just that I wasn't expecting PIRATES to do that ! I wish Gore VERBINSKI would explain himself.

This movie leaves a lot unanswered, sews things up a little too quickly and doesn't offer much room for a "maybe in the future, after the cameras stopped rolling, everything worked out fine" conclusion. This movie begs for a sequel. Problem is, there won't be one. Unless Kiera's out of work and still cute in ten or fifteen years. Johnny Depp, we don't have to worry about. He'll be a hunk for life.

Best thing about this sequel : the pirate song, reprived throughout the film by the slightly predictable but still quite wonderful musical genius of Hans ZIMMER. Oh, and Orlando Bloom. Sissy no more.

Worst thing about this sequel : The lack of a conclusion. The un-conclusion. The faux-clusion. Gore VERBINSKI, explain yourself.

Overall rating : 2.5/5