Pirates -- Arr!

As a dedicated squarerig sailor (well, I would be yet if I hadn't been landlocked the last seven years), I am thrilled to see a pirate film this summer. Reminds me of how much I need to get on the water to clear my head. Freedom…
He prefaces the novel with an account of an actual historical personage, Captain Mission, a seventeenth-century pirate who founded an all-male, homosexual community on Madagascar, a libertarian society that outlawed slavery, the death penalty, and any interference in the beliefs and practices of its members. [From the introduction to Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader on Burroughs' Cities of the Red Night.]
I put forth the proposition that Mr. Depp is aware of both Captain Mission and Mr. Burroughs (a trivial stretch, really, as I just found his performance in The Source). His dynamic, enjoyable performance in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is also that of a foppish dandy. Clever, inspired and subversive.
Rogues are dangerous because they cross social barriers, and the sense of propriety and indignation from the English elites is well done in this film without crossing to the realm of self-parody. It's too easy to take cheap shots (blah, blah parents are stupid, cops are boring, watch me light my underwear) at authority figures, but Jack Davenport (as Commodore Norrington) maintains believability and a sympathetic air. Don't worry, it's a pirate film, and Verbinski keeps it fun. I was surprised at the length, but the pacing is fine and the scenes that might have been cut are worthwhile.
Two final points: the transitions between the undead and fleshly pirates as they cross the moonlight are smooth. Also, Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann seems to be chasing Depp's highly mannered performance with some peculiar facial expressions of his own.
Secret confession: I've been to neither Disneyland nor Disney World.

Posted by Mike at July 11, 2003 07:47 PM | TrackBack