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Pirates of the Caribbean:At World’s End just hit theatres last Thursday. Though I wasn’t able to see it on the first day out, I managed to get myself to see it on Friday night at my usual movie spot, Eau Claire Mall.

It was pretty packed, I ended up having to sit near the front. Which was fine, the screen area covered the entire area of my peripheral view.

Warning, spoilers ahead.

The movie starts off in a gruesome courtyard where a big lineup of people, ranging from old men to young children, were being hanged for charges that related them to pirates pretty much in any way. May it be collaborating with one or being part of a crew. There they all were forced to forfeit their lives. As the line moves forward, a young boy starts to sing “Hoist the Colors”. I was totally expecting all the prisoners to start doing the Can Can when they started singing.

Elsewhere in Singapore, Captain Barbossa, Elizabeth Swann, and Will Turner face Captain Sao Feng (as Chow Yun-Fat) in order to get a very unique map that leads to Davy Jones’ locker, the place where Jack Sparrow resides. They are only interrupted by Mercer and his forces who swarm the hideout. With the help of some Singapore pirates, they are able to make an escape, but not before they nab the map which will lead them from fidget waters to the very edge of the world, literally. And of course there’s still that tension between Will and Elizabeth. Nothing more than any other couple’s quarrel in a bad relationship.

We then are finally shown Jack Sparrow, who apparently has hallucinations. Being trapped on some dessert plain with only his crew of the Black Pearl to talk to, a crew of multiple Jack Sparrows. If hallucinating wasn’t enough, crabs start hatching from rocks whom then help Jack Sparrow move the Black Pearl across the dessert plain and onto the ocean. Fortunate enough, Captain Barbossa’s crew washes up on the shore. I’m surprised that they weren’t killed on the way down from the giant waterfall. So there they were rejoiced to see Jack Sparrow alive, but a little crazy.

Getting into Davey Jones’ locker wasn’t the hard part, it was getting back to the real world. The map wasn’t designed like any regular map. It was circular and was full of riddles. I particularly like the way it was all laid out. Like most good riddles, you have to think outside the ordinary box to solve the riddles. Riddles that Jack Sparrow managed to piece together, which leads him to start running back and forth from starboard to port side like a maniac. His true intentions were the answers to the riddles by capsizing the ship.

After getting back to the real world, there’s a bit of a scramble to get to the impenetrable fortress of Shipwreck Island. But not before deals and betrayals are made. At Shipwreck Island, all nine pirate lords of the sea who make up the Brethren Court, whom all look like a bunch of Captain Cooks (Disney), gather together to discuss the threat of East India Trading Company. Among them is Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code for the Brenthren Court, and father of Jack Sparrow. He also carries around a shrunken head of this dead wife. After presenting their insignias, Barbossa proposes that they release Calypso from her human imprisonment (Tia Dalma). Disagreement takes place among the pirates and Elizabeth is elected as Pirate King, thanks to Jack’s favorable vote.

As Pirate King, Elizabeth decides that they should take a stand against The Company. With that said, all the pirate ships prepare for battle, even though only the Black Pearl would be doing any actual fighting among the fleet. Before the battle, there’ s a parley where Beckett and Davey Jones, Elizabeth and Barbossa trade Jack Sparrow for Will. Note that even though Davey Jones is cursed from stepping on land, he is placed in what seems to be a barrel that is part of the Flying Dutchman. An exploit that allows him to bypass the curse placed upon him. If Jones could only just mark a pair of shoes out of the ship..

Upon making the trade, Barbossa unleashes Calypso by performing a ritual. That surprisingly lets Calypso become a freakin 4 story giant. I’m surprised that the boat didn’t sink due to the weight. Not only does Calypso become the Green Giant, she transforms into crabs to escape the ropes she was bound to. From there Calypso unleashed her fury by creating a Maelstrom where the epic battles takes place.

Now I don’t want to spoil the entire ending, but the battle consists of a lot of explosions and sword fighting. And only two ships are locked in combat with each other. Not one other pirate ship that was gathered came to aid the Black Pearl against The Flying Dutchman. You can also see Beckett’s armada in the distance. They too didn’t intervene in the battle. I guess they all have high confidence with those two pirate ships.

Despite the battle’s conclusion and story’s ending, there’s also a short scene after the enormous list of credits that takes place 10 years later. So if you can hold out for 10 or so minutes, you’ll be able to see this scene. In conclusion, the movie was fairly long, a lot of explosions and betrayals, but no real big plot twists this time around. Overall, I felt the movie started to add too much…imaginary things into the movie, such as a big female Green Giant on a ship that doesn’t sink due to the weight. If you’ve seen the last two, you might as well see this one to finish off where Dead Man’s Chest left off.

Johnny Depp
Geoffrey Rush
Orlando Bloom
Keira Knightley
Jack Davenport
Bill Nighy
Tom Hollander

Full cast list…