Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a 2007 adventure film, the third in the Pirates of the Caribbean films following The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and Dead Man's Chest (2006). At World's End is helmed by Gore Verbinski, director of previous films, and the cast includes returnees Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Tom Hollander and Naomie Harris. Chow Yun-Fat makes a first appearance in the franchise as Sao Feng, one of the film's protagonists, as does Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow's father.
Disney
opted to move the release date in English speaking countries a day early to May
24, 2007.
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Starring Johnny Depp
Orlando
Bloom
Keira Knightley
Bill Nighy
Stellan Skarsgård
Jack Davenport
Tom
Hollander
Chow Yun-Fat
Geoffrey Rush
Music by Hans Zimmer
Cinematography
Dariusz Wolski
Editing Stephen E. Rivkin
Craig Wood
Distributed Walt
Disney Pictures
Release date May 24, 2007
Running time 167 min.
Country
US
Language English
Info
and Spoiler
Plot
Cutler Beckett begins executing anyone associated
with piracy and commands Davy Jones to destroy pirate ships after forcing him
to kill the Kraken. The nine Pirate Lords who make up the Brethren Court must
gather to confront Beckett's assault. Captain Jack Sparrow, the Pirate Lord of
the Caribbean, never passed on his title to a successor and therefore must be
present. Captain Barbossa leads Will, Ellizabeth, and the former Black Pearl crew
to rescue him from Davy Jones' Locker. Tia Dalma is unable to resurrect Sparrow
as she did Barbossa, because he was physically dragged to the Locker.
Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of Singapore, possesses a map to World's End, the gateway to Davy Jones' Locker. But Feng is furious Barbossa's associate Will Turner attempted to steal it. The British Royal Navy, acting under orders from the East India Trading Company, attacks Feng's bathhouse. During the ensuing chaos Feng strikes a bargain with Will to loan him the map and a ship if Will brings Sparrow to Feng so he can barter with Beckett. Will can also keep the Black Pearl which Will wants to free his father from the Flying Dutchman. The Black Pearl is the only ship fast enough to catch her.
The crew journey through a frozen sea and sail over a enormous waterfall into the Locker. There Sparrow is suffering hallucinations about an entire crew comprised of himself. He meets up with his old shipmates, although he is initially reluctant to rejoin a crew that previously attempted to kill him and mutineed against him. As the Black Pearl journeys through the Locker, Elizabeth Swann sees her father, Governor Weatherby Swann's soul passing by. He has been murdered by Cutler Beckett, and Elizabeth swears revenge. It is learned that Captain Davy Jones' was appointed by Calypso, goddess of the sea and his lover, to ferry dead souls. Jones was was allowed to set foot on the living world once every ten years, but when she forgot to meet him, his anger turned him into the demonic captain of the Flying Dutchman. Sparrow deciphers the map, realising the Black Pearl must be tipped over to return to the living world: the entire crew move quickly between port and starboard until the Pearl capsizes, and at sunset, they upturn back into the living world.
Sao Feng attacks, revealing his deal with Will, but also reveals he made a deal to deliver them to Beckett and take the Black Pearl for himself. Beckett tries to convince Sparrow to reveal the location of Shipwreck Island, where the Brethren Court will meet, but Sparrow refuses. Feng renegades on his deal with Beckett, taking Elizabeth who he believes to be Calypso, while Sparrow makes off with the Black Pearl again. Feng reveals to Elizabeth that Calypso was trapped in human form by the first Brethren Court. Davy Jones attacks, and before Feng dies he appoints Elizabeth his heir. She and the crew are taken to the Flying Dutchman's brig, where she meets Will's father Bootstrap Bill, who is losing his humanity. Admiral James Norrington decides to let Elizabeth and her crew free, and a confused Turner kills him. Meanwhile, Will is leaving a trail of corpses for Beckett's ship to follow, and Sparrow kicks him off his ship, but gives him his magical compass which can point to what he wants most. Will arrives on Beckett's ship, and it is revealed it was Jones who masterminded Calypso's imprisonment in human form.
The
Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman sail to a battle in a maelstrom.At Shipwreck Island,
the nine pirate lords cannot agree on Barbossa's wish to free Calypso, who is
in fact Tia Dalma. Elizabeth arrives and is elected "Pirate King" by
Sparrow's vote, and she decides to battle Beckett and Jones. She and Barbossa
swap Sparrow with Beckett and Jones for Will before Barbossa finally unleashes
Calypso from her human form, and the goddess creates a maelstrom, after the pirates
see the Navy's massive fleet. Sparrow escapes from the brig of the Flying Dutchman
during the battle, and steals the Dead Man's Chest. As the Black Pearl and the
Flying Dutchman face off near the centre of the maelstrom, Barbossa has Will and
Elizabeth married while they fight off Jones' crew and the Royal Navy. Jones mortally
wounds Will but when he is distracted, Will stabs Jones's heart, making him the
captain of the Flying Dutchman. His heart is cut out and put into the Chest, and
he becomes immortal. The crewmen regain their humanity, and Will and Sparrow captain
the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl respectively to destroy Beckett's ship
and his men.
Will and Elizabeth, at long last, consummate their marriage on an island, and before leaving for his new life, he gives her the Chest with his heart inside. At Tortuga, Barbossa steals the Black Pearl once more, but having anticipated his actions, Sparrow cuts out the useful part of Feng's map, which will lead him to the Fountain of Youth. In a post-credits scene, Will meets Elizabeth and their son ten years later.
Cast
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack
Sparrow: Pirate Lord of the Caribbean Sea, he was tricked by Elizabeth to being
swallowed by the Kraken to save the crew. Sparrow is trapped in Davy Jones' Locker
until a rescue party arrives, where upon he returns to the living world to battle
his nemesis, Davy Jones. After his experience in the locker, he suffers hallucinations
of multiple versions of himself, each representing a part of his personality.
Orlando Bloom as Will Turner: A blacksmith turned pirate, and the son of the
pirate "Bootstrap Bill" Turner who is a member of the crew of the Flying
Dutchman commanded by Davy Jones. Will hopes to free his father, and marry Elizabeth
Swann even though he thinks she is in love with Sparrow.
Keira Knightley as
Elizabeth Swann: Governor Weatherby Swann’s daughter and engaged to Will
Turner. She tricked Jack into being swallowed by the Kraken to save herself and
the Black Pearl crew. Jack is unable to forgive her for sending him to his doom.
Geoffrey Rush as Hector Barbossa: Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea, was the
first mate of the Black Pearl when Jack Sparrow captained it. He took on the curse
when he took the Aztec Gold. Although killed by Sparrow a year before, a resurrected
Barbossa returns to lead the Black Pearl crew to World's End and rescue Sparrow
after a meeting with Lord Sao Feng in Singapore.
Chow Yun-Fat as Captain Sao
Feng: Pirate Lord of the South China Sea (residing in Singapore), he captains
the Chinese ship The Empress. He has a bad history with Sparrow. "Sao Feng"
means "Howling Wind" in Chinese.
Bill Nighy provides a small scene
of live action, motion capture and the voice for Davy Jones: The ghostly ruler
of the ocean realm and captain of The Flying Dutchman and to whom Sparrow owed
a blood debt. His heart was taken by James Norrington, and as a result, he is
now trapped into service to Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company.
Bill Nighy appears as Davy Jones when he is briefly returned to his original form.
Jack Davenport as James Norrington: He has an alliance with Lord Beckett and
the East India Trading Company after stealing the heart of Davy Jones and bargaining
it to Cutler Beckett in exchange for his career. He is also Elizabeth Swann's
former fiancé.
Stellan Skarsgård as "Bootstrap Bill"
Turner: Will Turner's father, he is cursed to serve an eternity aboard The Flying
Dutchman.
Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett: Chairman of the East India
Trading Company, Beckett possesses Davy Jones' heart, thus controlling the world's
oceans and seven seas.
Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs: Sparrow's loyal first
mate.
Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma: A witch who travels with the Black Pearl
crew to rescue Sparrow. She raised Barbossa from the dead at the conclusion of
Dead Man's Chest. She is more powerful than the crew realizes.
Lee Arenberg
as Pintel: A slightly mischievous, stolid member of Sparrow's crew.
Mackenzie
Crook as Ragetti: Pintel's superstitious friend, who possesses a wooden eye.
Jonathan
Pryce as Weatherby Swann: Governor of Port Royal, Jamaica. He is Elizabeth's father
and is also trapped in Beckett's service.
Reggie Lee as Tai Huang: Sao Feng's
bodyguard, who helps Will and Elizabeth on their journey to Davy Jones' Locker.
Takayo Fischer as Mistress Ching: Pirate Lady of the Pacific Ocean.
Hakim-Kae
Kazim as Gentleman Jocard : Pirate Lord of the Atlantic Ocean.
Marcel Iures
as Capitaine Chevalle: Pirate Lord of the Mediterranean Sea.
Ghassan Massoud
as Ammand the Corsair: Pirate Lord of the Black Sea.
Marshall Manesh as Sri
Sumbhajee: Pirate Lord of the Indian Ocean.
Sergio Calderón as Captain
Villanueva: Pirate Lord of the Adriatic Sea.
Keith Richards as Captain Teague:
A pirate who is the Keeper of the Code for the Brethren Court. He is Jack Sparrow's
father, and keeps the shrunken head of his dead wife with him.
Production
Following
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl's success in 2003, the
cast and crew signed on for two more sequels to be shot back-to-back. For the
third film, director Gore Verbinski wanted to return the tone to that of a character
piece after using the second film to keep the plot moving. The film would explore
Jack Sparrow's mad desperation to not return to Davy Jones' Locker, Barbossa's
political manipulations, the completion of Will and Elizabeth's coming of age
arcs, the increasing humanity in Davy Jones and Norrington and vice versa in "Bootstrap"
Bill. Actor Johnny Depp was happy that he got more screentime with Geoffrey Rush
than in the first film: "We're like a couple of old ladies fighting over
their knitting needles... it's fantastic!" Inspired by the real-life confederation
of pirates, Elliott and Rossio looked at historical figures and created fictional
characters from them to expand the scope beyond the main cast.
Parts of the third film were shot on location filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, a long shoot which finished on March 1, 2006. Chow Yun-Fat was confirmed to be playing Sao Feng in July 2005 while production of the second film was on hiatus. Chow relished playing the role, even helping out crew members with props. The two-film schedule resumed in August at the Singapore set, built on Stage 12 of the Universal backlot. It comprised 40 structures within a 80 by 130 foot tank that was 3½ feet deep. As 18th century Singapore is not a well documented era, the filmmakers chose to use an Expressionist style based on Chinese and Malaysian cities of the same period. The design of the city was also intended by Verbinski to parody spa culture, with fungi growing throughout the set. Continuing this natural feel, the floorboards of Sao Feng's bathhouse had to be cut by hand, and real humidity was created by the combination of gallons of water and the lighting equipment on the set.
Keith Richards, who partially inspired Johnny Depp's portrayal of Sparrow, was meant to appear in Dead Man's Chest, but there was no room for him in the story, and he missed filming a scene. Filming resumed in August 2006 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and continued until early 2007 for seventy days off the California coast, as all the shooting required in the Caribbean had been conducted in 2005. The climactic battle was shot in a former air hanger at Palmdale, California, where the cast had to wear wetsuits underneath their costumes on angle-tipped ships. The wate drenched set was kept in freezing temperatures, to make sure bacteria didn't come inside and infect the crew. A second unit shot at Niagara Falls.
Filming finished on January 10, 2007 in Molokai, and the first assembly cut was three hours. Twenty minutes were removed, not including end credits, though producer Jerry Bruckheimer maintained that the long running time was needed to make the final battle work in terms of build up. Hans Zimmer composed a score as he did for previous films, composing eight new motifs including a new love theme for the At World's End soundtrack.
Marketing
At
the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International, two minutes of footage was shown including
Captain Jack Sparrow having to convince the crew to run back and forth on the
shipdeck to rock a ship over and Sparrow and Davy Jones battling on top of a crow's
nest during the maelstrom battle. After a muted publicity campaign, the trailer
finally debuted at ShoWest 2007. It was shown on March 18, 2007 at a special screening
of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl named Pirates Ultimate
Fan Event, and was then shown on March 19 during Dancing with the Stars, before
it debuted online.
Action figures by NECA were released in late April. Board games such as a Collectors Edition Chess Set, Monopoly Game and Pirates Dice Game (Liar's Dice) were also released. Master Replicas have made sculptures of characters and replicas of jewelery and the Dead Man's Chest. A video game with the same title as the film was released on May 22, 2007 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2, PC and Nintendo DS formats. The soundtrack and its remix was also released on May 22.
Release
The world premiere of
At World's End was held on May 19, 2007, at Disneyland, home of the ride that
inspired the movie and where the first two films in the trilogy debuted. Disneyland
offered the general public a chance to attend the premiere through the sale of
tickets, priced at $1,500 each, with proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation
charity. Just a few weeks before the film's release, Walt Disney Pictures decided
to move the US opening of At World's End from screenings Friday, May 25, 2007
to Thursday at 8:00pm, May 24, 2007. The film opened in 4,362 theaters domestically,
beating Spider-Man 3's theater opening record by 110.
Reaction
Like
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, At World's End received mixed reviews
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
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