the Dalaverse

I'll get around to the most fabulous SitS recap soon enough, but I have a lot of Thoughts about The Movie, and it's going to take a loooong time to get them all down, and I can't read everybody else's thoughts until I do so, so first I'll start with the first two character analyses I wrote on the plane. A brief word about the film in general (I'll elaborate, don't you worry): This is the most unique moviegoing experience I've ever had. I have no lukewarm or ambivalent feelings. It wasn't good. It wasn't great. It was bloody brilliant, and over the next few posts I will tell you why.

To begin, as is inevitable:
Captain Jack Sparrow
Jack, like Norrington, is a different character to watch because of circumstances. Despite his dramatic entrance, from the moment our Jack appears onscreen, he's running scared and flying blind and other suitable metaphors for desperately trying and failing to get himself out of a mess. The compass is the key -- for the entirety of the film, Jack can't find his own heading. When he finally does, it's straight into the kraken's maw.

On first viewing, the portrayal of Jack did strike me as a little off. Where was our charming, manipulative little bastard always one step ahead of everyone else (whether they knew it or not)? But the more I think about it, the more I think the differences in Jack's actions and mindset in DMC are due to the differences between the CoBP villains -- Barbossa, chiefly, and to some small degree the Navy -- and the DMC villains, namely Davy Jones and the kraken (I suppose Beckett distantly registers, but he's hardly at the forefront of Jack's mind). Someone pointed out the fact that Jack spends the first movie chasing and the second movie running, and that's a very succinct way of putting it. Now, Barbossa was one scary dude, and undead to boot, but he was still a sea captain on a level with Jack, with the weaknesses and flaws of a man -- moreso, of a man that Jack knows rather well. Davy Jones is another story entirely. We have no idea if he was ever really human (at least, I don't remember any specific indications in the movie). He's much harder to trick or negotiate with than Barbossa; as much as Jack tries to weasel out of his debt, you never get the idea that he's going to get any concession more gracious than the demand of a hundred souls.

As for the kraken, I think it's plausible that it terrifies Jack more than Davy Jones. It's wholly inhuman, a creature of sheer appetite and destruction, which takes no note of Jack's silver tongue and painted eyes (or the Pearl's guns). The kraken cannot, as far as we have seen, be tricked or reasoned with at all, and it strikes at the very heart of Jack's nature -- his ship, his freedom. This is really what blows my mind about Davy Jones/the kraken: together, they drive Jack Sparrow from the sea. Being out of his element is a primary reason why Jack can't seem to land on his feet, and calls to mind the fanon notion that he truly is born to the sea and needs it to be himself. This, of course, makes it all the more poignant that his final, honourable choice of the sea/his ship/his crew is what kills him. Going with my connection to ESB, I like the parallels between Jack and Han Solo in terms of character development. Jack's redemptive act of coming back to the Pearl mirrors Han's coming back for Leia on Hoth. Also, both characters have to pay for their past sins in these middle films, at the hands of their so-called friends.

Like pretty much every performance in the first film, Johnny's revealed more subtlety beyond the Jack-is-clumsy and Jack-talks-real-fast gags that have carried over from CoPB on the second viewing, and I suspect will keep getting more interesting the more I see it. I can sort of see why some reviewers thought he might have overdone it, but I don't share their opinion because we still have moments like Jack taking the wheel from Gibbs during the kraken battle and his reaction to Elizabeth's betrayal to balance out "I've got a jar of dirr-rrrt" and Jack-the-human-fruit-kebab.

Overall, Jack in DMB is a believable and evolving portrayal of the Jack we know and love from CoBP, one that I haven't seen the fandom at large, myself included, explore in great detail over the past three years. Someone's set of My Jack traits -- I want to say doolabug's, but I'm not sure -- includes the idea that Jack is very smart, but not as smart as he thinks he is, and I think that perfectly sums up Jack in this film. He's waiting for or trying to force the opportune moment and it never comes. Jack is accustomed to playing off human nature and being the puppetmaster of himself and those around him; this film has cut the strings on him, and it gives him all kinds of interesting dimension.


Will Turner

Let me begin with this: In DMB, Will is so fucking hot I can't even stand it. Just...guh Will. He was the character who experienced the most significant growth in CoBP; one of the major expectations I had for this film was seeing how Will turned out (probably as much as Norrington, and moreso than Jack or Elizabeth), and it delivered in a big way. He's matured into a capable, confident man able to see in shades of gray rather than merely in black and white, and it's as beautiful to watch that as it is to watch him wield a sword. Or slash his way down a sail like fucking Captain Blood. He is so badass and such a terrific classic swashbuckling hero that he just makes me want to die. Think about it -- Will manages to find Jack where Norrington couldn't. I'll grant that it would be much easier for a dead sexy nondescript civilian to glean news of Jack than Norrington or any agent he might have used, but still, the point remains.

Will Turner has rocked my world since I really begin to Think about CoBP, and after this film I simply cannot understand anyone calling him boring or annoying. My particular favorite Will moments include -- well, most all of his time on the Flying Dutchman, but especially when he tricks Davy Jones into revealing where the key is kept and then steals it in a very stealthy, Jack-like manner (more on Jack's influence on Will later). Actually, much of my pleasure in Will's character comes from watching him interact with other characters, so that'll keep to other sections; even with the daddy issues, this film isn't nearly as much Will's journey as is the first one, and everything is more character-revelatory than character-evolving. It's almost like we're getting to know Will all over again, and it's great fun. Like I said, as much as I love Will's bluster and puppy faces in CoBP, DMC-Will hits my kinks with a big, heavy, throbbing wooden mallet...

Er, back on topic. I've always insisted that Orlando Bloom's performance in CoBP is much more skillful than it looks at first glance, and he's improved even more here; I think the actor's growth is inseperable from the character's growth, and I love that about them both. Orlando has learned better control over his face and Will has learned better control over his temper. At the same time, he's no Gary Stu; his love and regard for Elizabeth remains his biggest blindspot, and I love when he makes this insane logical leap from the Pearl being able to outrun the Dutchman to the Pearl being able to take Davy Jones and his triple guns down in battle, because -- kid, sometimes you're still crazy dumb. Also the fact that he doesn't see Norrington's attack coming is very in-character too.

Did I mention the embroidered waistcoat (which is not, in fact, his wedding vest as I thought, but it's awfully fancy all the same) and the leather. Coat? Eh?

So everyone get home okay? ::waves::