the Dalaverse

On second viewing, I loved it even more for being able to concentrate better, and I have a new favorite thing. I am less upset about the abruptness of James' death, for this moment: when Davy Jones' sword falls to the deck in the final battle, one of the EIC men picks it up, stands still, and looks at it carefully and quizzically. Then Jones stabs him with it and takes it back, but - the man is obviously one of Norrington's former men, because he recognizes Norrington's sword, the one made by Will's hand (which I didn't realize had been used on both Jones and Will until everybody else pointed it out). When I saw it, I gasped and my hands flew to my mouth. For some reason, that feels like mourning to me - not by the characters, but by the filmmakers. Thank you. Thank you.

Also, I get the exchange at the parlay now, I think. Elizabeth offers Jack mostly because she doesn't want Will near the heart, afraid that he'll stab it to free a father who's run too mad to even realize it (and did she see him kill James? I can't remember, but in any case it's more evidence of Bootstrap's crazy). I do believe she would let Will go in other circumstances, but as she says, she believes it to be a lost cause, and she doesn't want the man she loves to waste his life for that. I'm not sure if she knows that Jack wants the Dutchman, but it wouldn't be difficult to infer with a missing scene/conversation or simply the knowledge that he really, really does not want to be dead. In any case, she's got sufficient motivation to keep Will off the Dutchman and put Jack on it.

Then Will immediately agrees, because of course Jack offered to stab the heart for him, and it would free his father without separating him from Elizabeth. And it seems to me that this would confirm Elizabeth's hunch, and you see understanding pass between all three of them with just a look, particularly between Jack and Will when they exchange places. It's actually quite clever,if so subtle I missed it the first time. It's also a great show of trust for both of them. Compare it with the end of DMC, in which Elizabeth obligingly demonstrates her mistrust of Jack's willingness to become kraken kibble to save the rest of them. And it works three ways; they all have to trust each other not to do the thing each of them fears - Will stabbing the heart, I suppose Jack not doing his part but making some other sort of deal, and Elizabeth...actually I don't know what they're trusting Elizabeth to do. Lead them capably as Pirate King; for Will, make the commitment of marriage? And then of course it all goes to pot when Jones lashes out at Will, but it was a good plan until then, as Anamaria would say.

Speaking of my beloved minor pirates, I forgot to mention how during the bit where they all draw on each other, Gibbs keeps his guns firmly trained on whoever is the greatest threat to Jack at any given moment. Love that. And this time I noticed that whenever Jack or Barbossa isn't at the wheel, Cotton is. COTTON!

Which leads me to how I adore Elizabeth and Will telling Barbossa they need him at the helm for the final battle. The big battle in CoBP in which they sort of run the show is actually one of the very, very few things I find bothersome; this was a contrast in humility, for while one of them is the fracking Pirate King, neither of them has the skill necessary to ride the edge of a maelstrom, and they know it. And then everybody's totally badass in that battle - Barbossa whaling on Jones' men at the helm, Will and Elizabeth fighting in tandem and marrying themselves, Marty TYING HIMSELF TO THE MAST up at the crow's nest while firing down with his huge pistol (at least I think that's what I saw), Cotton grabbing the spinning wheel when the two topmasts collide, Jack doing his crack shot thing when he's swinging around (he also does a somersault earlier in the scene, which is a nice recall of the acrobatics at the end of CoBP). The choreography of the fight scenes in all three movies has been seriously fantastic. Not just the one-on-one swordfights, but the group stuff -- Jack and Will at the end of CoBP, the two three-way fights as well as Elizabeth and Norrington in the tavern in DMC, and the battle/wedding in AWE. I appreciate good special effects, but I love a good stunt. That's what comes of cutting your movie-loving teeth on "The Princess Bride."

I found myself even more intrigued and disturbed by Davy Jones' locker. I kept getting more and more anxious while the rock crabs were doing their thing (and by the way, I totally have a rock crab plot bunny), and then heaved a great big sigh of relief when they cut to the beach and I saw the surf and the sand instead of that barren wasteland. That sequence is really outstanding.

Lastly, so it's now canon that Jack does not have the biggest tool in the shed, right? With all the spyglass action? And then I swear there's a balls reference in the Brethren Court scene, where talk about Barbossa's boons is accompanied by a shot of double cannon shot. Makes up for the missing eunuch jokes, I suppose - I for one don't miss them, but I did immediately think "Eunuch!" when the high-voiced (Turkish?) pirate spoke.

I am in a place right now where I'm putting AWE on an equal footing with CoBP. Sacriliege, I know, but - everybody's grown up, the acting is stupendous, in addition to everything that I loved and is still present. I just love seeing where these characters have been taken and who they've become. It's not the ending I would have written, but I am so glad it's the ending we got.