School has only just let out, but already three long-anticipated summer blockbusters have opened. In fact, they dominate the multiplex, with Spiderman 3, Shrek the Third, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (hereafter Pirates 3) each occupying multiple screens at Carmike.

      Pirates 3, which opened this weekend, is the pick of the crop so far.  While Shrek was decent and Spiderman good but overly long, Pirates 3 never slows down, maintaining audience interest through nearly three hours of explosions, laughs, nonstop betrayals and back-stabbing, and general weirdness.

      Fans of the first two Pirates movies will find their expectations met and possibly even exceeded.  Newcomers to the films will be confused throughout, but that’s okay – in this movie, confusion and weirdness are the norm.  Even the king of weird himself, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), is moved at one point to say, “Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness.”

      Pirates, like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and other fantasy film series, has developed its own internal mythology, which is extended here.  We find the ghostly Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) sailing through ice caves to an enormous waterfall at the end of the world; Sparrow sailing a ship across desert sands in Davy Jones’ locker; and, of course, Jones (Bill Nighy) and his tortured crew of half-human, half-fish pirates.

       Most wonderful of all is an epic climactic fight between the pirates and the allied forces of Davy Jones and the British navy.  The fight is elaborately choreographed, with Sparrow and Jones fighting on the yardarm a la Peter Pan and Captain Hook, while hordes of pirates and sailors have it out on the deck below.

      In the midst of it all, the young lovers Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), exchange what is destined to be one of the great movie kisses of all time.

      Pirates 3 opens in the British Caribbean, where the corrupt Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander) has suspended civil rights and begun an assembly line of pirate hangings, all to evoke a pirate song of apparent defiance – which triggers a crisis in the pirate world, as Beckett knew it would.

      The scene shifts to Singapore, where Elizabeth and Barbossa negotiate with another pirate lord, Sao Fang (Chow Yun Fat), for a ship to rescue Sparrow from the land of the dead.  No one much cares for Sparrow for himself, but Elizabeth feels guilty for having killed him in Pirates 2, and the others need him because he is one of the nine pirate lords who must unite to save the oceans from Beckett and Jones.

      The plot whirls and twirls from there, with surreal dialogue and imagery that seems to be thrown in just because it seemed like it might be fun.  It all sounds as disorganized as a pirate summit meeting, and it is, but it adds up to a cinematic feast for eyes and ears.

      Depp fans may be slightly disappointed, as Sparrow has relatively less screen time than in previous Pirates films.  This time around, the center of the movie is Knightley– her Elizabeth is not just another romantic companion for the hero-adventurers, but a hero in her own right. Mentally and emotionally, if not physically, Elizabeth is the strongest figure in the movie.

      Elizabeth has come a long way from the petticoats and skirts she wore as the daughter of a colonial governor.  Here she remains in male clothing throughout numerous costume changes, but never loses the glowing beauty that made Sparrow, Turner, and the audience fall in love with her in the first Pirates movie.

      Rush is superb as Barbossa, whose role is far more significant than in the first Pirates.  He clearly is enjoying himself, plotting against everyone while oozing a mock charm that does nothing to distract either the audience or the other characters from his essential venality. 

      Spiderman and Shrek have their enthusiasts, but for my money, Pirates 3 is the film to beat as the summer blockbuster season heats up.  It’s an unusually cold Memorial Day weekend – better spend it inside with Sparrow, Elizabeth, and the crew.

         This review appeared in the Aberdeen American News on May 27, 2007.

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This page last updated on June 24, 2007.