I remember watching the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise as I grew up (mind you, I was 8 when the first movie came out). And I don’t remember when I last watched the earlier films. Of course, I watched and reviewed “The Curse of the Black Pearl” earlier this year and it only made sense to continue the series. I have to say I was much happier with this movie, but something surprising happened when I was watching the movie: There was no negotiation scene.
Well, of course there wasn’t, that was in the third movie (which I’ll eventually review). But I got to the end of the movie and I went through it again. We had the wheel sword fight, we had Davy Jones, we had the “jar of dirt” scene. My brain had combined the two movies.
Saga or Story?
The issue that will always exist with sagas and franchises is always that one certain scene, whatever it may be. You think it’s in the third movie, it’s actually in the fourth. Of course, that does mean the writers have done a great job and have stitched everything together as a cohesive story. But when you go back and watch it you can be stunned to see your favorite scene not there.
It’s not good enough to have a saga, you want each movie to be its own, to exist within its own right, knowing that it’s different from the last. I suppose it’ll be interesting when I review “At World’s End”, whether it blends in too much with this movie or can stand on its own. I fear that these two movies will blend in too much with each other.
Of course, that’s not to say I don’t want all movies to be different. I still want that overall through-line to tell the story. But I want enough distinction to be able to tell movies apart. Without it, why even make more movies?
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