*** Official PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Dead Man's Chest Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

Jedif.... She was just trying to distract them for chrissakes, no big deal, I can't believe people hate the film for some silly scene when the whole friggin' film is ridiculous to begin with, ridiculously entertaining! I like that people are being dragged to see it over and over again at the cinema but still can't find anything nice to say about it. Maybe after the 8th or 9th viewing you might warm to it. Besides there's always Superbores Returns to keep the naysayers happy.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Steve:

I think my main problem with the scene is that she seemed out of character...it seemed like Kiera Knightley on the screen instead of Elizabeth.

But it's a minor nit, and I agree it's not worth picking (more than once, anyway).

 

[Ricardo C]

I must be the only one who loved that scene. I loved Elizabeth stomping around like a child throwing a tantrum, finally fed up with the three man-children she'd gotten stuck with.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I thought it was charming.

 

[Malcolm R]

I like it, too. I thought it was played exactly as it should have been.

 

[Ray H]

I liked the moment as well. Or at least enough to give it a chuckle.

 

[Kevin M]

I thought it was cute, it is a pretty standard comic gag in the history of films, Fake a faint to get someone's attention....it fails miserably, and I don't think it was played any better or worse than it has been in all of the other films it has been used in over the decades.


BTW...I have to agree that this didn't seem like a $200 plus budgeted film, it was great and the FX were quite impressive but....LOTR had more "visible" production value going on for it for less per film than this film IMO.

 

[Holadem]

Hi,

Is this thing still worth seeing in the theaters? I've had little interest in this (the first was decent) until last night when I heard some of the Hans Zimmer like music, and remembered that's what I enjoyed best about the first.

Anyway, after 2 months of heavy rotation, do prints still look half decent? I tend to avoid catching films this late, they often look like shite.

--
H

 

[JediFonger]

did this ever come out in DLP? if so that's your best bet.

but even scratched prints still hold pretty good definition compared to SD-DVD.

 

[ThomasC]

It depends on the theater. I have never seen a bad print at the AMC theater that I frequent, including Dead Man's Chest, which I didn't see until the Sunday before last. The dollar theater in my area also handles their prints well. There's a first-run theater that I've sworn off for life because the prints sucked after 2 weeks.

 

[Michael:M]

Disney and the marketing machine were very open about filming movies 2 and 3 back to back. PotC 3 comes out next May - it's not like it's going to be 3 years between movies.

I loved the ending, frankly - my only fear is that the third film won't be as good as the first two.

 

[Kevin M]

So was the $200+ budget for both films or just Dead Man's Chest?
If it was for both then I recant what I said earlier about it not seeming like a $200 plus budgeted film....in fact I would say that they more than got their money's worth depending on what 3 is like.

 

[Ray H]

According this recent Jim Hill Media article (don't know how reliable they are), the third film is still shooting and both films may end up costing $650-$700 million total.

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...8/08/4797.aspx

 

[Ricardo C]

I'm no Hollywood insider, but the math seems a bit off. For starters...

"But you have to understand that -- out in Hollywood -- the general rule of thumb is that a motion picture must earn at least three times its production costs before it can then officially begin to turn a profit."

I've always heard it as being "double your budget at the box office in order to break even". Given that studios take in 55% of the box office take on average (domestically, I'm sure it's less overseas because local distributors take their cut as well), that seems about right.

And then we have the problem with his assumptions about which numbers are true and which aren't.

Combined with the Cars analysis, the whole thing comes off as Hill trying hard to find a way to make Disney look weak. Is he trying to support a prediction made earlier in the year, or something along those lines?

 

[BrianB]

The Jim Hill website definitely has a chip on its collective shoulder against Disney despite covering them so much. No idea why.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Three times actually does sound right, since "production budget" doesn't include marketing costs, might not include cost of making prints (less an issue now with DLP rising), and also don't forget in many instances stars, directors or producers getting a back-end cut of the gross, which further reduces the amount that actually goes back to the studio.

 

[Ricardo C]

I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but... "Do we know if that is true for this particular case?"

 

[Kevin M]

Oh.....well then I stand by my initial feeling, DMC is a sprawling impressive popcorn film but the $225 budget doesn't show on screen IMO.

 

[Tim Glover]

Well, it takes a real man to come here and admit when's he's wrong about something.

And, I'm not usually wrong about such things. ...but I've been rather hard on Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Just saw it one time (opening night) in theaters. Only now with the soon to be released At World's End, did it propell me to give it another chance.

Let me preface a few things first. I adore the original film. It's one of those rare films that has just been more enjoyable with each viewing and the years remain kind to it. And on opening night of DMC, we had a big watching party for Black Pearl. This was several of my buds watching this on a 120 inch screen in full blown sound. It was a blast and we all loved the experience.

So just a few hours later I'm watching DMC. It just felt flat for me alot of the time, eventhough there were some good moments. I grew a bit tired of really the whole thing and just had trouble finding much to recommend it. Didn't hate it but left utterly disappointed.

So, 9 months later, I feel I saw a different movie. There are still issues though that remain and I'll quickly go over these:

For me, the first 45 minutes or so takes a long time to get there. At least it feels that way. Hard to explain but I just wasn't connected in the beginning. That's how I felt my first time too...

Elizabeth (Keira). Sometimes her scenes do fall flat like the one on the beach trying to get attention. Didn't work then and still doesn't now. Other moments with her that for whatever reason, don't always hold me. Maybe it's the script? Who knows but I hope I care for her more in the next chapter.

Norrington. Frankly, while he was very good in Black Pearl, I found his character too much this time and not needed. The story would've been a bit tighter without this addition.

There are few, just a few times, when even Jack is too much. Sometimes it got old seeing his now famous facial reactions to stuff. Kind of been there seen that a whole lot. (thats rather picky because most of the time, he's spot on and his humor is very timely).

The Good to Very Good:
Davy Jones. It's scary how real he looks. Well done. I mean really well done.

Of course Johnny Depp. There were times I literally was laughing hard. Very hard. LOVED the scene when he's running from the natives and then later on we see him on that wheel. Comedic action at it's finest.

Speaking of said wheel ...that was some fantastic action. Very nice and cool.

The music I found uninspired the first time out was really rather compelling this round. Good stuff and effective. Heard some cues I missed in the theater. In fact, wouldn't mind owning this soundtrack.

And these guys might just be one the best things about DMC. Their timing was perfect and they are just charming, cute, mischief, and damn funny!



The final hour or so is truly spectacular and nearly makes up for most of my issues. Doesn't totally erase the bad but man that last hour is really rather terrific. Tight, suspenseful, well acted and the action was purposeful. (is that a word?)....I was really captivated at the end there and when Barbossa appears-WOW.

I initially gave it a generous 7/10 and now I raise it to 8.5/10. I am a believer that sometimes parts of a film can nearly forgive some blunders. (see Return Of The Jedi )

I liked it so much better this time that I now want to own it and have it proudly placed besides The Curse Of The Black Pearl.

Timobi Wan is eagerly awaiting Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Weak.