When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was the Richard Burton-Clint Eastwood WWII commando thriller Where Eagles Dare. I only knew this from its frequent showings on network TV. (This was the seventies, kids, pre-cable, pre-VCR.) Since Eagles is rather lengthy, it was inevitably broadcast in two parts, and of course, had commercial interruptions.
As an adult, I understand why I was once enthusiastic about this--Clint Eastwood! Nazis! Machine guns!--but it just doesn't hold up. Any narrative twists are sprung by the halfway point, leaving nothing but an endless escape-from-a castle sequence that basically consists of endless scenes of Eastwood mowing down Nazis. But maybe even now it would play better if I saw it as I originally did. The two-part format actually split Where Eagles Dare into two seperate movies, one a narrative-based suspense thriller, the other a pure action movie. And the commercials? They provided breathing room, a break from the furious pace.
I mention all this because Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is out on DVD today, and if ever a movie could benefit from multi-part screenings and interruptions, this is it.
Though I'd enjoyed the first Pirates, it was a movie that evaporates from your mind as soon as it's over, and I was surprised by the huge popularity of this sequel. Not something I'd bother with, normally, but it was playing at the local second-run theater, and Tabbatha mentioned that Paul had been wanting to see it. So we went.
Paul is seven, and would seem to be part of the target audience for a Disney-produced pirate movie. And he seemed to enjoy it at first, cheering the first appearance of Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, hiding his eyes during the "scary" parts.
But it just went on and on and on, with endless exposition and one narrative cul-de-sac follwing another, until finally his eyes glazed over. Occasionally some swordplay would break out to rouse him from his stupor, and he was thrilled by the late appearance of a giant monster (called a Kraken, it looks like a giant octopus, and either way is a nice hommage to Ray Harryhausen), but when the whole overlong contraption turns out to be a set-up for a sequel...the word that leaps to mind is "letdown."
Watching it with him, I wondered what my own reaction would have been had I seen this as a kid. I'd have recognized the Harryhausen and Chuck Jones riffs, and maybe even the Michael Curtiz steals, but mostly I would have just loved it because, well, it has pirates. But chances are, had I seen it as a kid, I would have been watching on network TV.
So by all means, if you or someone you know likes this sort of thing, sit back and watch Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. But split it into two seperate viewings, and take plenty of breaks. (Fast-forwarding through lengthy dialogue scenes is a good idea, too, if they involve Orlando Bloom.) In bits and pieces, you might find it entertaining.
