At World's End, again

[the_dala]

This gets even more ridiculous than the DMC one, if you can believe it. I just...I love this story. I love it so much.

Comments

[veronica_rich]

AWE was far and away the superior of the sequels, if behind the first (I have the same ranking for the BTTF trilogy). I really did like Elizabeth again in this one, and Jack and Barbossa are Goofus and ... Goofuser. Gibbs gets stuff to do, as do the third-tiers like Cotton and Marty. Tia Dalma is a badass; love all the pirate captains of lore.

The one truly positive thing of both sequels is they pretty much ended the Wet Bitch Will fics. This is not a stupid or easily defeated man, and he even has a dry sense of humor. He's kind of like a younger Norrington, in that time of life where principle will always win out over temptation and even practicality at times.

Remember when we all worked out that everybody who'd handled Norrie's sword died, as had everybody Elizabeth kissed? And that Will posses the apex of both curses, sort of? They sort of cancel each other out in him in a weird way.

Also: Beckett's slow-mo death wedged between the Pearl and Dutchman - both ships raised from the dead, basically sisters.

[the_dala]

Yeah, I was surprised to rediscover just how good AWE is. Like you said, my memories of it were colored by other feelings for a long time.

Ha, I forgot about the sword thing, though I did remember the kiss of death.

Re: Will, I dunno, he still got a bad shake after this. Remember that J/E fic where apparently the wedding night was so horrible because Elizabeth was basically having sex with a corpse? Ugh.

I was reading my old notes and was reminded that we were all worried the Dutchman plot was going to turn Will dark and vengeful. Instead it validated the emotional ties between the three main characters. Can't ask for more than that, really.

[jedilora]

I think there aren't any deleted scenes because they just put EVERYTHING in the movie. I remember back in the day someone did a re edited version where they turned DMC and AWE into one movie, and it kinda worked better. Move some of the Calypso stuff into DMC, shift around some scenes, basically cut the entire 'tribal' sequence from DMC, etc.

[the_dala]

I'd be interested in seeing that! According to IMDB, the final cut was originally 3 hours long, so they were forced to cut some stuff (though not that much - it's still 2:38, I think).

I remember being convinced that Will's line "No cause is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it" was a reference to some other line that had been cut. But now I think it might be a reference to a line from CoBP. Guess it's time to rewatch again...

[ennyousai]

AWE is actually my favorite of the three. I always loved seeing the pirate world outside of just the Caribbean, and I felt the story had the most resonance. Will/Elizabeth how I ship thee. Enough that I wrote the Ship_manifesto for them back in the day.

[the_dala]

Your ship manifesto is on my reread list! :)

The thing AWE did that made it work so well for me - aside from the rich worldbuilding, as you mention - is that it really validated the relationships between the characters after they'd been so adrift in the previous film (and half of this one). Elizabeth and Will come out of it with a love strong enough to last through a curse (or break it depending on interpretation), James gives his life to save Elizabeth, Jack gives up on immortality to save Will. I couldn't have asked for a better emotional resolution.

[the_dala]

I have been having so many FEELINGS! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it :)

[whensheflies]

OMG this makes me want to stop everything I'm doing to binge watch the movies and then reread fic and write.

So much love for this post and these movies.

[the_dala]

<3 Do it! That's all I've been up to for two weeks.