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Last Thursday night, I stupidly risked exhaustion and relapse by going went with esrblog to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 3--At World's End.

I rather enjoyed it. The plot neatly tied up the threads woven by POTC 2, and had amazing mythic resonance for a story loosely stitched together from stray mythological bits. Keith Richards does indeed show up for a cameo, though his performance is so low key it almost went by without my noticing.

POTC 3 doesn't have the silly fun of POTC 2, or even as much active swashbuckling, but I thought it was a satisfying third chapter to the story. To explain further will involve substantial spoilers, so I will put the rest of this under an lj-cut.

The one problem with the plot is that in a number of places the moviemakers throw in a new and unexpected detail which they then use to set up the next section of the story. For example, we start the movie with a bunch of wretches being hanged. Then the film cuts to a seedy waterfront district in Singapore. Huh? China? Isn't this supposed to be "Pirates of the Caribbean"?

It turns out that our heroes have been sailing all over the world to track down the Nine Pirate Lords who bound the sea goddess Calypso into a human body, years ago, so they can counter the threat posed by the fact that Lord Cutler Beckett (who, after POTC 2, now controls the Flying Dutchman because he has taken possession of Davy Jones's heart) controls the seas and is hanging every pirate he can get his hands on. Oh.

A similarly baffling twist leads to a falling out between Will and Elizabeth. They ultimately reconcile (and are married, by Captain Barbarossa, during one of the biggest sword battles in the entire movie). On the other hand, though they both survive all the derring-do, Elizabeth and Will are doomed not to have a normal married life. (I can't bring myself to explain this development, even in a spoiler stream under an lj-cut; if you like happy endings, be warned, and do not miss the scene that comes after the end of the credits.)

On the plus side, Depp is still in fine form as Jack Sparrow (though there are a few bizarre scenes where we see him talking to multiple alter egos of himself). Moreover, we even--finally--get to see Jack Sparrow sword fighting. In a raging downpour, while standing on one of the crosstrees near the very top of the ship. Don't worry, though. Jack's fight is thoroughly in character. He's fighting because the stakes are finally high enough for him to risk his life. The stakes? Why, immortality, of course. Ironically, Jack doesn't end up claiming his prize.... and his decision positions the franchise well if they should choose to do another sequel.

Enough spoilers already. Go and see the movie, if you haven't done so before you read this. It's worth the ten bucks, at least.