After Depp was released, he went on to make films with directors that he truly wanted to work with in films that would redefine his image. He starred in films such as John Waters' "Cry-Baby", Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" (starting a long collaboration with Burton), Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man", "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".
While this did help him gain critical praise, he still wasn't considered a major box office draw for a blockbuster. On top of this, "Pirates" also faced two other challenges that made people doubt how the film would perform. The first was that it was based on a Disney attraction and in the previous year, "The Country Bears" adaptation had failed miserably.
The other problem was the fact that the pirate film had not had a major draw since the Golden Age of Hollywood. Pirate films that had come out since then did average to abysmal business. In fact, before this movie, everyone still remembered the over budgeted "Cutthroat Island" in 1995 that had become one of the biggest box office bombs in history, making only $10 million on its $100 million budget.
So, what do you get when you combine an actor that wasn't a major box office draw just yet, a genre that was considered dead in the water, and a story based on a theme park attraction? As it turns out, you get box office gold! The movie came out on July 9, 2003, and audiences definitely responded when the film went on to make over $654 million worldwide.
It's not hard to guess why. The story tells the tale of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith apprentice, and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), the daughter of a Governor with an interest in pirates. Years ago, Elizabeth came into possession of a medallion that once belonged to Will. After an accident where she falls into the ocean, the medallion sends out a signal to the cursed Black Pearl and the ship eventually shows up to retrieve the medallion.
Elizabeth barters to save the town so long as she gives the medallion to the dastardly Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). He does end his assault on Elizabeth's home, but he takes the fair maiden prisoner in addition to also taking the medallion. Now, Will teams up with the disgraced pirate and former captain of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow (Depp), in order to track the Pearl down and save Elizabeth.
It's easy to see why Depp became the de facto star of the series. He makes Jack Sparrow an eccentric yet no less dashing pirate that seems to be the worst pirate ever before revealing that he is actually two steps ahead of the game. Depp also infuses Jack with a lot of rock and roll, which isn't hard to believe when Depp revealed that the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards was one of his primary inspirations for how Sparrow acted and looked.
Thankfully, Depp is not alone and doesn't have to carry the whole film on his own. Bloom and Knightley also became stars due to this movie and for good reason. Bloom is great as the everyman lead and gives Will a noble sense of bravery that is believable. Knightley does a great job as Elizabeth and while her role is primarily as the damsel-in-distress, she is no less strong than her two male leads. Her role reminded me a lot of Princess Leia in the first "Star Wars" film.
Of course, every good adventure film also requires a fantastic villain and Rush turns in a fantastic performance as Barbossa. At first, Barbossa comes off as your standard mustache twirling villain but soon Rush adds more layers to his character. In fact, the villain's motives are not as dastardly when considering that his goal is not one where he wants to take over the seas or spread darkness throughout the world.
He and his men are cursed and while he's aware that he is a blood thirsty pirate who has done horrible things, he genuinely feels that he and his men have been given a raw deal. While you never forget that he is the villain, you do kind of feel for them and their situation. Of course, they just go about trying to get the curse lifted in the worse way possible.
The movie is also filled with plenty of fantastic action sequences. Whether Barbossa and Jack are crossing swords or two ships are battling each other on the high seas, director Gore Verbinski and his crew did an excellent job of bringing this pirate story to life. Also, watching the film again 19 years later, I was surprised by how well all the visual effects still hold up today.
Yes, the movie spawned several sequels of varying quality, but this classic is still one of the best action/adventure films to be released over the past 30 years. Depp became the star he was always going to become, the other actors give fantastic and memorable performances, and the action is excellent. If by some chance you've never seen the movie, you're in for a wild ride and if you have seen the movie, it's definitely time for a revisit.
SEE IT
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