Wednesday, 3 June 2009

"At World's End"
Plot

     Lord Cutler Beckett executes anyone suspected of or associated with piracy. Beckett, who now possesses Davy Jones's heart, orders Jones to destroy all pirate ships. Condemned prisoners sing a song to compel the nine pirate lords comprising the (fourth) Brethren Court to convene at Shipwreck Cove. However, Captain Jack Sparrow, pirate lord of the Caribbean, never appointed his successor, and therefore must attend. Captain Barbossa leads Will, Elizabeth, Tia Dalma, and the Black Pearl crewmen to rescue Jack. Sao Feng, pirate lord of the South China Sea, possesses a map to the entrance to Davy Jones's Locker, where Jack is imprisoned. The British Royal Navy, led by Mercer, attack Feng's bathhouse. During the battle, Will bargains with Feng for the Pearl in exchange for Sparrow, so Will can rescue his father from The Flying Dutchman.
    The crew journeys into the Locker and successfully retrieves Sparrow. As The Black Pearl seeks an escape route, dead souls are seen floating by underwater. Tia Dalma reveals that Davy Jones was appointed by Calypso, Goddess of the Sea and his lover, to ferry the dead to the next world. In return, Jones was allowed to step upon land for one day every ten years to be with his love; but when she failed to meet him, the scorned captain abandoned his duty and transformed into a monster. Governor Swann, now dead, reveals that whoever stabs Jones's heart becomes the Dutchman's immortal captain.
    After returning to the living world, The Black Pearl is ambushed by Sao Feng, who reveals his agreement with Will. However, he betrays Will, having made another deal with Beckett to hand over the crew and keep The Black Pearl. The Endeavor arrives, and takes Sparrow aboard, although he refuses to divulge to Beckett where the Brethren Court will convene: instead, Jack makes a deal to lead Beckett to the Court and lure them out for Beckett to destroy, in exchange for Beckett protecting him from Jones. When Feng is double-crossed by Beckett, he bargains with Barbossa to release the Pearl in exchange for Elizabeth, who he believes is Calypso trapped in human form. Feng attacks the Endeavor, allowing Jack to escape. Aboard his warship, Feng tells Elizabeth that the first Brethren Court trapped Calypso in human form so men could rule the seas. Davy Jones attacks Feng's ship. The mortally wounded Feng appoints Elizabeth as the new captain and the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea. She and the crew are then imprisoned in The Flying Dutchman's brig. Also aboard is Admiral James Norrington, who frees Elizabeth and her crew. They escape to their ship, although Norrington is killed by a crazed Bootstrap Bill Turner.
    Will leaves a trail of corpses for Beckett's ship to follow. Jack catches Will and tosses him overboard after giving him his magical compass so Beckett can find Shipwreck Cove. Will is rescued by Beckett's ship, and Davy Jones reveals that he masterminded Calypso's imprisonment by the first Brethren Court. At Shipwreck Island, the pirate lords introduce themselves and present the nine pieces of eight, but disagree over freeing Calypso. Barbossa calls upon Captain Teague to confirm that only a Pirate King can declare war. Elizabeth is elected Pirate King after Sparrow's vote for her breaks a stalemate. She orders the pirates to go to war. During a parley with Beckett and Jones, Elizabeth and Barbossa swap Sparrow for Will.
    Barbossa tricks the pirate lords into yielding their "pieces of eight", which he needs to free Calypso, who is bound in human form as Tia Dalma. As she is released, Will discloses that it was Davy Jones who betrayed her to the Brethren Court. Her fury unleashes a violent maelstrom. Sparrow escapes The Flying Dutchman's brig and steals the Dead Man's Chest. Davy Jones kills Mercer and obtains the key to the chest, which Jack then steals from Jones during a duel. The Black Pearl and The Flying Dutchman face off near the center of the maelstrom. Will proposes to Elizabeth, and Captain Barbossa marries them in the midst of battle. Will boards the Dutchman to retrieve the chest, but is mortally wounded by Davy Jones. Sparrow places his sword in Will's hand and helps him stab Jones's heart, killing him. Jack and Elizabeth escape The Flying Dutchman as the crew carve out Will's heart and place it into the Dead Man's Chest; the ship disappears into the whirlpool. Beckett, never intending to honor his agreement with Jack, moves to attack The Black Pearl. The Flying Dutchman resurfaces with Will as the captain and the crew now human. The Flying Dutchman and The Black Pearl destroy The Endeavor and kill Beckett. The surviving armada retreats.
    Will is bound to sail the sea as The Flying Dutchman's captain. Will and Elizabeth have one day together where they consummate their marriage. He departs at sunset, but first gives Elizabeth the Dead Man's Chest. Barbossa commandeers the Pearl, stranding Jack and Gibbs in Tortuga. Having anticipated Barbossa's deception, Sparrow removed the map's middle that shows the path to the Fountain of Youth. Jack departs the trilogy just as he entered, alone in a dinghy on the open sea. Ten years later, Elizabeth and her son Will, stand atop a seacliff; The Flying Dutchman appears on the horizon with Will Turner aboard.


Production

    Following Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl's success in 2003, the cast and crew signed on for two sequels to be shot back-to-back. For the third film, director Gore Verbinski wanted to return the tone to that of a character piece after using the second film to keep the plot moving. Inspired by the real-life confederation of pirates, Elliott and Rossio looked at historical figures and created fictional characters from them to expand the scope beyond the main cast. Finally embellishing their mythology, Calypso was introduced, going full circle to Barbossa's mention of "heathen gods" that created the curse in the first film.
    Parts of the third film were shot during location filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, a long shoot which finished on March 1, 2006. During August 2005, the Singapore sequence was shot. The set was built on Stage 12 of the Universal backlot, and comprised 40 structures within an 80 by 130-foot (24 by 40-m) tank that was 3½ feet (1 m) deep. As 18th century Singapore is not a well-documented era, the filmmakers chose to use an Expressionist style based on Chinese and Malaysian cities of the same period. The design of the city was also intended by Verbinski to parody spa culture, with fungi growing throughout the set. Continuing this natural feel, the floorboards of Sao Feng's bathhouse had to be cut by hand, and real humidity was created by the combination of gallons of water and the lighting equipment on the set.
     Filming resumed in August 2006 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and continued until early 2007 for 70 days off the California coast, as all the shooting required in the Caribbean had been conducted in 2005. Davy Jones' Locker was shot at Utah, and it was shot in a monochromatic way to represent its different feeling from the usual colorful environment of a pirate. The climactic battle was shot in a former air hanger at Palmdale, California, where the cast had to wear wetsuits underneath their costumes on angle-tipped ships. The water-drenched set was kept in freezing temperatures, to make sure bacteria did not come inside and infect the crew. A second unit shot at Niagara Falls. Industrial Light & Magic did 750 effects shots, while Digital Domain also took on 300. They spent just five months finishing the special effects. The film posed numerous challenges in creating water-based effects.
     Filming finished on January 10, 2007 in Molokai, and the first assembly cut was three hours. Twenty minutes were removed, not including end credits, though producer Jerry Bruckheimer maintained that the long running time was needed to make the final battle work in terms of build-up. Hans Zimmer composed the score as he did for the previous film, composing eight new motifs including a new love theme for the At World's End soundtrack. He scored scenes as the editors began work, so as to influence their choice of cutting to the music. Gore Verbinski helped on the score. He played the guitar in the parley scene between Barbossa, Sparrow, Elizabeth and Will, Davy Jones, and Cutler Beckett. He also co-wrote the song "Hoist the Colours" with Zimmer.

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