July 13, 2003

ARRRR!!

Posted by Henry

I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean last night, and really can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s as much fun as movies can get. Johnny Depp is a revelation as Captain Jack Sparrow, moving like a fey, drunken Keith Richards who hasn’t gotten his land-legs; Geoffrey Rush is nearly as good. The plot is hokum of course, something about cursed Aztec treasure and blood sacrifice, but you don’t notice while you’re watching; you just go along for the ride.

By coincidence I’m reading a really fun book which also features sinister Aztec relics, Alex Irvine’s A Scattering of Jades. Selecting on the dependent variable, I’ve come to the conclusion that all forms of popular entertainment with Aztec treasures are ipso facto good. Jades is Irvine’s first novel, but it’s really very difficult to tell. He’s maybe a little too obviously influenced by Tim Powers, but that isn’t a bad influence to have - and A Scattering of Jades stands up to comparison with Powers’ best work.* Closing the circle of reference, Powers has also written a pirates’n’zombies novel, On Stranger Tides, which reads in places like a more literary version of POTC. Somehow, somewhere, it all connects together …

  • Imo Powers’ best novels are The Anubis Gates, Last Call and Declare, if yer interested.
Posted on July 13, 2003 10:21 PM UTC
Comments

Keith has always been a great hero to me and I felt that pirates of the 18th century were sort of rock and roll stars. Who better than Keith Richards to be your inspiration? Pepe LePew - I always liked him. LOL

Posted by chris.s@unsw.edu.au · July 14, 2003 01:02 AM

I wasn’t following this post at all until I realized that I was thinking of Pirates of Penzance, which is something altogether different.

Posted by pathos · July 14, 2003 02:14 AM

“all forms of popular entertainment with Aztec treasures are ipso facto good.”

Yes. Further evidence is Donald Westlake’s novel Dancing Aztecs.

Posted by Allan Connery · July 14, 2003 02:35 AM

Not one that I’ve read, although I’m a big fan of both Westlake-as-Westlake and Westlake-as-Stark. Is it one of the Dortmunder books, or a stand-alone?

Posted by Henry · July 14, 2003 02:51 AM

The movie has some pacing problems, for sure, but my god, Depp is fantastic.

One of the things that I really liked about the movie was that the plot has the cursed pirates entirely obsessed with food. This reminded me of the late 90s changes to the theme park attraction, where animatronic pirates formerly chasing young girls now chase young girls with plates of food. These changes got a lot of press back then, a big PC brou-ha-ha. Every time Geoffrey Rush fondled an apple, I had a big grin on my face, thinking of this.

Posted by tew · July 14, 2003 03:55 AM

Scuttlebutt has it that Depp was heavily channeling Paul Whitehouse (notably the Ken “Suits you, sir!” persona from the Fast Show) in his role; anybody care to confirm or deny that assessment?

Posted by Jurjen · July 14, 2003 09:37 AM

A counterexample: Clive Cussler’s Aztec Gold.

Posted by Bryant · July 14, 2003 02:53 PM

Dancing Aztecs is a stand-alone, written in Westlake’s persona, published in 1976. Still available in the used-book market, and very funny.

Posted by Allan Connery · July 14, 2003 06:05 PM

I couldn’t agree more - Pirates was utterly enjoyable. Depp is amazing as Sparrow, Orlando Bloom is becoming quite the charismatic hero. Plot was nothing new or surprising, but really, the film was what it was based upon - a really fun ride.

After the disaster that was T3 (last weekend’s viewing experience, a very miserable viewing experience), I had given up hope for a while. Nice to know Hollywood - and Disney - can still pleasantly surprise me.

Posted by kenrufo · July 15, 2003 02:06 AM
Followups

→ A Pirate's Review.
Excerpt: Crooked Timber has a short, funny review of the new Johnny Depp movie, Pirates of the Caribbean....

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.