Too Many Setpieces
Want to know what my favourite scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest* is? It's the scene on Davy Jones's boat when Will (Orlando Bloom) wagers his own lifetime of servitude for that of his enslaved father's.
Want to know why?
Because it's one of the only actual scenes in the entire movie. The vast majority of the 150 minutes is spent on prolonged duels, net-trap escapes, jungle chases, Kraken attacks, etc. And I won't deny it: much of the action is good old-fashioned inventive fun. In particular, the 3-man chase on the watermill was a winner.
But when action scenes really work, it's for a reason: they're a payoff. First you establish conflict, stakes, and what's at stake personally for the characters... then we're left anticipating a payoff of action.
Every scene can't feel like a payoff, or there's nothing left to anticipate. When it's all action, there's no weight on that action.
And the story (our characters, and why they're doing what they're doing) starts to feel emptier than Davy Jones's chest.
*Yes, I quietly acknowledge that Ted & Terry are Gods among screenwriters. But it is what it is!
Want to know why?
Because it's one of the only actual scenes in the entire movie. The vast majority of the 150 minutes is spent on prolonged duels, net-trap escapes, jungle chases, Kraken attacks, etc. And I won't deny it: much of the action is good old-fashioned inventive fun. In particular, the 3-man chase on the watermill was a winner.
But when action scenes really work, it's for a reason: they're a payoff. First you establish conflict, stakes, and what's at stake personally for the characters... then we're left anticipating a payoff of action.
Every scene can't feel like a payoff, or there's nothing left to anticipate. When it's all action, there's no weight on that action.
And the story (our characters, and why they're doing what they're doing) starts to feel emptier than Davy Jones's chest.
*Yes, I quietly acknowledge that Ted & Terry are Gods among screenwriters. But it is what it is!
posted by Jennica at 1:27 p.m.
7 Comments:
I have to agree; I was rolling my eyes at the entire movie whilst saying things like:
"Fah! a spec monkey could never get away with this!".
The worst bit was where they went to that island where they wanted to eat what-do-you-call-him after treating him like a God for a while. That whole island sequence must have taken about 15 minutes of screen time if not more (or it felt like that), and it didn't add a single thing to the movie.
What did we learn about the characters? What was revealed about the story ahead? How did the characters evolve and what did they gain?
The answer is NOTHING!
ARRRRGGHHH Calm down Chris :)
Yep-- that's easily the best/worst example! I think you're right-- 15 minutes at least.
i completely agree. i didn't enjoy the movie that much because it felt so vapid and as a consequence of what you've pointed out here, very long.
which is what disturbs me about dmc; it's one of the highest grossing films ever. what does that say about what kind of "story" the general audience wants?
The audience doesn't want a story. They're there for Johnny Depp, swashbuckling, and Orlando Bloom (in that order).
No way am I going to rent the film to prove this, but if you look past all of the crap, it is probably only a 15 minute short (20 minutes tops).
The sad thing is that the first movie is so good, because the story, while intricate, unfolds in a way that is simple, drives the story, and doesn;t get in the way of the fun.
What I hated most about DMC is that Jack Sparrow is such a selfish jerk. Who needs that?
I'm with you, Scott. I thought Elizabeth did the *right* thing in cuffing him to his doom.
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