Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Dead Man's Ch

Like many folks, I was excited about seeing the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. So last night, I went to the theatre, paid $9.50, and saw some of it.

Let me first say that I thought the first movie was a lot of fun. I don't need to say why; a zillion other people thought so too. That's why there was a second movie, and why there will be a third.

Well, there will be a third chance to pay $9.50 anyway.

When I sit in a theatre with 18,000 teenagers for 2 1/2 hours, I expect an entire story. But I didn't get one this time.

Oh, Johnny Depp, why have you foresaken me?

It's not that the movie ends with a cliffhanger (which it does) but that it ends without an ending. The first movie had an ending, a resolution to the story at hand, and it opened up the possibility for another installment. This one told part of the story and let the credits roll.

I hate that.

Remember 1985 when Michael J. Fox went back to the future in Back to the Future? He went to the 50s, made out with his mom, got his parents together and returned to 1985 to save his mentor. Great story. At the end, the mentor showed up at his house and warned him that he had to travel to the future because his kids were in trouble. Cliffhanger. Altogether, a fine package.

It seems to be a trend these days to have multi-installment movies, and that's fine, as long as they're marketed that way. We all knew that Uma Thurman wasn't going to kill Bill in Volume I. That's why it was called Volume I.

But to have a whole movie, a half movie and then another half movie is just weird. It's like me writing an entry on this blog and then just

(The rest of this entry coming Memorial Day weekend 2007).

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