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Sunday, Jun 03, 2007
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New Delhi

The pirates are back with a bang at world's end

ZIYA US SALAM

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

(At PVR Saket, Regal and other Delhi theatres)

Got a good thing? Keep going. That is the mantra of Gore Verbinski as he attempts to keep the good times rolling with the third instalment of the Pirates series. Though the sequel did not leave the faithful enthralled, the latest in the series promises to make up. Maybe the relative failure was a mere aberration. Maybe it suffered from soaring expectations. Anyway this time round the film comes with the easy recall value and a familiar feeling about all the characters. It is a slow-moving tale of intrigue, love and valour, with a dash of aggrandisement, the larger than life projection that Hollywood directors revel in. Strangely, for all its specific, and focused storyline, "Pirates... " suffers from the usual Hollywood stereotypes: it is too impersonal, too withdrawn to keep you hooked all the way through.

Where Verbinski's film scores is its all-round competence: not brilliance. The film relies as much on the accompanists as the protagonists: cinematographer and the background music director play as important a part as Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, etc. Still, at the end of it all, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" is a director's film. No idiosyncratic flourishes of any character, no attempt at easy exaggeration. No actor is reduced to a mere star. Just a constant narration of a story about a black pearl that loses nothing of its glimmer, little of its value with the passage of years. The pearl, the captives, the East India Company are all there, predictably so, at times affably too.

Yet, unlike the first film, this one evolves slowly; very, very slowly.

For the most part it is as calm as the water in which the ships sail. It lacks in kinetic energy, the thrill-a-minute experience of the earlier films. But once the story comes alive, the pace is no longer tardy, the waters no longer calm. The film develops into an exhilarating spectacle as the actors get down to what modern-day management gurus would call multi-tasking. There is an amusing scene of a couple taking turns to lock lips and swish swords!

Yet it is not the scene one takes home. The best moment comes early in the film: there is a wonderful spectacle of an army of crabs moving across a vast desert. As the camera recedes from close-up into the distance, one is left admiring the cinematographer's rare craft. One moment you are watching a fine piece of camerawork, next moment it turns into a masterpiece.

Watch "Pirates-3" for its rousing action, its calming soul.

Its characters might all lie and cheat. But it is completely honest in its intent, and reasonably so in content.

FOOL N FINAL

(At Shiela and other Delhi theatres)

If ever a film were to be made for a floater, the kind of man who slinks in and out of a movie, Ahmed Khan's "Fool N Final" will make the cut. It is that rare sort of film: delightful in parts and absolutely intolerable in many significant others. For quite some time young Khan is able to can sequences dripping with humour. But just when you try to find a common strand in this thieves-and-more-thieves tale, you fail. Individually, almost every character swims well; together they all sink!

It is also Sunny Deol's rare foray into comedy: and the effort shows. In the few scenes he gets to show off his comic timing, he manages to reveal the reason he has not done many comedies in his career: he is pathetic when he tries his hand at raising situational laughs. Wooden-body language, tree-trunk expression, no voice modulation in dialogue. Soon, though, both the director and the actor realise that his forte is action. So Sunny gets plenty of scenes to show off his biceps and the trademark dialogue of one punch leading the way to heaven!

By the way, Sunny, the paramount star in the credits of the film, is just incidental to the movie. It is actually a story revolving around Shahid Kapoor and Ayesha Takia, not to forget Paresh Rawal. All small time thieves, they land up with a multi-crore diamond in Dubai! Now how many times have you made cine visits to Dubai in search of diamonds and "bhai logs"? Too many to bear a repeat.

However, it is not a singleline story of the missing diamond.

There is Vivek Oberoi as the good-hearted bad man undoing the good work of last week's "Lokhandwala". There is a boxing ring with the attendant betting where guys are paid to lose. There are evil dons from Mumbai, and more evil ones in Dubai. There is Jackie Shroff at the end, there is Gulshan Grover in the middle, each dressed up and talking like the other, making you wonder what happened to the once handsome Jackie! Not to forget Johnny Lever, who alternates between being a taxi driver and a con master.

If you are not confused already, sample this: Sunny lives in the don's land with Om Puri as elder brother and Sharmila Tagore as bhabhi. A couple of sentences into the movie he forgets she is his bhabhi, so he addresses her as `Maa'! Another two sentences, and Sameera Reddy appears without provocation. And disappears without a reason, only to land up in the climax.

There is more to add to the confusion: Sharmila had lost her son in an accident, so Shahid plays her son, extracting a price from Sunny.

It is all too much, all too confusing. Suffice it to say that though the film has intermittent humour, particularly appealing to the undemanding frontbenchers, it has nothing to sustain interest.

Avoid living up to the title of this film by paying it a visit! That's final.

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