I’ve got two copies of Don Peris’s new solo album: Go When the Morning Shineth
And I want you to have one of them.
So here’s the deal:
It’s tough to describe something as fragile and beautiful as The Innocence Mission‘s music. So I’m asking for help.
Go listen to some of the music that Don and Karen Peris have recorded.
Write down what it is that makes their music so enchanting. Just a paragraph… that’s all.
Email your description to LookingCloserReview@msn.com.
The best description of the Innocence Mission’s music will earn the writer a free copy of Go When the Morning Shineth!
Deadline – EXTENDED – April 15, 2006.
I don’t know if the Empire Strikes Back comparisons hold up, Jeffrey. If memory serves, Empire was not too gladly received by critics when it was first released in 1980; that critics are showing the same kind of narrow vision now as they did then is certainly valid.
But as two significantly different films, the similarity (in my feeble mind) ends there. Empire is a rich drama accompanied by fantastic set pieces and heavy character development. Christopher Null at filmcritic.com sums the movie up best when he calls it “the Hamlet of science fiction, basically because nothing good happens to the hero in the entire story.”
Nothing from Shakespeare leaps to mind in connection to Dead Man’s Chest. Does this movie have a hero? I don’t know that any of the characters are developed enough to answer that question. The closest thing to a hero here might be Elizabeth, since she comes the closest of anyone to doing anything heroic.
A comparable sequel to me is The Matrix Reloaded. Both movies have huge, riveting action sequences, shallow characters, questionable motives on all sides (it seems like everyone in Zion just wants to rave), and pseudo-relevant themes (machine vs man and freedom vs profit).
Don’t get me wrong: Dead Man’s Chest is certainly more fun than the second Matrix movie, and it doesn’t pretend to be teaching audiences anything. Empire is not guilty of pretension either, yet of the the three, it is the only one that can truly be called a story.
“Dead Man’s Chest” has its drawbacks. But there is plenty of storytelling going on here.
You want a hero? Captain Jack struggles with his “moral compass” throughout the film, ready to sell his friends to gain an edge on his enemy. But in the end, as he runs for his life, a coward through and through, that compass keeps nudging him. He turns that little rowboat around. He comes back to give his friends a chance.
And Will Turner, who risks his life for Elizabeth, ends up on Davey Jones’s ship, where he now discovers his father enslaved to the devil. Without hesitation, he puts his life on the line to save his father and his beloved. Bloom may not be the most engaging and inspiring actor, but that’s heroic, all the same.
And Elizabeth? She’s been self-righteous from the beginning, taunting and sneering at pirates. But in the end, to ensure her own safety, she chains Jack to a sinking ship. She compromises. She’s tarnished now, and plagued with guilt. I find that to be a very intriguing twist, one that tells us her story is far from over.
Time will tell what these characters learn in the end, but I see at least three interesting character arcs going on… arcs that remind me of Han Solo’s struggle between self-preservation and sacrifice, Luke Skywalker’s struggle between hasty heroism and maturity, and Leia’s struggle with pride.
This is the stuff myths are made of. Sure, it’s dressed up in sound and fury, but there’s enough character development here to have me hooked. It’s not as masterfully crafted as “The Empire Strikes Back,” but it’s a heck of a lot closer than just about any other original adventure series going on since then.
(I disqualify The Lord of the Rings, because it was crafted as literature, rather than being written for the screen. Compared to Tolkien’s epic, all others come up short.)
I will ponder “that little rowboat” further… but to me Elizabeth is far more heroic than you make her out to be. Then again, as you so rightly point out, we know her story isn’t over. The story isn’t over for any of the characters, which fills me with anticipation for the third episode… what’s it called, “At World’s End” or somesuch? By that token, I have already begun praying that, while comparing Dead Man’s Chest to Empire Strikes Back is currently in vogue, please let us not see a comparibility third time around to Return of the Jedi. After all, small furry bears would not do well on the open seas.
Dead Man’s Chest wasn’t a bad movie, but I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t buy the premise that the East India Company would go after Davey Jones’ locker because it holds the key to ultimate power. That’s no pirate yarn. It’s more like something out of Dr. Strangelove.
And this movie was way too dark for my tastes. I saw it compared to “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” an apt comparison, I think. Let’s hope #3 puts the fun back into the series.