Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

(SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO GETS THE GIRL)

[Now for a Bust that doesn't really do its target justice, but does demonstrate that it is not always necessary to begin with the first scene of a movie when Plot Busting.]

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) is an adventure film directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.

In the end Orlando Bloom wins Keira Knightley's heart, and Johnny Depp lives to pirate another day.

In an amazing feat of seamanship, lone captain Depp just manages to sail his sinking skiff into Port Royal, Jamaica where he plans to commandeer a more suitable vessel for his pirate needs.

While attempting to bamboozle a couple of British marines charged with protecting the harbour's contents, Depp witnesses the local governor's fainting daughter, Knightley plunge into the sea nearby.

Despite diving in and rescuing Knightley, Depp is locked up to await a pirate's fate at the end of a rope.

However, before Depp can suffer his short drop and sudden stop, the port is attacked by the cursed crew of the infamous Black Pearl who are searching for a golden medallion that Knightley had round her neck when she fell in the harbour earlier.

Knightley is eventually captured and taken prisoner after she gives the captain of the Pearl, Geoffrey Rush, the surname of the young man, Bloom, from whom she stole the gold without his knowing many years earlier, as her own.

When the governor fails to immediately pursue her kidnappers, Bloom who has secretly been in love with Knightley since they first met, frees Depp, who he believes can help him track down the Pearl and Knighley.

With another brilliant piece of piratical trickery, Depp and Bloom single handedly manage to make off with the fastest vessel in port.

Picking up his friend and first mate, on their way, together with a motley crew, Depp manages to catch up with Rush as he attempts to lift the curse afflicting him and his crew of undead, by returning the last remaining piece of a horde of stolen Aztec gold, and spilling some of Knightley's blood, believing that she is the daughter of a former crew member, partly responsible for the curse.

Of course, it is really Bloom's blood that Rush needs in order to lift the curse.

In the process of discovering this there is much adventure, double-cross scheming and general pirate fun to be had, not only involving Depp and Rush and their respective pirate crews, but also the commodore that Knightley's governor father eventually dispatches for her rescue, who incidentally also has feelings for her, and who the governor wants as his daughter's suitor.

Eventually Depp and Bloom save the day by choosing the most opportune moment to lift the curse on the damned pirates, so that Depp is able to plug Rush with his pistol, and the commodore is able to capture Rush's once again mortal crew.

Unfortunately, Depp's part in saving Knightley is not enough to excuse his long list of former pirate crimes, and he again finds himself facing the hangman's noose.

So, for a second time Bloom has to come to Depp's rescue helping him to take flight and rejoin his jolly band of buccaneers.

But in the process Bloom manages to declare his love for Knightley, who now reciprocates, an outcome that both the governor and even the commodore, before deciding to pursue the fleeing Depp, seem (strangely) resigned to.


Such a brief description hardly does justice to such a well plotted, smart and action packed adventure, that is both funny and exciting, and at times even a bit moving.

Without exception the parts, even minor roles, are well written and played to perfection, with none of the clumsy cliche ridden dialogue that is so typical of the genre.

But it is the mesmerising performances of both Rush and the Keith Richards inspired Depp that really make this movie sore above the usual rum and cutlass adventures of the past.

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_The_Curse_of_the_Black_Pearl

The Way of the Plot Buster

(SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO DID WHAT)

Does anyone know the way? / Did we hear someone say?
We just haven't got a clue what to do
Does anyone know the way? / There's got to be a way
To Plot Buster!

No doubt, if you've been following the examples of Plot Busting up until now, you're beginning to detect a pattern.

Indeed, many people would recognise the process of Plot Busting either as the well known party game where players have to describe the plot of a movie in as few words as possible without using any words from its title, the absolute classic example of which is "police chief kills big fish," or even from their time at school, "summarise the following movie in one hundred words or less."

So, clearly there can be different degrees of Busterisation, where the school assignment represents what would be considered as Regular Plot Busting, and the party game would be referred to as Extreme Plot Busting.

As a rule, Extreme Plot Busting is only useful in competitive situations, like party games, or quiz nights.

The sort of Plot Busting that this blog is concerned with is either Regular or Advanced. And perhaps it would be useful to anyone interested in trying out a bit of Busting for themselves, if some rules were established to guide them. A kind of Plot Buster Training Program, if you will.

All the Plot Busters that feature here start with a brief introduction, stating the name of the film, the year it was released, who the director was, and who the stars are that will feature in the description. These introductions are not an essential part of the Plot Busting process, though.

So, the first rule of Buster Club is...

Rule #1 State the outcome of the plot first. There is nothing more important.

Rule #2 Never use character names from the plot, always refer to the performers by name. This is because the names of performers are generally more recognisable than those of the characters they play. For example, everyone will recognise Johnny Depp, but they might not be able to put a face to Gilbert Grape.

Rule #3 Ignore details that don't affect the eventual outcome of the plot. It is essentially the degree to which you do this that determines whether you are performing Regular, Advanced or Extreme Plot Busting.

Rule #4 Ignore the order in which the plot is played out in the movie. In particular, if the director has been monkeying about with the chronology of events in the movie (examples include Memento (2000) and Pulp Fiction (1994) ) don't be afraid to restore them to real-time. And only introduce a detail as it is necessary to the explanation. So don't mention something first just because it happened at the start of the movie, if its relevance only becomes apparent at the end.

Rule #5 There are no rules, except for Rule #1, of course. There are only guidelines.

So, now that you've just learned Plot Busting, "show me!"