Tom pointed out to me last night that a few people have been comparing Pirates II to ‘Empire Strikes Back’ – apparently it has exactly the same story structure – which, on initial discussions and reading, I can see. Mackenzie Crook and his parter in crime as R2 D2 and C3PO, I suspect the Black Pearl was the Millennium Falcon, Jack Sparrow as Hans, Norrington as Lando Calrissian etc… Makes a weird kind of sense.
Three things I wanted to say about it, though…
(1) I did not think ‘Why has the rum always gone’ was the best line. I thought ‘Hello, beastie’, was the funniest line in the film. Don’t ask me why, I probably couldn’t explain it.
(2) I maintain that it was a good film, in spite of everyone’s naysaying – didn’t mind the fact that it was long, loved the ridiculous and fantastic action sequences, coped with the convoluted plot.
(3) Am I the only one to see the massive parallels between these films and the brilliant Monkey Island games? [[Guybrush Threepwood]] and the dread pirate [[LeChuck]] had almost exactly the same counterpoint that Jack Sparrow and Barbossa have (the third film will be great).
Here’s a reminder for you, courtesy of YouTube.
The other big Dead Man’s Chest / Empire Strikes Back comparisons are:
Tia Dalma (Naomi Harris’s swamp dwelling mystic lady) is a bit of a Yoda – certainly, her upriver dwelling is very Dagobah-like (with a bit of Kurtz’s compound in Apocalypse Now thrown in).
Davy Jones is Jabba the Hutt (Han/Jack owes him a debt, he sends out a minion to hunt Han/Jack down, which drives much of the plot forward.)
The East India Company is the Empire.
Gibbs is Chewbacca. Sort of. A bit.
Orloomo Bland is dull. Mark Hamill is dull.