VS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
. . . FIGHT!!!
When last we left our respective franchises, they'd both left an impressive impact on the hearts and minds of the American (and worldwide, if anyone's counting) moviegoing public. Peter Jackson, having pre-filmed the majority of the entire Rings trilogy, returns as director of The Two Towers, being about as "locked in" as a director can get. Gore Verbinski, having directed the first successful pirate film in some while, was given the opportunity to direct the second and third installments of Pirates concurrently.
The Two Towers hits the ground running. It got the majority of it's exposition out of the way in the previous film, so it has a lot more leg room to add some nice character moments and action set-pieces. Pirates has a similar set-up; "You know the characters, you know the world. . . Let's get to it, shall we?".
One advantage that the previous Showdown winner, the first Pirates film, had was a beginning, middle and end. That advantage is taken away here; While it could be argued that Dead Man's Chest has a more definite "beginning", both it and Two Towers are essentially the middle children in their trilogies. Neither here, nor there. So, we're on a bit more even ground, this round.
The Two Towers is more fun than Fellowship. There's more action, more humor, and a bigger sense of scope. The problem lies in the unnecessary flabbiness of the whole thing. Several scenes, some of them in the form of bizarre flashbacks, lay out plainly, and redundantly, what should already be obvious. "Sauron seeks the ring" is repeated ad nauseum. No shit. Some of the flashbacks don't even make sense; At one point, we're led to believe we're seeing the memories of Faramir, but the flashback extends to moments that he wasn't even privy to. And while the extreme length of Fellowship was necessary, given the density of it's source material, this film seems unnecessarily padded out. We learn a lot about the land of Rohan, but really. . . Who gives a shit?! It feels like an episode of some serialized TV drama, not part of a pre-planned trilogy. You're really only interested in the overarching story, and this feels like a narrative time waster. Yeah, sure; "It's in the book". But you could give it a greater sense of urgency somehow, other than a scene where Faramir analyzes the world's most simplistic map (It's got about ten words on it: "Mordor", "Gondor", etc. I know literacy wouldn't be a high priority in Middle-Earth, but you'd think you could at least memorize the names of the four kingdoms, and have a general sense of where they are).
Dead Man's Chest almost has the opposite problem to Towers; It's an overly convoluted story, and doesn't particularly care whether you can keep up with it or not. Luckily, I can. It's a story I quite enjoy, it extends naturally from the elements set up in the first film, and I appreciate it's lack of condescension. Like Two Towers, it also ups the ante in the action, comedy, etc, department, and whether you like it or not, you'll finish the film feeling as if you've got your money's worth.
The Two Towers introduces several new characters, most of which are fairly compelling. Of particular standout is Gollum. As voiced by actor Andy Serkis, he ends up becoming the Laurence Olivier of CGI creatures, and one of the most memorable elements of the series. Dead Man's Chest, which was produced years later, introduced a similarly compelling mixture of CGI and live-action acting; Davy Jones, the squid-faced monstrosity portrayed by Bill Nighy. These are two very rare example of CGI creatures who have the ability to convey pathos, and are shining example of special effects done right.
In the end, the two films have similar strengths and weaknesses to their previous installments, even while they elevate their game. Onward and upwards to the final chapters!
FREDERICK OPINES:
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS - GREAT
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST - MASTERPIECE
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