This past weekend I saw the new Pirates film and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. This isn't surprising to me as I really enjoyed, well all of the Pirates films. I will admit that the sequels didn't have the same magic that watching the first one did, but that is not to say that it was without many things that made watching them enjoyable. Thing is when I told people I like it, some were surprised. They read reviews that didn't paint it in a great light, or the idea of another sequel after the other movies were deemed to be poor sequels. It made me think that even before they were going to see the movie that they weren't going to like it.
I really don't like that idea. It feels almost like because some people have written reviews to say that it's a bad movie that there is now a social norm that requires people to have to conform to these opinions. The thing that has started to bother me is how negative and overly critical people are about things nowadays. I can't say I blame them entirely, we are schooled to be critical about things, but I think it has gotten to the point where people are too analytical and critical without looking at the whole picture.
Here's an example of what I mean about too analytical. Say an author in a story writes something to the effect of, " and the wind blew the blue curtains as she walked by."
An english teacher would have you think to believe that the author was using symbolism to imply how the curtains represent the character's sadness and the cold wind shows how this sadness washed over her as she walks. Meanwhile what the author meant is..." the curtains are fucking blue, and the window was open"
This causes many people to take the fun out of things overanalzing or putting too much value on things that are done poorly, and not enough on all the things that are done right. And when that happens it sucks the fun out something that is otherwise wildly entertaining.
Take for example the "dreaded" Pirate's sequels. A lot of reviews were poor for them especially the third one, but where a lot of people saw faults, I saw ambition. They weaved a complex story exploring the motivations of multiple characters and created many arcs. These arcs had great potential but in the end the execution to wrap them up wasn't all that great. Now here is a question I doubt many ask and that is how did it happen? On a project no one wants to do a bad job, everyone wants to make something the best they can, something that they can be proud to have there name on. There were a lot of people working on the Pirate's films. Just sit through the end credits and you will see how many, but that is were the problem is. You have so many people working on a project like that, writers, director, producers, the studio, and more, and each has an input or they wouldn't be different people (partly why Chris Nolan makes good films). So you have a really ambitious project and story, many people, limited time, budget, and deadlines and when you consider all that what came out of the other end was really damn good. It isn't like making good movies is easy, for how many good, entertaining movies that come out, how many bad ones, or direct to DVD ones come out?
Now being a creative person whom loves creativity I want you to think about some of the things that these movies did well. Think about all the craftsmanship that goes into the making of the set pieces, the minatures and selling them as full size ships in the water. The level of detail in the animation. Think of all the bits on the flying Dutchman. The language of the script, particularly for Jack. The music by the almighty Hans Zimmer, the choreography of the sword fights, and how they move and interact through the whole set, the flow and continuity of the editting of the scenes and the action. The make up of the pirates, or the sea folk, the costumes. The number of people they had in the scenes, and how much effort they made to make it real and magical all at once. There was a bloody pineapple guitar! Think about all this, maybe rewatch the films and do it but either way they did some incredible things. Look at the detail of the small minatures or the below deck of the Pearl, and think about how long it took to hand make those pieces and then how much screen time they got. That is a lot of work for not a lot of show in the end of it all. To me this is amazing and when I watch a film, this is the kind of things I see. And when you see all of these things and think critically about how awesome and how well done all the little details are it makes the big picture look that much better. It makes you appreciate the movie as a whole a hell of a lot more.
So the lesson here is, don't let the opinion of others spoil what would be something fun and entertaining, because truth be told more often then not the opinions of others are probably just shite anyway. And when you yourself are watching something loosen up and don't be too overly critical about a few mute points when the big picture is something spectacular, something special.
And on that note I want you all to know. I will be seeing Transformers 3, and I will be enjoying it, and if you read this and have a hesitation as to why I will be enjoying it, then I strongly suggest reread this blog post again, only this time do it properly.
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