Ok, so I saw AWE again...

On the way to the film, I tried to think, How should I approach this? Should I pretend that I had never seen the film before? Should I go ahead and analyze? Should I hit myself every time I thought of the script and what was missing?

In the end, I tried to keep in mind that the script was like one of my favorite books which is always screwed up in the adaptations. Some of my favorite parts are inevitably left out while the parts I hated are kept. Lines are cut or twisted so that it's not the same.

I'll admit that it was better but still not without its problems although I found new things to like as well. My mom also found it better since she could understand what was going on but she said, "I'm not sure it speaks well of a movie that you have to see it more than once to understand it."

Ok, so Surreal was probably right about his wanting them to sing so that the Brethren would be summoned, but how did he know about the song and not that they meet at Shipwreck Cove or any of the things that Feng revealed to Mercer?

I also want to know why this Admiral has a sash and James doesn't. Does this make him higher than James because James did give him the freaking heart and all so I'd want him to be just under Beckett in the hierarchy.

Last time, I was relieved at James not being shown with the hangings, but this time, I had a much worse idea. I can't believe that those were all Port Royal citizens. They were from ships, ships that were properly intercepted and taken unlike Jones' preference for obliteration...and very likely led by James.

Poor James

Apparently, the POTC universe does have reincarnation but that will be further addressed on the dvd commentary.

I still think the monkey had one of the best characters and appeared to be...oddly...one of the most sympathetic.

The line is actually, "You summoned me, Lord Beckett" but those first three words are still said the same way. It was also interesting the way James responds to the news that the Brethren will be destroyed. He has no clues that could make him think that Elizabeth is with one of them especially when he's later surprised that she's a captain. So, why the look? Is he starting to like pirates or just one in particular? Or does he rather that Jack die by his hand than Beckett's?

Weatherby still serves no purpose and the lines relating to him generally feel out of place as though they were written at a much later date than the rest of the scene which they were. I was utterly confused why the camera went to him when Beckett said to keep Singapore quiet because they didn't want someone to warn them? Who is going to warn them? Weatherby? Weatherby already made the deal in DMC that Beckett would "do what (he) could for (his) daughter". Unless he were to know that she was dead or that Beckett had no intention of fulfilling his end of the deal, he would never go against Beckett for fear of Beckett revoking that protection on Elizabeth.

I tolerated the Multiple Jacks but still feel that they were unnecessary. Jack's madness could have been shown another way, like talking to himself while just having the first multiple Jacks scene. We would have still known that Jack was truly back when he helped Will stab the heart and rescued Elizabeth.

Jack also didn't say "tea party" at all, it was "garden party" which doesn't have the same coolness as the "tea party" would have but may still be an "Alice" reference...I'd have to check.

Oh, and I was once again mistaken for a child as we later discovered when I realized I had a child's ticket. I really should be happy for being mistaken for half my age and I would be...if there could be more profit on my end for it.

I still hated seeing The Endeavour blown to bits. I was trying to cheer his crew on to jump the ship, but...not all of them made it. I have always disliked all those men under James that died in order to save Will in the first film, but not as much as my mom and this was MUCH worse. She really did hate it and I found it, at the very least, disturbing. Yes, they could have abandoned their posts earlier as Murtogg and Mullroy had done or James, but look what happened to James. He was killed as was anyone else who deserted their posts most likely. That's not exactly encouraging to the average soldier especially when they believe their cause is helping the crown which would be the equivalent in those days to helping God.

I want my very own pet stone crab.

I still hate that they cut the scene so the average viewer would construe that Beckett was also interested in Elizabeth when he just wanted more leverage against Jack. I loved his smile at realizing that Jack cared for her.

Drat, Elizabeth says “Lord Beckett” instead of “your Beckett.” However, I did spot some Beckington this time. Beckett hits James with his cane and despite an obvious dislike of Beckett; it’s surpassed by James’ dislike of Jones which is evident when he smiles at Beckett chastising the OctopiMan. I loved that look on James’ face.

This time though, I reached a point where it was like, That’s it!! No more impaling!! This is getting ridiculous!!

Mercer was stabbed with a hair thing which was totally appropriate considering he’d just accidentally killed her sister and Feng died from being impaled with ship debris from the cannon hitting his ship, but then…James was impaled by a wooden spar, Jones was stabbed by a sword twice and Will was run through. Couldn’t we have a bit more variety, even a plain old stabbing with a dagger or shooting? And by variety I don’t mean choked by tentacles or drowned by own flag…which my mom noticed for the first time today and was glad that it was left more ambiguous than the scripted version.

I still hate Bootstrap and I hate Davy Jones for putting him in the brig in the first place.

I still wish we could have had an actual fight or duel. The shocking randomness of his death is more suited to a more minor character like Sao Feng and not one so established. Perhaps they didn’t want to repeat themselves with Will later not wanting to really hurt Bootstrap, but it certainly makes me want to pop in DMC for some proper swordplay rather than seeing AWE again.

I firmly believe Elizabeth will rescue him and have made a sort of peace with it, but my mom still hates his death with a fiery passion.

I also had a much better crowd for the offer scene; a few twitters for “Guess not” and nothing for “Nice sword.”
I liked the Brethren scene a lot better this time and have decided that it’s still ambiguous whether Teague is really his father or not.

I noticed Will’s scar although will have to watch for it in DMC because I didn’t remember a large gash there.

I know the shooting script for Elizabeth’s speech mentioned her grief over her father, but I read it a different way on-screen. Barbossa mentions her father and she becomes indignant because it’s not her father that she’s so upset about, but it’s all done silently so hard to tell.

My mom saw the stabbing of the heart clearer this time.

In order to put some reasoning behind Beckett’s last line, I did notice that he says something like, “Nothing personal, Jack. It’s just good business” so it could just be his further shock that they used his tools against him.

I liked the beach scene a lot better. The thigh kissing was still kind of, knock it off and it went a bit long, but the end was good where he gives her the chest. The faces on Elizabeth and Will exactly mirror the scene at the end of CotBP particularly when he finally tells her that he loves her.

I know now that my problem was not entirely due to reading the leaked scripts because while my mom enjoyed it better, she said she didn’t care if she ever saw it again and she hasn’t read any of the scripts.

I think the 7/10 that I originally told several friends is still valid. There were good things, but also bad and to me, it just wasn’t as good as DMC. DMC had the best fight whereas the AWE ones went a bit long at times. DMC had more comedy and a brighter ending. We knew that they would get Jack back and could assume that James would realize his mistake in time.