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RELEASED:
2003
DIRECTOR(s):
Gore Verbinski
PERSONAL RATING:
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In the 18th century,
Governor Weatherby Swann and his daughter, Elizabeth, sail aboard HMS
Dauntless. Lieutenant Norrington's crew recovers a shipwrecked survivor,
Will Turner. Elizabeth takes a gold medallion from around Will's neck,
before seeing a ship with black sails. Eight years later in Port Royal,
Jamaica, Norrington is promoted to commodore. While the promotion ceremony
is taking place, Captain Jack Sparrow, who initially arrived in Port Royal
to "commandeer" a ship, runs into two Royal Navy guards, Murtogg and
Mullroy, who reveal to Jack that the HMS Interceptor is the fastest ship
in the Caribbean.
After the ceremony is finished, Commodore Norrington proposes to
Elizabeth, before her corset makes her faint and fall into the water
below, causing the medallion to emit a pulse. Jack rescues Elizabeth
before escaping Commodore Norrington, who identifies Jack with his pirate
brand. Will, now a blacksmith, meets Jack and fights long enough for
Sparrow to be imprisoned.
That night, Port Royal is attacked by the Black Pearl, the ship Elizabeth
saw years earlier, searching for the medallion. Invoking parley, Elizabeth
is taken aboard to meet Captain Barbossa. Although she gives her name as
"Elizabeth Turner" to conceal her identity as the governor's daughter,
Barbossa takes Elizabeth with them. Barbossa explains that the medallion
is one of 882 Aztec gold pieces in a stone chest used to bribe Cortés to
stop his slaughter, but because of Cortés's greed, the heathen gods placed
a curse on the gold. Barbossa's crew found the treasure at Isla de Muerta,
but after spending it, they feel and taste nothing, and turn into immortal
undead skeletons in the moonlight. To lift the curse, Barbossa's crew must
return all the gold with their blood. Having discovered that William
"Bootstrap Bill" Turner sent a piece to his child, Barbossa sent Bootstrap
to the bottom of the ocean.[b] Assuming Elizabeth is Bootstrap's child,
Barbossa intends to use her blood instead.
To save Elizabeth, Will frees Jack, who learns that Will is the son of
Bootstrap Bill. They fool Norrington with a staged attempt to steal the
HMS Dauntless, making Norrington and his crew pursue them on board the
Interceptor. Jack and Will then sneak on board the Interceptor and escape,
with the ship's rigging having been fully prepared to sail. Jack and Will
then head to Tortuga to find Joshamee Gibbs and recruit a crew. Will
learns from Gibbs that Sparrow was captain of the Black Pearl before
Barbossa organized a mutiny and marooned him on an island. Arriving at
Isla de Muerta, Jack and Will sneak into the treasure grotto, where
Barbossa fails to lift the curse with Elizabeth's "Turner" blood.
Will and Elizabeth escape with the medallion on the Interceptor, while
Jack is captured by Barbossa and locked in the brig aboard the Pearl. A
battle ensues between the Pearl and the Interceptor, with the crew
captured and the ship destroyed. Having realized it is his blood Barbossa
needs, Will surrenders himself to ensure Elizabeth's freedom. Barbossa
agrees but maroons Jack and Elizabeth. The next morning, Elizabeth makes a
smoke signal, then Jack and Elizabeth are rescued aboard the Dauntless.
Elizabeth accepts Norrington's marriage proposal on the condition to
rescue Will from Barbossa.
That night, Jack and Norrington make a plan to ambush the pirates at Isla
de Muerta, but Norrington plans to ambush the pirates himself and Jack
convinces Barbossa to not lift the curse until after they've killed
Norrington's men. Having anticipated the battle to come, Jack secretly
palms a coin for himself to become immortal, then frees Will and duels
Barbossa in the cave. As Norrington's crew battle skeletons aboard the
Dauntless, Elizabeth sneaks off to free Jack's crew, who flee on the
Pearl, leaving Swann to save Will and Jack by herself. After Elizabeth
helps defeat some of Barbossa's crewmen, Jack shoots Barbossa just as Will
returns both remaining coins with their blood into the chest, lifting the
curse. Now mortal, Barbossa dies from Jack's gunshot, and the rest of
Barbossa's crew are killed or surrendered.
At Port Royal, Will declares his love for Elizabeth, before rescuing Jack,
who was about to be hanged. After a scuffle, Jack and Will are surrounded.
Elizabeth stands by their side, choosing Will over Norrington, who stands
down. Jack falls into the water, then is rescued by the Black Pearl and
her new crew. Norrington decides to give Jack "one day's head start"
before pursuit. Governor Swann gives his blessings to Will and Elizabeth,
while Jack Sparrow is made captain of the Pearl and sails off to the
horizon. |
