Pirates of the Caribbean

Noting that the following will contain spoilers!

Now that I've seen the movie twice (okay, one and a half times- I slept from Jack's rescue from Davy Jones' Locker to the gathering of the Brethren Court the second time), I can put my thoughts and feelings into better order.

I should watch the second movie again at some point soon, just to remind myself of the plot- but I really didn't enjoy the second movie much. It was too much filler, and did too many things to the characters that I didn't really approve of.

The first Pirates of the Carribbean movie came out in the summer after my senior year of highschool; I saw it in theaters three times. And now, the last movie comes out during senior week of my last year at MHC...I think I'm a bit more fond of the series than I would be otherwise, simply for that reason.

Anyway, At World's End was beautiful. The opening scene, both times, sent shivers down my spine. The litany of rights being taken away in the name of stopping piracy felt a bit overtly political to me, which was odd, given that this is Disney, that staunch supporter of traditional family values, democracy, and America. Still, the singing and the hangings were a powerful, powerful way to start the movie, and I'm a bit in love with the song "Hoist the Colors."

Liked the Singapore pirates, wished the Singapore Sisters hadn't bitten the bullet so quickly. That whole scene made me wonder why Barbossa and Elizabeth ever let Will open his mouth in public, because the boy may be cute, but he really isn't that bright. (He redeemed himself so much in this movie, though! I just can't get over my dislike of Orlando Bloom enough to properly adore the character.) I loved that Elizabeth pulled a knife on the guard, and Barbossa had to tell her to back down. I wish that sort of characterization had been the consistent one for Elizabeth- she became ruthless in the second movie, and that ruthlessness would have been palatable if it had been consistent. It would have been believable if Elizabeth hadn't been so clean. A girl doesn't learn to fight and swear and be piratey and still maintain such a clear complexion. It pissed me off, that she had no visible scars.

I'll admit I wasn't enthused at the idea of Barbossa being brought back to life at the end of DMC, but he was amazing in AWE. The whole movie was just a lot of him going, "I am surrounded by IDIOTS," and it was fantastic.

The multiple Jacks scene was a bit too art-movie for me, though the goat was a nice touch, and the crabs were awesome. The only thing I could think through the whole scene, though, was, "Man, this is going to make some fantastic livejournal icons." I can see them now. "MY peanut," and "Shoo," and "I'm through with this weirdness."

Had a few "Physics doesn't work that way!" moments on the Black Pearl.

The first time through, the intertwining betrayals and the plotting was pretty incomprehensible. It was clearer in my second viewing- and, to me, the movie underscores Jack's brilliance. It's a brilliance born of insanity (I hold that the many Jacks are always there, lurking in the back of his mind), but it is brilliance. He was brilliant in the first movie, too- the second movie butchered that, but very little happened in the third movie that he wasn't aware of.

I hold that Jack was in control of everything until he had Davy Jones' heart in his hand. He couldn't stab it- he wasn't sure he wanted the fate of the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, but he figured the threat would be enough to protect Will and Elizabeth. He wasn't counting on Davy Jones being a man with nothing left to lose, and while I think he was shocked (not devastated, not quite) by Will being stabbed, he saw it as an out for himself. I think Jack was holding Will's arm when the heart was stabbed (I can't remember, though- it might have been Elizabeth? Argh, I made a point of watching for that the second time through).

The first time through, I kept thinking Bootstrap was going to sacrifice himself to be captain, so Will's part was a shock to me. Second time through, it was much clearer that Bootstrap was the one who cut out Will's heart, and that was just chilling. "Part of the ship, part of the crew," indeed.

Norrington's death was a sad surprise (had a "guns don't work that way!" moment there, when he shot the rope), but there wasn't anywhere for him to go, really. If he survived, he'd have gone back to being an enemy of the pirates, and he had no realy way to redeem himself for the second movie.

Beckett's death scene pissed me off. That was the death scene of a noble villain, one who did everything with the best of intentions, one who realizes that his actions were atrocious, and one who knows that the only way for him to set things right is to die. Beckett was not that villain. He was motivated solely by greed, and his actions, deplorable as they were to the audience, were technically in the right. He was trying to make the seas safe for merchant ships and ordinary citizens but destroying the pirates who, you know, loot and plunder and ravage and steal. He did nothing to deserve a noble death; he had nothing to reflect on to make his death mean anything, not for his character or for the plot. The way he kept repeating "Good business" may have been some attempt at making his death mean something, but he still wasn't a noble villain. He shouldn't have gotten an awesome death scene. (Not that I didn't appreciate it, aesthetically, but it was out of place, and irritatingly so.)

Also, friendly fire isn't, and at that range, there's no way Pearl and The Flying Dutchman wouldn't have been shooting each other. There's also no reason for Endeavor not to have opened fire right back at them. Dutchman would've been fine, but Pearl would've gone down like a sack of vaguely supernatural bricks. Stupid naval warfare tactics. Really stupid.

I didn't listen to Elizabeth's speech the first time through. The second time through, I did, and wished I hadn't. When she says, "We will show them what we can do," I figured she was going to actually say something along the lines of, "We will show them the meaning of fear," or something equally angry and violent. Her speech was that of the already defeated- it was the "Do your best, even if it isn't good enough!" speech. What they needed was a "We're the Goddamn Pirate Brethren, and we will CRUSH AND DESTROY all who stand before us!" Because they're pirates. They kill and loot and rape and pillage, it's what they're good at.

I enjoyed the fight/wedding scene too much to be bothered especially by Elizabeth's mysterious ability to fight; that was the ruthlessness we'd seen in the beginning of the movie showing through, I suppose. (At least she didn't try to solve anything by fainting this time. >_<)

Loved Ragetti releasing Calypso; he and Pintel and Gibbs had a tendency to steal scenes, and it was awesome. Loved Captain Teague and the Pirata Codex, and the fact that Jack's hair might someday grow up to be as awesome as his father's. The bit of conversation Jack had with Teague after Elizabeth gets elected Pirate King makes me wonder if Teague didn't trade Jack's mother for immortality or something similar.

Kind of wondered at the circumstances that made both Jack and Barbossa Pirate Lords. Barbossa was originally Jack's first mate, and I guess he had the Black Pearl for ten years, but the pieces of eight have to be passed on to officially named successors- and the Carribbean only needs one Pirate Lord. ...okay, I guess they could use two, but still. Makes me wonder what happened there, 'specially since Ragetti was carrying around that eye for three movies. (Makes the scene where Barbossa sticks it in his mouth and then pops it back in Ragetti's eye socket a bit more meaningful. Also, Ragetti in an eyepatch = hot.)

Loved the ending. Loved that Will became Captain of The Flying Dutchman, loved that Elizabeth agreed to wait for him and keep his heart. Wished the movie had made it clearer that Will got freed from his service- it's vaguely implied in the cookie, with the green flash, but it needed to be stated more explicitly, I think. The ambiguity is awesome, though, and I prefer to think that he doesn't get to stay after ten years, because it makes his choice and Elizabeth's choice that much more poignant. It's a proper fairy tale, not a Disney fairy tale, and I love that.

Still, as far as my squishy, happy-ending-loving parts go, it's nice to know that Will can canonically have a chance at returning to Elizabeth and his girly son. XD

I shall gleefully await the fourth movie, and hope that neither Will nor Elizabeth show up in it- because their stories are done, even if Jack's isn't.

Fic Recs! Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the X-Men.

So, this started out intending to be recs, but then I started talking about X-Men, and uh...well, there are mutlifandom recs, if you want to skip my rambling: X-Men, Pirates of the Caribbean, Final Fantasy VII, Firefly, House.

Watching X-III (I can't write it X-3, it's too much like a demented smilie) rekindled my love of the X-Men in new and mildly horrifying ways. I mean, the movie made me froth at the mouth. Literally. I saw it twice, and spent most of both times raging. But, my rage drove me to go to the source so as to not have my mind tainted by the wrongness of the third movie. (I hate Professor X beyond words, no matter the universe, by the way.) I've been spending the last few weeks reading the comics- New X-Men, mostly, because I tried starting from the very beginning with the original series, and the X-Men of the sixties and seventies give me hives. And everything was all well and good and entertaining, until I got to the X-cutioner's Song story arc of New X-Men. And then I found Cable. Which was, actually, a lot like finding Jesus. ...G.I. Jesus, in fact. (Thank you, Sixpack.)

Anyway, finding Cable led me to Deadpool, also known as Wade Wilson, the Merc with a Mouth. He has his own 69 issue series. (Why I love Deadpool: he gets his own specially colored speech bubbles; he doesn't believe in the fourth wall, and the fourth wall doesn't believe in him; he's covered all over in hideously deforming scars (!!); he has cancer (!!!); he keeps a blind old lady for a pet, or he did in the Kelly run of his series; he's in a long-distance relationship with Death; he is, at times, so amazingly idealistic it hurts, and yet he remains a complete and utter mercenary, no matter what; he started a riot at his own funeral; he and Cable are totally boyfriends.) And through Deadpool, I came full circle to the Cable and Deadpool series, in which Cable tries to take over the world and Deadpool hangs around making snarky comments and fucking shit up. Occasionally he and Cable fuck shit up together. They're kind of forcibly stuck on the buddy system because of a tragic accident in the first few issues involving a couple of wonky viruses, a teleporter, and a church full of blue skinned hippies.

I can't quite say why I love Cable so much- he's your standard misunderstood messianic antihero, and he's a Summers. But I like him anyway, even if he's kind of a Gary Stu, and he was created by Liefield (known to many Marvel fans as He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named). His sense of humor entertains me to no end, and his angsty past intrigues me.

So, yes. Cable. My love for Cable led me to X-Force, the team he led back in the nineties, populated by criminals and misfits. Sadly, I haven't been able to find any X-Force. I mostly want to read it to get a better idea of the dynamic between Rictor and Shatterstar, because I'm pretty sure I've already read all the decent fic about them on the internet. (Rictor- Julio Richter- is Mexican, can start earthquakes with his fists, and spent a chunk of his childhood being used as a weapon by a terrorist group. Shatterstar is an alien from Mojoworld 100 years in the future, is very good at fucking shit up, and spent his entire life being a a gladiator for a TV audience. They fight crime! And go on roadtrips to Mexico. And are very nearly canonically gay for each other.) I'm also a little bit in love with Sam Guthrie, because he's made of pure, distilled adorable, and I'm more than passingly fond of Theresa O'Rourke as well.

I swear I'm not just reading X-Men for the opportunity to wear my slash goggles. The Kelly run of Deadpool is some amazing storytelling (full of crack, yes, but amazing), and the Palmiotti and Tieri runs are quite good in places, as well. The Priest run isn't worth reading, aside from the running gag about Tom Cruise, and other people seem to like Simone's work with the series, but I personally can't stand her.

Mostly, I read these things to be entertained; if I wanted good literature, I'd read Warren Ellis or Alan Moore. But Marvel comics in general were an important part of my childhood and I missed them. I have fifteen years of back issues to catch up on. I love comic books. I love them with a rather surprising intensity, for me.

I do, however, mostly read fic for the gay, because I'm still not familiar enough with the canon (the ridiculous, sprawling, multi-universed, ret-con-tastic canon) to appreciate much of anything else. So, a few recs:

Catalyst by Tangeriner. Longish, involved Ric/Shatterstar fic, taking place during some point in the canon which I know nothing about. Hilarious and poignant and all that other good stuff; also features a decent amount of Jamie Madrox, and really, you can't have too much Multiple Man. >.>

JB McDragon's Ric and Shatty page, including her three part "Contact" series, which gives me mild deja vu every time I read it- but only in that "Wait, I'm sure I've read this before" sense. (JB tends to revisit certain themes in her fic, across various fandoms- she's an amazingly talented writer, but this fact amuses me, regardless.)

Azurine's X-Men Fic, all of which is tasty and delicious. I'm especially fond of her Logan/Remy stuff, but she's also responsible for the infamous Spray Evenly Until Slightly Damp Ultimate Spiderman/Wolverine fic.

Jane St Claire's X-Men page, which is full of her fic and her collaborations with Te, all of which are pretty bloody amazing. There's movie and comic-verse stuff there, and I highly recommend all of it, especially the Ric/Shatterstar stuff and anything involving Rogue. (My next project: read GenX, so as to find out more about this "Chamber" fellow.)

A general X-Men thing that isn't exactly a fic:
Imaging the X-Men, a coffe table book by Jane St Claire. Pretty, pretty pictures. Of course, the movies have irreversably altered my preception of certain characters, but I like looking at pretty, pretty pictures, nonetheless.

A Reading from the Book of Mutants by evadne-noel. What if Mutants were a book in the Bible? It'd be awesome, that's what.

Things You're Not Supposed to See by navisx. Uh. Cable/Deadpool. Which, if you think about it too hard, probably will cause permanent scarring. This story is unashamedly cute, or as cute as a fully grown Cable and Deadpool can be.

And now, other things!
Pirates of the Caribbean

I've been on a Pirates of the Caribbean kick, too, though not because of the movie. The movie did, however, give me great cause for squeeing, even if it wasn't nearly what I wanted it to be.

Full Moon (1/2), Full Moon (2/2), Tides, Drowning (1/2), Drowning (2/2), Currents (1/2), Currents (2/2), by firesignwriter. Angsty Sparrington rendered awfully out of character and out of canon after the second movie, but we don't really care. Well written and tasty.

Pirate Vindaloo by hippiediva. A Sparrington novel, complete with illustrations. Occasionally not-worksafe illustrations. Rendered AU by the second movie, but brilliant with the characterizations and worldbuilding. Jack and Norrington get pressganged in Tortuga and end up sailing to India; they have to work together to get home. It's long and involved and it has a mostly happy ending (sue me, I like happy endings), and it's all around just a wonderful story.

The Loquacious Dead by cupiscent. Spoilers for PotC2 liek whoa. A bit of Norrington, a bit of Jack (just a bit), a bit of conversation.

Final Fantasy VII
Glass Slipper part 1 and part 2 by karose. This is...so wrong. And yet so good. Potentially incredibly squicky Rude/Reno with lots of in depthy Turks things and the most awesome and wrong take on Cinderella in the history of anything. And it won't be finished until Friday, which makes me so amazingly sad, you've no idea.

Poetry by gunmetal song. Reno and Rude, being themselves.

Snakes on the Highwind by cendrillo. I think the title speaks for itself, honestly.

50 sentences, Barret/Cloud by firefly99. No, wait, before you run away screaming, hear me out. I feel as though I've recced this before, but I'm too lazy to check. Either way, it's good. If you ignore the way the pairing might give you cancer, it stands on its own as an excellent example of the proper use of run-on sentences. Seriously. This is one of my favorite 50 sentences sets ever.

A Trio of delicious drabbles by aphelion orion. Cloud/Leon, Cloud introspection, Vincent/Cloud.

Firefly
Unchained Melody by Bonibaru. Jayne/Vera. ...Stop looking at me like that. Clearly Jayne's love for his guns is the only thing truly pure in his life. Also, I find it ironic that once, not so long ago, I found guns to be disgusting and terrible things. *sigh*

House
Deriving the Prime by rageprufrock. House/Cuddy/Wilson and a baby, and all of Pru's Housefic is awesome stuff, but this one is probably my favorite for obvious reasons.

I had other things, but now I'm getting bored so...that's all, forks.