Pirates of the Caribbean

The first Pirates movie is nearly a perfect action blockbuster. Its structure is textbook three-act, beat for beat and the reversal comes right at the mid-point.

However, what really makes it great in my book, and what makes the trilogy one of the best trilogies of all time, is the way the story is so strong thematically. The whole trilogy is an exploration of how sacrificial love is the happy medium that trumps the extremes of legalism and liberty.

The spectrum from Liberty to Legalism is seen in six characters:

Barbossa—Sparrow—Will and Liz—Governor Swann—Norrington

On the one end we have piracy, which in the trilogy is not strictly evil. It can be, but it is mostly the expression of freedom. In the case of Captain Sparrow, we have a character who values his freedom above all else. He does not desire to be Captain of his beloved ship to have power over anyone, but simply loves the freedom it gives him. However, Barbossa represents this drive taken to extremes. He will do anything to anyone, betray any loyalty for his power in liberty.

On the other end of the spectrum we see a similar situation but on the side of structure, civilization, and the rule of law. Governor Swann likes the stability and comfort that law gives. Norrington wants to use the law and the power it gives him to get his way over situations and people.

In the middle we have the mutual, sacrificial love of Will and Liz. The plot of the first film is driven by Will’s willingness to sacrifice himself to save Liz; and at the point of reversal, we see her doing the same for him.

In the subsequent entries we add characters to the outer extremes of the spectrum. Davy Jones and Lord Beckett are such exaggerations of liberty and legalism respectively that the lines are blurred and it is hard to see a difference between the extremes. This is a wonderful illustration that such extremes always end up being opposite sides of the same wrong coin.

And, in the final film we get a deeper examination of mutual, sacrificial love itself as Will and Liz overcome their broken communication. But, more pointedly, we compare their true love to the broken, poor replica of real love seen in the relationship between Davy Jones and Calypso.