Showing posts with label Characters. Show all posts

Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean)

The Ultimate Mystery Man

I remember watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie a little sometime after its theatrical release (Nobody knew back then that it was about to become one of the biggest hits of 2003). I remember something very distinct from that movie-watching experience: the character of Jack Sparrow, played by this guy called Johnny Depp, who was loved equally by me and my mom. Now, contrary to popular expectations, that really wasn't something which was never seen in our delightful little family. What was never seen, however, was something which happened a few months hence. It was a certain February morning in '04 when me and my mom got really “angry” at a trivial 'filmy' matter; when Johnny was denied what Depp fans like to call his 'due prize' (He was nominated for the Oscar, of course, but never got it). My mom (And also my young co-watcher) went on to say that he deserved it more than anybody (although neither my mom nor I had actually seen the other nominated actors that year in their nominated roles) and I totally agreed with her!


This is what happens when you watch Jack Sparrow and his crazy antics for the very first time! He’ll bowl you over with his witty one-liners, wacky demeanor and of course, his tendency to hilariously (sometimes) over-estimate himself. He’s confident, a tad too much if you ask me, when he declares, not without reason, “Gentlemen, you’ll all remember this day as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!”

Jack is funny… and in a very complete but unconscious sort of way. He's even funnier than the characters played by him prior to that of Jack Sparrow which must that include his role in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, “Benny and Joon”, and even the clever and rickety detective in “Sleepy Hollow”. But defining Johnny in the Pirates franchise with the single word 'funny' would be a gross understatement. He is a hero... a shady one at that, but a hero nevertheless. He escapes hundreds of bullets, dodges swords… escapes miraculously from the island he is marooned on... People tell stories about him and legends are woven around him which are as mysterious as the Flying Dutchman itself.



Jack is a figure of rigorous determination, cunning... and courage. And as my faithful co-watcher put it, "Heroes can't get better than him!" He is left with a single shot in a lonely island where he is stranded by his rebel crew. Yet, he manages to get out of that island (with a little bit of luck) with that single shot intact, which he is saving for his rebellious first mate Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush).

"Jack likes to be mysterious" my enthusiastic co-watcher points out, "A trait men must have to woo women" (Mental note, guys!) He prefers a little drama before he spills the beans to shock 'em all! Sometimes, it arises out of a necessity… as in the first movie where he couldn’t divulge to anyone that he too, had been affected by the curse that lingered over the fabled Aztec gold! But what could’ve been the reason for not telling his fellow sufferers that he was on the same page? "It was ego… pure male ego, really!" My co-watcher explains. "He just wanted to make it look like he was far better off than the 'almost' zombies of the Black Pearl!"

Jack’s a woman's treaure chest when it comes to keeping secrets… from his magical compass, love (Which is still a secret, really... but I guess we know him to be a Womanizer!)… to his family… everything is shrouded in mystery! He’s almost like a modern day enigmatic Hollywood star! We are introduced to his dad in the third movie (played by Keith Richards, the original inspiration behind Jack’s character), but that is about the only thing we know about his family. I guess some characters are better off being a mystery, an enigma… that’s how the Hollywood 'Franchise' charm works, doesn’t it?


As my co-watcher forces me back into the topic of 'Love', I don’t think abyone can call Jack a bloody misogynist (And my co-watcher finally agrees with me), coz he has 'lots and lots' of girl-friends in Tortuga (if you know what I mean). And it is pretty evident that Jack knows how to respect women as well… the manner in which he interacted with the well-bred British lady of the Indies Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). His tete-a-tetes with the most important female character in this series, Elizabeth, actually makes for a very interesting viewing! He is a flirty kind of guy ("No question about that," my co-watcher says)… and in the 2nd movie… and Elizabeth seemingly falls for him, wrongfully assuming that Jack had actually returned to rescue her out of the crumbling Black Pearl.

But as is the trend with heroes irrespective of time and place, the lack of a genuine love didn’t stop Sparrow from being a good person! When his quest to kill Davy Jones (played by Bill Nighy) to become immortal and possess “The Flying Dutchman” came knocking at his door, he (in true 'Bollywood' Hero fashion) decided to save the fatally wounded Will (Orlando Bloom) in the end, ending up sacrificing his quest for the 'Greater Good'! And with it, fans across the globe heaved a sigh of massive relief, along with my co-watcher, "Alright, the man we loved so much isn’t simply a bloody pirate after all… I told you he was a good pirate!"



Walt Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer films have declared a fourth Pirates movie (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), in which Johnny would reprise his role as 'Captain Jack Sparrow'. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom will be the absentees while Geoffrey Rush would be back as well. Thanks to the fact that the second and the third instalments of the franchise were solely watchable because of Jack Sparrow, "it would be interesting to see how the Hollywood moneymongers destroy yet another series" (Not my words!) Well, pathetic or not, us fans would probably still flock for the premiere-show tickets when the next feature hits theatres... and hopefully, Johnny as Jack would be as good as he has ever been.


That's the least we can hope for!

Signing Off,
Jesse (Jagannath)

P.S. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles won the Oscar in 2004 for Best Actor. Well, he was truly extraordinary in the movie but... there's always a but!
Nevertheless, this year has seen Johnny's 'Public Enemies' avatar and Foxx's sterling performance in 'The Soloist'. So Oscars or not, it's good to see both stars still going strong after all these years. And in case both get nominated again... GO JOHNNY, GO GO GO!

Food4Thought: The Tragic Hero of 'The Departed' (2006)



(SPOILER ALERT)
I never get tired of watching some films… on that selective list must come “A few good men”, “Titanic”, "Citade de Deus", "El Laberinto del Fauno", “Love Actually”, “Tropic Thunder” and most importantly, “The Departed”. Easily, it has to go down in sweet celluloid history as Martin Scorsese’s greatest directorial venture (Yes, I have the audacity to say that even with 'Goodfellas' in my DVD rack. For once, I agree with the Academy). Even though Leo Di Caprio (in his Billy Costigan avatar) was the show-stealer of this one, which of us did not connect (for want of a better term: sympathize) with the character of Matt Damon (Sergeant Colin Sullivan) in this film? Yes, Costigan has a disturbing past, was welcomed into the police department in the worst manner imaginable by Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), sent off to be a police informant in Frank Costello's (Jack Nicholson) Irish mafia gang, with only Dignam and Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) knowing the true identity of Billy. Whilst Matt Damon was simply the fairer side of the coin. He was “supposed” to have a disturbing childhood as well, which he dodged thanks to the generosity of bad-man Frank Costello; Frank prepped him to be a son, an accomplice and finally a pawn in the police department in the long run.

Evaluating the two scenarios, my co-watcher didn't waste a moment to start hating Damon, even though she practically drooled over him in Ocean's Twelve and the Bourne movies. But I felt differently... Colin Sullivan was just a puppet… a puppet in the hands of Costello. He was a cop, sure, but how could he perform his sergeant-duties with the debt of gratitude he owed Mafia-Nicholson? Would he have preferred being the good cop had he been given a choice? But ironically for him, Colin Sullivan showed unwavering loyalty towards a person who never trusted him, which was evident from the fact that Costello left Costigan (DeCaprio) in possession of tapes that could give Sullivan’s true identity (Of being the Mafia's mole in the Department) away. Costello trusted the rat in his gang (DiCaprio) to his protégé Colin. Sullivan shot Costello himself when he became aware than the Mafia boss was also a valuable FBI informant. But couldn't you see that Costello only got killed since he was slow enough to pull the trigger in time, and not because he hesitated to kill his somewhat 'son'?

Here, my co-watcher interjects. "Come on, dude, didn't you see how Costello pleaded 'Colin, you're like my son?' And Bourne still shot the poor guy!"

"Imagine Jack to be The Joker if you are feeling bad for 'Bourne' killing 'Costello'!" I shot back! "Costello didn't mean it. He was just using the sense of gratitude of Colin Sullivan!"

On a personal level, Colin’s would-be wife Madolyn (Vera Farmiga) fell for Costigan (Who else could it be, eh?) and (probably... it was evident!) got pregnant with Costigan’s child. Sullivan never got a clue about the affair, as he blankly asks Madolyn near the end of the movie, “What about the baby?” You feel for Colin Sullivan… at least I did... so what if my co-watcher was mourning DiCaprio's on-screen death!

Well, Costigan finally got wind of the true identity of Sullivan in the end. And he cornered Sullivan, of course (The Classic Climax!) until a bizarre twist of events left Costigan being killed by another (former) informant of Mafia Don Nicholson in the police department… Costigan’s pal Brown (Anthony Anderson) becomes collateral damage… and Sullivan finishing off the former mafia informant… making sure his true identity remained hidden forever. "That is one heinous act," my co-watcher interjects, "heinous as hell (but necessary), just like the act of erasing Costigan’s files from the police database (which Sullivan did out of pure panic)", but all those acts were acts of self-defense… we all know the lengths people can go to hide something from their life-partners, like a past affair or something… and this was a matter of life and death.

In the end, I guess my co-watcher would've hatched a plan to kill Scorsese had Sullivan survived all this. But as it turned out, Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) killed Sullivan, having found out the truth since Costigan made sure his lover (Again, the irony: Sullivan's ex-fiance) sent the tapes to Dignam if "something" happened to him. And wasn't it a conscious decision? Of course it was... and now my co-watcher fumbles!

It is a tragic death… a lonesome Sullivan was returning from the grocery store back to his apartment. His pregnant girlfriend had left him after knowing the truth; even the world seemed to hate him like a piece of scum. Coming into the apartment, Matt tried to cuddle a neighbor’s dog who dodged his hands… was it with a little help from his owner?

Even with a plethora of negative points about this character, Sullivan recommended an order of merit for Costigan, the man who had almost turned him in. It could’ve been an 'act' to convince his superiors… but I'd like to think otherwise (My co-watcher sniggers)… Maybe Sullivan appreciated the sacrifice that Costigan made for the Police department, one he never got a chance to do.

Every time I watch the movie, I find Sullivan's to be the most lonesome character in the entire film. He himself is always in the dark… he trusts people, but people do not (ever) trust him back… he trusted Costello blindly. And yet, Costello trusted the rat (Costigan) more. He trusted his girlfriend, never even showing any signs that he was capable of cheating on her. But then, he got conned by his girlfriend, too. ('Just what he deserved', my co-watcher chirps in; she's unbelievable!)

So if there is anyone out there who agrees with my co-watcher, do watch the movie one more time, and think about it! Didn't Sullivan dream of joining a law school and leaving Boston for ever with his cheating girlfriend? Well, of course you don't remember the scene, so Happy Watching!
-Signing off,
Jagannath (Jesse)
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