Set a few months after Dead Man’s Chest, the third Pirates of the Caribbean film follows efforts to find and rescue Captain Jack Sparrow after he’s trapped in Davy Jones’ Locker. The plot sees Will, Elizabeth, Hector Barbossa, and the crew of the Black Pearl reluctantly teaming up to fight Lord Cutler Beckett, who controls Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman. Will and co. end up resorting to some pretty extreme methods in their crusade to save Jack, but Will arguably goes a step too far at one point — and the movie just ignores it.
Will Is Killing Members Of The Black Pearl's Crew To Leave A Trail For Beckett
At World's End Treats The Black Pearl's Crew As Totally Expendable
Will has one of the craziest arcs in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. He starts the movie trying to figure out a way to save his friend and he ends it as the captain of the Flying Dutchman, having been killed and brought back to life by a mystical ritual. Along the way, he makes a pretty amoral decision that the movie just brushes over. In order to leave a trail for Beckett, Will starts killing off random members of the Black Pearl’s crew — then, it’s glossed over as the movie quickly moves on to the next thing.
It’s really dark that Will would even consider slaughtering random innocents just to give Beckett a path to follow, but the way the movie ignores it is even darker.
It’s really dark that Will would even consider slaughtering random innocents just to give Beckett a path to follow, but the way the movie ignores it is even darker. Following Will’s massacre, no one on the Black Pearl tries to escape the brig or even notices that people are missing — it’s just weirdly accepted. It’s a rare case that the zippy pacing of a Pirates of the Caribbean film has hurt the story, because it’s so eager to race from one story beat to the next that it doesn’t stop to consider the implications and consequences of each plot point.
Jack Isn't Fazed By Will's Actions Before Giving Him A Non-Lethal Alternative
Jack Reveals A Much Simpler Method To Leave A Trail For Beckett
When Jack finds out that Will killed a bunch of his crew members just to leave a crude trail for Beckett to follow, he reacts pretty casually. Jack has never been the most morally upright character — part of his charm is that he’s a roguish antihero — but the Black Pearl is his ship, and the crew are his people, so it’s strange that he wouldn’t have more of a reaction to Will needlessly killing them. And not only that; Jack promptly reveals a much simpler method that Will could’ve used to give Beckett a trail to follow.
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Jack gives Will his compass and pushes him off the ship, so Beckett can just use the compass to track them. This would’ve been a much simpler (and more peaceful) way to allow Beckett to follow them than just leaving behind a trail of human bodies as a gruesome form of breadcrumbs. Will didn’t have to go on a killing spree at all, and it’s pretty disturbing that that was his first thought.
Will's Actions Are Typical Of How At World's End Hurts Its Main Characters
At World's End Is More Interested In Action Spectacle Than Consistent Characterization
While Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End has a lot of crowd-pleasing spectacle, its character work leaves a lot to be desired. It’s as if the filmmakers were more interested in action than consistent characterization. It’s not totally clear why the characters are all fighting on the same side in the finale, since half of them had made deals with the East India Company for their own purposes. Will’s massacre is just one example of At World’s End not really knowing what to do with its characters.
At the time of its production, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was the most expensive film ever made with a budget of almost $300 million.
With five deaths to his name, Will has the fourth highest body count in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. He’s ranked behind Elizabeth, who’s responsible for seven deaths (but also has a son in the post-credits scene, which kind of cancels out one of the deaths); Tia Dalma, who kills 10 people; and Beckett himself, who orders 28 pirates to be hanged near the beginning of the movie. Will might not kill as many people as those other characters, but his actions are arguably the least justified, because he just starts randomly killing.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is the third film in the blockbuster series directed by Gore Verbinski. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is trapped in Davy Jones' Locker, prompting Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) to rescue him. As they battle the East India Trading Company, led by Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), they must unite the pirate lords to fight against an impending extinction of piracy.
Director Gore Verbinski
Writers Ted Elliott , Terry Rossio , Stuart Beattie , Jay Wolpert
Runtime 169 Minutes
English (US) ·