Pirates of the Caribbean 4
"The Final Voyage"
Opening Sequence: Scenes show the carnage of the East India Trading company, newly revived and sent to recolonize and settle the untamed Caribbean. They are destroying the sea—shooting down any ships not flying their flag. Dramatic annihilation of the Coven where the Brethren Court met. We see the death of Jack Sparrow's father, keeper of the Code. The Code is left in his dying hand, withering in flames. The time of Pirates is, at last, coming to an end—a true end.
With Jack Sparrow on his way to find the Fountain of Youth, Barbossa examines what is left of the Singapore Maps. He discovers a poem written upside down and backwards in the left corner that says Only The One Thy Loveth Most can touch the Grail dipped in the Fountain of Youth. If the woman drinks the fountain, it will give her lover eternal Youth. It also gives the bearings to the Fountain of Youth. Barbossa then must make a journey into his past to find the one girl he ever truly loved and sails for England.
Meanwhile, Jack Sparrow finds the Fountain of Youth and finds that he has no access to its powers whatsoever, but he can't understand why. His version of the map only has the bearings, not the poem clue. Disappointed, he returns to Tortuga. He felt like he had nothing more to live for—enemies had become friends, friends became undead sea captains, lovers became undead sea captains wives, the Black Pearl was gone, the Fountain of Youth held no adventure for him, Mr. Gibbs had retired, and every woman on Tortuga hated his guts. Jack becomes a lazy drunk for the next nine years.
Elizabeth Turner is raising her young son, William Jack Turner (nicknamed Billy-Jack) under the surname Isabella Swanturn in Port Royal. She changed her name to protect her son in case she still had enemies among the East India Trading Company or the Asian Pirates.
For nine years, Will toils at worlds' edge ferrying souls who die at sea so that they may pass into the afterlife.
One day, the East India Trading company sends a new troop into Port Royal for a warrant to behead Elizabeth Swan for treason to England. They claim she is personally responsible for the deaths of Cutler Beckett and James Norrington. No mention of the supernatural characters Davy Jones or Jack Sparrow are mentioned nor acknowledged.
The People are ordered that people may come into Port, as long as the crew is left in the harbor, but no one but that one person may return to it. Elizabeth takes Billy-Jack to meet his father for the first time when Will comes for his ten-year visit. Will senses something is wrong with Elizabeth, but she doesn't want him to worry and risk his own death so she tells him nothing. Will wonders if she has fallen out of love with him. He wants to be human again so that they can rekindle the flame.
When he leaves at sunset, his father Bootstrap Bill tells him if he can recapture the sea goddess Calypso, she may grant him amnesty from his burden, based on the legend that "If Sea-Woman be Bound in Flesh and Bone, Davy Jones need not sail the deadly waters alone".
Little did he know that when Calypso was captured the first time and bound as Tia Dalma, her captors were ignorant of the legend. When the original Davy Jones discovered they'd bound her and not taken advantage of the legend so he could be with his love again, that was when he became a monster and stopped doing his job as the soul-ferrier. Instead he hunted down her captors and killed them at sea, and left their bodies to float in the water alone. And then the love Tia Dalma had for him was truly lost, and Davy Jones felt betrayed. He wanted his crew to suffer with them and cursed them all to remain covered as fish creatures until he said so.
We see all of the above through a flashback, and then it cuts to Elizabeth and Billy-Jack.
Elizabeth takes Billy-Jack in a small dingy to escape from the Trading Company. The troops spot them from the wall and begin to shoot. Elizabeth is shot in the neck and begins to die. In her last moments, she tells Billy-Jack to find "Uncle Sparrow" so that he may be taken care of. She tells him to look in Tortuga, and then begs him to throw her overboard. "If I die in the sea," she tells him, "I may be at last with your father and then we will come visit you in Tortuga in ten years." Billy-Jack dutifully obeys and then goes to Tortuga.
Elizabeth is picked up by Will, where she tearfully agrees to postpone the afterlife and serve as a crew member.
Billy-Jack is picked up sometime later, half-dead and lost at sea, by Barbossa and the Black Pearl on the way from England. Barbossa was unsuccessful at finding his old flame from his youth. Convinced Jack Sparrow is the key to unlocking the fountain of Youth since he loved Elizabeth so passionately, (and none of his crew has ever seemed to be successful in the women department) he is eager to join Billy-Jack in search of Sparrow. He hopes to get Jack Sparrow's 'lover' Elizabeth to drink the grail, and then somehow outwit Jack into bestowing his youth onto him. Legend written on the map says the lover may live in youth forever unless gifted to a friend.
They find Jack Sparrow wallowing in rum and card games, and he refuses to leave. Even when Barbossa tries to convince him to help him unlock the secrets of the Fountain, he claims its not really worth it anymore. "The world of pirates is over, mate," he says to them. "And their petty attempts to stop time will never work."
Billy-Jack doesn't tell him that Elizabeth is serving on the Dutchman, because he thinks (not knowing all the legends) maybe HE can get the grail and have eternal youth, and then have the ability to join his mother and father. He lies to Jack that Elizabeth may possibly consent to helping Jack receive eternal Youth. He is still not convinced.
"It will not help if Elizabeth loves Will and not I," he tells them all. "The Youth will pass to HER lover. To Will."
Finally, using the ability to trick and deceive inherited from Will, Billy-Jack tells Sparrow that Will isn't his father—Sparrow is. When Jack only laughs and says its not possible, but Billy-Jack adds that Sparrow was too drunk to remember the days while marooned with Elizabeth on the uncharted tiny island. Jack Sparrow then begins to question it—could he be Billy's father? There HAD been a lot of rum involved before Elizabeth burned it all away.
"Why else was I named for you?" Billy tells him. "So, if Elizabeth does drink the Fountain water, YOU will be granted with eternal Youth—not William Turner."
So when Jack says, "Let's find Elizabeth," Billy-Jack tells them she 'disappeared'. So Jack suggests, "Let's find Will!" Billy Jack doesn't want them to because he knows when they see Elizabeth they'll know he lied, but he can't help but tag along.
So, together on the Black Pearl, Barbossa and Jack Sparrow are brought together again to quest for The Flying Dutchman and its Lady. During this journey, we see a very comedic time between 'supposed' father and son. Jack doesn't know how to act like a dad, and Billy tries to make him as uncomfortable as possible.
Meanwhile, Will and Elizabeth are finding WAY more dead bodies in the sea than normal and realize something is not right. What is happening is this: an army of the East India Trading company is scourging the ocean, firing upon any ship that doesn't fly the EITC flag. In the process they are destroying British troops, Spanish adventurers, other pirates, and African slave ships. Will becomes overwhelmed with responsibility to help the Black Pearl—he wants to see the EITC destroyed. Bootstrap tells him ominously, "There may be a way to do that."
Barbossa and Jack finally track down the Flying Dutchman—or, rather, Will finds THEM—and asks them why they are following them. "Get out of the sea," he tells them, "It's too dangerous. If the EITC doesn't destroy you, you will be forced to run your whole lives."
With a dirty look at Billy-Jack for lying about Elizabeth's location, Jack explains, "I jest need to borrow your dead wife for a little expedition to grant me eternal youth." Barbossa adds, "And I'm jest interested in the care of a certain young Billy-Jack while his parents are enjoying the unending vacation on the sea." Elizabeth doesn't want to go with Sparrow because she doesn't want to leave Will. Jack convinces her its just a little favor.
Then Bootstrap intercedes and says, "It's best you not be doin' that if you want to save the ocean." Because, apparently, "You need a woman to call up the wrecks of every destroyed ship on the ocean floor and their crews—and with a legion of undead soldiers—can defeat the East India Trading company once and for all."
The Quest for eternal youth is put on hold.
Elizabeth heartily agrees to call the spirits of the sunken ships to life again—but in doing so, she unwittingly takes the power of being the sea goddess "Calypso" forcibly from the water spirit of Tia Dalma. Tia Dalma's spirit is defeated, and her disembodied spirit ends up with Davy Jones's in the bottom of the ocean—and at last, they are together again. But Elizabeth and the rest of the friends are unprepared. When Elizabeth applies the calling of the sunken ships and becomes the next Calypso, she loses her human form and bursts into a wave of sea-crabs. Thousands of little sea crabs scuttle into the sea, with one last cry of "Will! I don't want it!" she is gone.
Will is broken hearted. "Is there any way I can save her?" he cries.
"What about defeating the East India Trading Company?" Bootstrap asks.
"I don't care about the EITC," Will declares, "I want my wife back. How can I get her back?"
Shyly, Billy Jack sings the first verse of "Hoist the Colours".
The King and his men
Stole the Queen from her bed
And bound her in her bones
The seas be ours and by the powers
Where we will, we'll roam.
"Capture the sea goddess and bound her in human form," he suggests, "And I get my mother back! She'll be human again, but at least she'll be alive."
"How do we do it?" Will begs.
But no one knows how! Finally Jack tells them, "Gibbs will know."
Plans are made to kidnap Mr. Gibbs. And why should they kidnap him, you ask? Here is why. Mr. Gibbs, for the past ten years, has returned to Port Royal. He is now the mayor, in the name of the King. He has a sweet little wife, a nice mansion, plenty of money, and a severe addiction to rum—but no one knows why. "Something to do with his sailor career under Governor Swan passed from that unfortunate heart attack," people say.
It is left up to Jack Sparrow to kidnap him. Barbossa insists Gibbs won't trust him, Will can't set foot on land, Governor Swan is dead, and Elizabeth lives in the ocean with the lobsters.
Through a funny misadventure, Gibbs is kidnapped. He is joyfully reunited with his old friends, and like old times, sits down to tell them the legend of how to recapture a sea goddess. He tells them list of magic words to repeat, and then a ritual they must follow. The ritual requires the shattering of the fountain of youth Grail, because only when the power of eternity is ripped from the hands of mortals can the sea goddess become mortal.
The Black Pearl sails to Isla de Ninos. (Island of Children). They have a very humorous sword duel (reminiscent of Dead Man's Chest) because Jack Sparrow doesn't want them to destroy the grail and ruin his eternal chances, Bootstrap wants it preserved to bribe the EITC with (he's just concerned with the ocean, no one else), and Billy-Jack wants to rescue Elizabeth. They finally agree to just TAKE the grail with them and think about a final descision later. The grail has an inscription on it that says, "Drink and live for drinker and his love, break and save for breaker and her love."
Meanwhile, no undead legion of sailors as shown up, so Will is afraid Elizabeth lost her life for no cause. He doesn't know it just takes time for undead ships to rise from the depths of the sea. He rejoins the Black Pearl and is shocked to find that they even HESITATED to not shatter the grail.
Then they are attacked by the EITC, and a sea battle begins. The Dutchman goes under, but the Black Pearl is captured. Jack, Gibbs, Pintel, the Midget, and several others escape by hijacking one of the EITC ships. The new leader of the EITC is named Sir Wallace, nicknamed "Dagger Wallace" because of his dagger he always carries, would be played by Viggo Mortensen. The captain of his ship, Lady Speed, is called Hawk Perkins, jokingly referred to as "General", played by Jeremy Irons. Billy-Jack is captured, and while he is under their watch, Dagger Wallace hears a peculiar thumping sound. They search Billy-Jack's pockets and find Will's beating heart.
"You BROUGHT that?" Barbossa shrieks from the cell next to him in the ships cellar.
"I couldn't just leave it in Port Royal," snaps Billy-Jack.
Knowing that he could finally retake the sea if he stabbed the heart, Dagger Wallace takes his famous dagger and plunges it through the heart without hesitation. Obviously, everyone watching is totally horrified. We see Will back in the Dutchman gasp, stagger, and finally fall down.
Just then, Jack catches up with them, and they open fire. This knocks the grail from the shelf and it shatters to the ground. They battle for awhile, and during this time, the Flying Dutchman resurfaces with Elizabeth clinging to its crows nest. When the battle appears to be over, she finds Billy Jack and he tearfully tells her the heart has been stabbed. She doesn't believe him and searches every bit of the Dutchman, but finally has to agree that Will is gone.
Dagger Wallace escaped with a lifeboat, and now returns with the whole legion of EITC ships to finish off the last two pirate ships in existence. Jack, Barbossa, Gibbs, Elizabeth, and Billy-Jack wait—knowing their time has come. There is no hope and it is the end of all pirates. Just then, millions of shipwrecks rise up from the water behind the Dutchman and the Pearl—and leading them is the wreck of Cutler Becket's ship with Will Turner at the helm—called to life by the shattering of the grail, "saving her love", as it were…and he just happened to grab onto one of the rising ghost ships as it came up from the earlier ritual.
But there is no time for reunion. First, they annihilate the EITC in an epic battle. Dagger Wallace fights gallantly and stabs Barbossa on the Dutchman, who in his last breath tells Jack, "Now you're the last of everything." Jack then fights Dagger Wallace, Will fights Hawk Perkins. A canon is pointed at Elizabeth, then she is saved from the blast by an invincible undead man looking suspiciously like Norrington. When finally the EITC is defeated, the ghost ships sink again below the surface (the undead taking all the other wreckage with them), leaving only the Dutchman. The Pearl was destroyed, so Will and Elizabeth and Billy-Jack and all the rest are on board the Dutchman.
Will celebrates with his family, exstatic that they are all mortals again. Suddenly, he realizes, "Where's Father?"
Jack is mourning Barbossa, unsure how to handle his death, because he was always switching from friend to enemy. He is also more importantly mourning the Black Pearl. Pintel comes up and says, "Like ye said once, mate, she's ONLY a ship!" to which Jack punches him in the face. Finally he kicks the wall and shouts, "Why'd that blasted Barbossa have to die? He was one of me best mates!"
Barbossa appears over the edge of the ship, tentacles and green forming on his face, with a raw scar on his chest. "Didn't know ye missed me so much, Jack," he says coolly, while Bootstrap appears behind him, holding a knife absently. Then he lets out his famous, hearty laugh.
Jack begins to yell and scream at him. (things like 'you traitor' and 'hope you enjoy being a fish and spending all day with dead souls!') Barbossa finally just says, "Better get a going, Jack, for now I rule the sea, and I don't ever want to see ye on it again!"
Jack shouts, "But with the EITC gone I can sail if I please!"
"And whose rules are we going to be a following here, Jack?" asks Barbossa. "The one who has no ship so therefore could not sail even if ye wanted to, or the one who has come back to life and rules the seas with more or less authority than said man without a ship?"
"I've come back to life too!" Jack screeches.
"I've done it TWICE!" Barbossa returns.
With a tearful farewell to Bootstrap, Will mourns that his attempt to rescue him had all been in vain. "But I love the sea, William," Bootstrap tells him, "and…and Barbossa is a good man. I will finish my debt and in return for cuttin' out him heart, he promises I can die in peace. I'm an old man, my time has come."
Will then gathers his family on a small rowboat and tells them they are sailing for Isla de Muerta to pick up a few finances, and then will move to England to raise Billy.
"How will you find it?" Elizabeth asks. "We have no food, or water, or bearings…"
With a grin, Will pulls Jack's compass from his pocket. "I've heard this thing works," he laughs.
After screaming with Barbossa, Jack notices Will out on the sea. "That's me compass!" he shouts. He runs down the hold, grabbing a sack of provisions and a few bottles of rum. He snags onto a rope and like a rope swing, swings out to sea.
"Oh! Jack!" cries Elizabeth.
"EY! JACKIE!" cries Gibbs voice. Pulling up nearby is Gibbs, Pintel, the One-Eye dude, the Midget, and the Monkey and the rest in their own boat. (the dinghys are large).
Suddenly, Jack is faces with a dilemma. His loyal shipmates, or loyal friends? With a frustrated snarl, he hurls the bag of provisions into Will's boat. Then he swims to Gibbs's boat.
With Barbossa laughing endlessly, the Dutchman goes underwater.
Gibbs says, "We ain't got the Pearl, a mission, an enemy, or any rum. As usual."
"Actually," Jack opens his coat and pulls out a few bottles, "We've got the rum."
Gibbs happily drinks from a bottle. "So, where to now, Captain?"
Jack considers it a moment, and watches Elizabeth and Will sail away. "Those bloody pirates stole me compass! We will hunt them down!"
"Aye, aye sir!" Gibbs shouts.
Helicopter shot is shown of them following Will and Elizabeth, who are kissing passionately with Billy-Jack looking on with an embarrassed grin.
The Credits Begin to Roll
At the end of the credits, we see Barbossa playing the dice game with his shipmates underwater. His face has tentacles on it, but everyone else looks sort of normal, if not a little green around the gills. He loses the game and throws a temper tantrum, smacking his opponent and crossing his arms over his chest with a pouting lip sticking out. Fade to Black.
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