Posts about Movies
Mr. Verbinski is a superstar in my house, mostly for the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. But having tried out other films of his (The Mexican & The Weather Man remain on my list) I am convinced that he is one of the most creative directors working in blockbuster films. Gore is someone I would call an alternative artist. The man has a unique voice. It is apparent from the POTC trilogy and more so in Rango, The Lone Ranger & Cure for Wellness. There are nothing in mainstream Hollywood like his movies. Potc is a far cry from a pirate film. Rango is nothing like a $150M animated film and how comfortably does Lone Ranger stand amongst Westerns? Cure for Wellness is a separate thing altogether. Even before, his grounded movies like The Ring & Mousehunt have flashes of typical Verbinskiness, the latter in particular. The premise of Mousehunt is laughable even for a live action kids movie, but somehow he makes it work for a full feature length. Verbinski is his own genre.
Then comes action. Boy does he have an eye for action. Let me be frank and bold, I place him in the top 3 directors who do spectacle best. The list is: James Cameron, Peter Jackson & Gore Verbinski. The waterwheel scene from Dead Man's Chest along with the 2 kraken fights, the maelstrom battle in At World's End, the final train sequence which is mind boggling how it was done in Lone Ranger & then Rango has the fight with the mole people which keeps on getting crazier. In fact Verbinski just keeps on raising the stakes and bizareness in his action scenes and it never stops being entertaining.
A criticism I have seen people direct towards Verbinski is that he does not do emotion well. I disagree because, though he does not serve it on a platter, his movies are able to conjure up feelings. I will admit that he does sometimes stray too far in weirdness.
He played a key role in getting Depp to do his Jack the way he wanted when Disney execs were unsure about it. This is interesting because Gore has been working with massive budgets with executive interference being a must. Yet despite that, you cannot fault his movies of being corporate products. But the sad result is that despite bringing a lot of success to Disney through his Pirates movies, they bailed on him once the terrible box office reciepts of Lone Ranger came in. I am sympathetic to Lone Ranger, it is entertaining and fun. But it's clear it was not going to be a hit. I think Disney should have continued to back him, with lower budgets at least. There is a night and day difference in the Pirates series since he left.
He was in the works to make a Bioshock film which did not end up happening but it just shows his taste for variety. After dealing with horror, psycho-horror, fantasy epic, dramas, comedy, animated and a Western, he was targetting sci-fi next.
As a fan of his, his absence from the screen is really disappointing. He won't be forgotten anytime soon as he has made popular movies. But he is only 58 and still has much to offer I feel. He is apparently making an animated film next:https://deadline.com/2022/09/gore-verbinski-netflix-animated-movie-cattywumpus-1235106046/
What are your thoughts on Verbinski and what are your favorite films of his?