Pan

With the spate of re-imagined fairy tales in various medium of late, it was inevitable that we’dwash up on the shores of Neverland sooner or later.

When a young orphan is kidnapped by pirates and transported to Neverland, he learns that  he is prophesied to defeat the evil pirate leader Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman). Peter (Levi Miller) teams up with a fellow slave, James Hook (Garrett Hedlund), to escape Blackbeard’s mines and seek the native rebels, and the mythical Pan.

Approach Pan with the wonder of a child and all should be well. The visuals here are solid and there’s enough sound and fury in the battles between flying pirate ships and gallant swashbucklers to be somewhat entertaining. However, Pan can also fail to rope you in. For all its spectacle, for all its computer generated magic, there is something strangely hollow about it. Scratch beneath that surface and there is little of substance. Apparently all that sparkles is not pixie dust.

The fault is two-fold. First, Jason Fuchs’s script lacks anything significant to say. The characters are there to be namechecked only, lacking any real identifiable characteristics with their (apparently) future selves. There is little to suggest the coming antagonism between Hook and Peter, and the character of Hook plays very much against the black-hearted pirate he later becomes. When references to future events do come about, they land with a thud, delivered with the subtlety of a cannonball. The story ends up a stock standard narrative about a young boy with a destiny who falls in with a scoundrel and a princess, to stand against an evil empire. We’ve definitely seen that one before, and know exactly how every element falls into place.

Director Joe Wright runs with this predictability, cribbing a number of his visuals from other sources. Time and time again we see recreations of shots from other films, from Avatar to Oliver. When Wright does go out on a limb his choices are jarring and strange, such as the pirates singing Nirvana, or the Piccaninny tribe exploding into coloured dust when shot. Pan comes across as inconsistent and rudderless.   

Hugh Jackman is the best thing here. Playing the pirate Blackbeard, he is in the role up to the hilt, capering and cavorting with villainously camp glee. Levi Miller performs solidly as Peter, but is given little to really ground his story: beyond being the chosen one, and having one or two moments of self doubt, Levi does little else. Garrett Hedlund does his best Harrison Ford impersonation, but fails to nail the charm of the scruffy looking nerf herder. Instead Hook comes across as forced and flat, a secondary character in what should be as much his story as Peter’s.

A visual spectacle that fails to have any degree of depth about it. Pan might provide something for younger audience, but for the rest it fails to soar.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine