This week we’re reposting some old articles.
Released in 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl takes a decades old Disney ride and turns it into a rip-roaring action adventure movie. Sword fights, plank-walking, killer skeletons – it’s got it all.
Its success owes a lot to Gore Verbinski and screenwriters Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and the way they construct their set-pieces. Each action-packed sequence ups the stakes and spectacle of the previous while still advancing the plot and telling its own mini-story.
For today, we’ll look at one in particular – the sword fight near the beginning – and how they construct it.
Setting the Scene
To start, we have clearly established objectives: the pirate Jack wants to get away, and the blacksmith Will wants to capture him. Already this makes the scene more interesting than simple fight to the death. If Jack can find a way out of this without fighting Will more, he’ll take it – an extra level of tension every time Will forces him to fight again. Some classic objectives & tactics work.
And because the objectives are clear, the audience can understand what happens and why. Time we don’t have to spend asking question and can instead spend enjoying the show.
First Movement
The initial confrontation between Jack and Will keeps things simple. The crossing of blades and assessing of each other’s skills. A demonstration of Will’s determination and persistence, as well as Jack’s cunning. And finally, Jack trying to get to his objective – escape – which then forces will to get creative about stopping him. Plot and character, channeled through action.
We also close this movement with a shift in power. The scene starts with Jack in control. He has the upper hand, he guides the dialogue, he manipulates their arrangement. Things move according to his whims – until Will strikes back and prevents his fleeing.
But since the scene doesn’t end here, we also can’t stay in this gear. Things must escalate and change, taking us to –
Second Movement
The weapons change, while everything else stays the same. Will’s hot blade and Jack’s chain change the calculus of their fight, both in strategy and in visuals. Here the fight has achieved something like parity. Neither Will nor Jack have the upper hand. We don’t know how the fight will turn out.
We also move past immediate objectives to super objectives for Will – how he hasn’t told Elizabeth about his feelings, and his deep-seated hate for pirates after his father’s death.
Notice how Jack has changed tactics – he recognizes that Will cannot be easily bested in a straight fight. So now he engages in psychological warfare. If he can get in Will’s head, maybe that will regain him the advantage.
Getting at this does provoke an emotional reaction in Will, but not what Jack wants. Now Will changes tactics. He’s a charging bull, and Jack’s just trying to get out of his way.
Third Movement
Jack turns aside the first few assaults but soon finds himself in quite the pickle:
Now the writers change the geography of fight. No longer limited to the ground, characters hop from wagon to beam and back. The battle, moving through all 3 dimensions, escalates yet again. What we’re watching now is completely different from the simple sword fight at the start and makes great use of the location.
We’ve now completed the shift in power from the first movement – Will has the upper hand and control of the fight. Jack simply reacts, trying to keep up and stay alive. It seems like the fight has ended, except —
Fourth Movement
One last reversal!
Jack pulls a 180, completely regaining control of the situation. But this ties back into one of the central questions of the movie – “What makes a pirate?” The ending to this little story is “surprising but inevitable” – one of the best ways to thrill the audience.
Review
The scene continues from there, but the set piece has ended, leaving us with plenty to learn from. Thanks to its relatively simple structure – two characters, one location, straightforward objectives – it’s easy to break down in digestible chunks.
A big part of this sequence’s success comes down to how dynamic it is. Each page sees the situation evolve somehow – the weapons, the tactics, the location – none of them stagnate. This all feeds into how the relationship between the two characters also evolves. Which character has the power shifts back and forth, keeping the outcome in question right up until the end.
It also acts as an effective demonstration of who these characters are. Will and Jack meet each other for the first time here, and the fight effectively conveys their nature and the conflict between them. Will plows ahead in his pursuit of Elizabeth. Jack employs his cunning and tricks to get out of scrapes. And Will’s distrust for pirates makes it difficult to trust Jack, regardless of if they’re objectives align or not.
Finally, consider how this works as its own little story in three acts. Breaking your big 130-page script into several smaller stories not only makes it easier to manage but also encourages clearer storytelling. We go on a little ride here with objectives, stakes, and resolution, sending us off satisfied to the next step of the overall story.
Overall, this sequence shows how an effective set piece doesn’t stop the movie but instead advances it. Every tool in the screenwriter’s toolkit – character, theme, plot, objectives, tactics, escalation – get used to elevate the action. Describing a set piece as “just an action scene” lets you off the hook for doing the hard work to make it good. So next time, be ready to buckle down and make your scene shine.