Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest
2006
* * *
Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) are about to get married when one Captain Becket (Tom Hollander) arrests them for aiding in Captain Jack Sparrow’s (Johnny Depp) escape, and sentences them to death, unless Will can retrive Sparrow and his magical compass. He finds Jack, but Jack himself has a major problem himself: he owes a debt to the infamous Davy Jones (Bill Nighy). Specifically, his soul. So, of course, Jack tries to use Will to get out of the mess. This, of course, only delays the inevitable. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is also out of prison looking for Captain Jack, running into former-Captain now-drunkard Norrington (Jack Davenport), who insists on tagging along for his own reasons. She also has one more problem: she fears she is actually beginning to fall for Jack, which would cause more problems than she can imagine. Also, there’s a lot of weird stuff about hearts, souls, Will’s twice-undead and twice-cursed father (Stellan Skarsgaad), a Jamaican voodoo girl (Naomie Harris), mystical creatures, and a gigantic monster called the “Kracken” which can destroy an entire ship with ease.
It’s actually much more confusing and convoluted than I made it sound, even though, when you think about it, it’s all very simple. For about an hour, the movie kind of drags along, trying to introduce every plot thread. It’s funny, entertaining, and occassionally exciting, but also kind of off-putting. After a while, though, it all starts to come together.
Then, finally, in the last hour of the 150-minute film, all the plot threads come together, and the sequel to one of the best films of 2003 finally becomes worthy of its predecessor (if not its equal) with a series of wildly inventive, energetic, original, and absolutely brilliant action sequences, filled with character, comedy, and intensity. The swordfight on the huge spinning wheel is a knockout on its own, but it’s even better because it’s just one part of a complicated struggle between something like five different factions all fighting each other for the possession of two items, all of which is an absolute blast to watch.
Oh yeah, and then, when it finally gets to the part where two ships start shooting at each other, it really rocks, building up to a showdown with the Kracken that will absolutely blow your socks off.
As important as the action scenes are to the film’s success, it wouldn’t work without the return of the characters and the actors playing them. For once, though, this sequel not only brings them back, but fleshes them out. Will’s background and ingenuity are given more depth, and Bloom takes it in stride and does it well. However, the brilliang actors Johnny Depp and Keira Knightly are given even more to work with, as Elizabeth’s dark side and Jack’s light side are given far greater depth and exploration, and the two of them handle it wonderfully. Nighy just radiates evil. He isn’t a charismatic or effective as Geoffory Rush was in the first film, but he’s still great. Davenport is given the chance to play a much darker, slightly crazy version of his formerly stiff-upper-lip character, and has a great time doing it. Skarsgard is great, as expected. Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook return as the bumbling Pintel and Ragetti, who are given funnier roles here; best of all is their exchange about 2/3 of the way into the film where they try to understand exactly what is going on, as if the writers know exactly how convoluted it all is. Everyone else does their job well.
Although everything is kind of longish (especially considering the original was a little bit drawn out at ten minutes shorter) and unnecessarily convoluted, writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio do come up with a genuinely interesting story and toss in lots of great dialogue to keep things going. And director Gore Verbinski, as always, shows that he will take the money he’s given and throw everything he can on the screen and somehow make it work. Here, given an extraordinary $225 million, he tosses in everything but a kitchen sink, then tosses in the sink, plus accessories. The special effects and sound are, as expected, incredible (you actually think that the CGI Davy Jones is just really good makeup). Klaus Badelt’s score is good to hear again.
In the end, Dead Man’s Chest isn’t as good as the first Pirates film, but it’s still a good summer flick, creating an entertaining mix of action, adventure, romance, fantasy, and humor that will please just about anyone… provided you’re ready for a PG-13 movie that gets pretty dark.
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