Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

December 27, 2006

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 150 min Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Gore Verbinski and the entire cast of major characters from the first film return to continue the legend of Pirate Jack Sparrow (Depp). I would not say it is better than the first film but it does hold it’s own in today’s mass of big summer disappointments. That being said, there should be no reason to dwell on the back story so let’s just get to it. If you want back story watch the Curse of The Black Pearl before going to see Dead Man’s Chest, otherwise off we go.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Black Pearl run into an old friend from there past in the form of Bootstrap Bill Turner (Will’s father). Bootstrap tells Jack that Davey Jones is waiting and the time to pay his debt has come. Apparently ol’ Jack sold his soul to Davey Jones in exchange for command of the Black Pearl. The deal stated Jack would be Captain of the Pearl for 30 years and at the end of that time he would join Davey Jones aboard the Flying Dutchman, for the rest of eternity. If any of that seems obscure I apologize but there are certain aspects of the film you need to see to truly understand.

Meanwhile Elizabeth (Knightly) and Will (Bloom) have their upcoming nuptials interrupted by a new magistrate when he arrests both of them, and condemns them to death for helping Jack escape (more back story). This arrest is really nothing more than a ploy to get Will find Sparrow instead. The new magistrate being a member of the East India Trading company (even more back story), really just wants the ‘broken’ compass that Jack carries around and could care less about Will, Elizabeth or even Jack himself. Seeing as how there aren’t many options available at this point Will agrees to find and recover the compass in exchange for their freedom.

That is the gist of the story and suffice it to say the search leads to many adventures with exotic locales, and intersting creatures that will drop your jaw to the floor. The makeup/cgi in this movie is absolutely off the charts and the performances from Depp and Knightly are great as usual… Bloom is Bloom, wooden as always. But the best part of this film by far is Davey Jones, his ship and his crew. In the Black Pearl the effects guys us to charts unknown with the skeleton pirates and them walking on the sea floor, the effect of the crew and the Flyin’ Dutchman blows that away, if that’s any indication where the bulk of the production cost went IMNHO. I don’t like it when a movie relies solely on effects to get you to buy a ticket but when they are coupled with strong acting and a cool story it’s so worth it. Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is worth it.

Be warned as seems to be the case lately… Stay until the credits finish (roughly 3 hours 10 minutes with commercials and previews) for a last little treat.

Posted by J.C. Edwards | Filed Under 5 Stars, Action, Bill Nighy, DVD, Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, Orlando Bloom, PG-13, Stellan Skarsgard