Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man’s Chest ****

Posted on July 9th, 2006 by bryan.
Categories: Films.

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man’s Chest was a worthy second installment in the trilogy of adventures featuring Captain Jack Sparrow and the crew of his Black Pearl. Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley both gave great performances, but it was Johnny Depp’s flamboyant (and clearly at times un-scripted) portrayal of Captain Sparrow that stole the show.

On the day of their marriage, ‘wannabe’ pirates Elizabeth and Will (Knightley and Bloom) are arrested for helping Jack to escape from Port Royal. A stooge of the East India Trading Co offers to have the charges dropped if Will can retrieve Jack’s unique compass, which leads the way to Davie Jones’ heart, and through it control of the seas. Needless to say, everyone else wants to get to the heart first, ensuring a film full of action and the odd bit of absurdity - the ‘big wheel’ get-away from a tribe of cannibals is a hilarious example. The scenes that follow, involving Jones (Bill Nighy) and the equally un-dead crew of his Flying Dutchman, show the special effects of the Disney studios at their un-nerving best. POTC2 also features cameos from Bootstrap Bill (Will’s dad), ex-Commodore Norrington (Elizabeth’s ‘intended’ in the first film), a creepy swamp-dwelling fortune teller and Jones’ pet, a giant Kraken (a squid whose ‘breath reaks of the corpses of a thousand souls’!).

If all this sounds good, and you enjoyed the first installment, you’ll almost certainly love this Depp-Bloom-Knightley reunion. The only flaw - at two and a half hours, this film is almost certainly 30 minutes too long. Of course, this could just be preparation for POTC3, which sadly is not due out until the summer of next year ..!

1 comment.

David Sweeney

Comment on April 12th, 2007.

Bry, Bry, Bry, how can you give this film 4 stars?

It is without a doubt one of the worst films I have ever seen. I left this film wanting to kill Johnny Depp.

This film is not 30 minutes too long its 2 1/2 hours too long. I would have said the best bit about this film was the end titles but it was not - if you stayed until the titles finished you’ll know what I mean!

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