Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Nighy,
Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of adventure violence, including frightening images.
Parental Notes: As with the first film, this is not a movie for youngsters. The bad guys are scary monsters, and there’s plenty of icky stuff on screen — crows going after corpses, people falling to their deaths as a ship is pulled in half by a giant monster, and so on. Preteens and teens will likely be fine, but the pre-school crowd is best left at home and you should probably think twice before taking elementary students.
Sequels are a tricky business. Audiences want more of the same but bigger and better, and it’s all too easy for a fantastic film to have a sequel that’s absolutely awful. Gore Verbinski and his team struck gold with “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” and thankfully they have managed to turn out a sequel that doesn’t put its predecessor to shame. “Dead Man’s Chest” is different from “Curse of the Black Pearl” in a number of ways, which makes comparing the two difficult. However, it’s safe to say that if you want more adventures of Captain Jack, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann, “Dead Man’s Chest” is your cup of tea.
The film opens with the wedding of Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) being halted by a representative of the East India Trading Company, who arrives bearing warrants for their arrest. He offers them a way out: bring him a compass Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) owns, and in exchange, he’ll offer them pardons. Will heads out to find Jack, leaving Elizabeth behind. Not willing to be a damsel in distress, she disguises herself and sets out after him.
Jack, meanwhile, has other problems. He owes Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, unrecognizable in stunning prosthetics and CGI) his soul. Jack’s goal is to find the Dead Man’s Chest, which will give him leverage against Jones. When Will turns up, Jack offers to hand over the compass if Will helps him find the chest. Of course, Jack is very much a pirate, and only interested in saving his own hide — as becomes eminently clear when Davy Jones shows up to collect his debt.
The film is jam-packed with sword fighting, battles between ships, monstrous creatures, witty banter, and everything you’d expect from a title including “Pirates of the Caribbean.” As in the first movie, the special effects are mind-blowing. Davy Jones’ crew is made up of men who are in various stages of transformation. Jones has an octopus for a head, complete with a beard of tentacles. His crew range from looking largely human (one has barnacles and a starfish growing on him but is otherwise normal) to almost completely transformed (one has actually become part of the ship and looks like a growth of coral). It’s astonishing. There are a few moments when things look fake — water is very difficult to do in CGI, after all — but for the most part the visual effects are superb.
The same old cast has returned, including a few who might surprise you. Bloom, Knightley, and Depp are as good as ever in their roles, with Depp stealing every scene he’s in. Elizabeth is a bit more fleshed out (and heroic!) as a character, giving Knightley more to work with, and she steps up to the plate quite well. There’s a lot less joking about how Elizabeth is a tomboy and a lot more of her just using her skills the way the men do. Bloom is decorative as ever, but his role doesn’t call for much more. It’s a pity Will isn’t as fleshed out as his fiance. However, there’s still one movie to go.
The movie leaves off much like other famous second films — preparing the way for a third. The next installment in the series, “At World’s End”, was filmed together with “Dead Man’s Chest,” and if the ending of the latter is anything to go by, it will pick up right where “Dead Man’s Chest” leaves off. It’s not a terribly satisfying ending in a number of ways, because the entire film is building toward the climax which will no doubt take place in the next movie. That’s a bit irksome, especially considering that we have to wait a whole year for “At World’s End.”
My initial reaction was that “Dead Man’s Chest” wasn’t as good as “Curse of the Black Pearl,” but after some reflection I think that it’s just different. There’s less time spent introducing the characters and watching them be themselves, and more time spent setting up the third film. Regardless, it’s a fun way for adventure-lovers to spend two and a half hours — that sounds long, but it sure didn’t feel like 150 minutes.
Tell more about the third movie please!!