Would it be too much too ask if a sequel was at least half as entertaining as its predecessor? Maybe I expected too much from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The previews for it were promising. Unfortunately, it did not deliver on its promises. The story was not very compelling. The action sequences were the only thing sustaining the movie and even those started to get a little tedious. The first movie also had the added benefit of a brilliant performance by Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. For some reason, the screen writers this time around decided to give him nonsense dialogue and several scenes where he runs about like girl. Maybe it doesn’t matter that this movie was mediocre. There will be a third one, so perhaps this one was just a teaser. I’ll admit, I’ll probably go to the next one just to see if it is better. And to see more Johnny Depp, if they decide to actually include him.
You may ask, was there anything good about this movie? There was one scene in which Orlando Bloom’s shirt was ripped off and his back was exposed. That was one brief moment of excitement. But it was over in a flash and we were back to the convoluted plot. The two pirates - Pintel and Ragetti, the one with the wooden eye – had their moments. Their dialogue was probably the snappiest of all. The undead monkey was also good for one laugh, but is animal cruelty ever really that funny? As for the stylistic elements - music, lighting, set design, and editing - they were all fine. But, then again, all the fancy film making in the world can’t make up for a bad story.
One final thing, if you see this movie, go back and watch the first one afterwards. There were a lot of jokes and references to the first movie that I didn’t quite catch until I watched the first one again. The only down-side of watching the first one afterwards – or perhaps even before you see the sequel – is that it will be abundantly clear the sequel is not very good. But I think the sheer joy of watching Johnny Depp in the first movie makes up for the poor second one.
at July 8, 2006 11:30 PMI was also very disappointed by this movie. It took a long time for them to actually establish the plot. I kept thinking, "What is the *point* of this movie?" I thought the sword fight on the wheel was a great stunt piece. I didn't find it very entertaining, but assuming it utilized real stunt people and not CGI, I think it was well-choreographed.
For most of this movie I was bored, and I looked down at my watch several times. Sigh.
Posted by: Jill at July 17, 2006 10:36 AMI liked the movie as it was fasinating. The only objection is that Johnny Depp keeps disappointing animal lovers. The scene with the monkey being shot is really cruel.
Posted by: Filio Tsami at December 29, 2006 9:27 AM