| Jack Sparrow... That's
Captain Jack Sparrow... returns in the second installment to this
swashbuckling pirate trilogy. Johnny Depp recalls his Keith
Richards impression in this sequel, appropriately titled "Dead Man's
Chest", a quite literal description of the treasure involved in this
hunt. The film starts on Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and Will's
(Orlando Bloom) wedding day. Unfortunately for them both, fate
decides to rain on their parade, as both are arrested for aiding the
escape of convicted felon, Capt. Jack Sparrow. The penalty is
death for them both.
However, not all is as it seems as their arrests are just a cover
to use their knowledge of Sparrow and his beloved ship, 'The Black
Pearl', to obtain a magic compass that will lead to the Dead Man's
Chest.
Meanwhile, Jack is busy searching for the treasure himself while
desperately trying to evade Davy Jones' soggy graveyard ship 'The
Flying Dutchmen'. The tentacled Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is
rampaging the open sea with control of the destructive octopus-like
creature known as the Kraken.
It all makes for a spectacular visual feast for the audience with
seamless special effects and an instantly recognizable silliness that
was the signature of the first film.
Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks to this adventure.
It suffers from middle chapter syndrome in that it doesn't really
stand on its own. It requires knowledge of the first film and
leaves us hanging without an ending in order to set up the third.
The action is bigger and more extravagant this time... perhaps to
the detriment of the lighthearted tone. It feels like they had
twice the budget of the first film, which leads to less believability
in parts. The effects are very well done... but it feels like
they went a little over the top in showing off their technical
marvels.
The characters are all essentially the same as last time. The
only complaint is that Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swann doesn't get
as much screen time as I would have liked. Her feisty character
is a lot of fun to watch.
All in all, this is an entertaining film with a few surprises and
some good laughs. I think it drags a little. It probably
should have been trimmed by thirty minutes or so. And it would
probably play better as the first part of a double bill with the third
chapter. Unfortunately, we have to wait an entire year for the
conclusion to all our cliff-hangers. I still give "Dead Man's
Chest" a good solid grade, but it is not as good as "The Curse of the
Black Pearl" and it probably won't be as good as "At World's End". |
