Overall Rating
  Awesome: 16.4%
Worth A Look: 31.22%
Just Average: 20.63%
Pretty Crappy: 19.58%
Sucks: 12.17%
14 reviews, 105 user ratings
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| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest |
by Peter Sobczynski
"Almost Too Much of a Good Thing"
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“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” contains many of the same attributes seen in the original 2003 film–a freewheeling plot consisting of equal parts swashbuckling action and silly humor, plenty of icky creatures, a cast of characters including gallant heroes, creepy villains sexy heroines and, most importantly, a central performance from Johnny Depp that starts off over the top and proceeds from there. The one thing that it doesn’t have–the one thing that none of the zillions that went into its production budget could possibly buy–is the sense of novelty that the first film had. When that one came out, most people assumed that it was going to be just a shameless cash-in effort by a studio so desperate for material that they were reduced to ransacking their theme park rides for inspiration. When audiences discovered that it was better than expected, they were so excited that they were even willing to overlook its obvious flaws–mostly a rambling screenplay and a running time that was about 30 minutes longer than necessary. Now that the surprise is gone, “Dead Man’s Chest” has to stand on its own merits and the film reveals itself to be–surprise–a relatively entertaining film that is often hobbled by a rambling screenplay and a running time about 30 minutes longer than necessary.Picking up soon after the first film ended, “Dead Man’s Chest” opens as the wedding of lovebirds Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) is interrupted when both are arrested by the loathsome Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) and sentenced to death for aiding in the escape of wanted fugitive Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp). Will makes a deal with Beckett–he will track down Sparrow and retrieve the magical compass that Cutler desires in exchange for a pardon–and sets sail in pursuit of his quarry. Before long, he tracks Sparrow, along with other crew members of the Black Pearl, to a distant island where the natives worship him as a god. Unfortunately for him, these natives have a tendency to eat their gods in order to release their spirits into the world. I wouldn’t dream of revealing what happens during the extended action set-piece that follows but it is interesting to note that the same week that gives us, in “A Scanner Darkly,” an animated film that goes to extraordinary lengths to look like live-action also gives us a live-action film that goes to extraordinary lengths to look like a cartoon.
What passes for a plot revolves around a deal that Sparrow struck years ago with the loathsome Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), a long-dead buccaneer who resides on the Flying Dutchman with his half-man/half-fish/all-undead crew, for the Black Pearl in exchange for his soul. Naturally, Sparrow wants to save his own skin and sends Will over in his place. This doesn’t set well with Davy and he demands that Sparrow provide him with 100 souls in three days under penalty of a fate worse than death. After a half-hearted attempt to coerce potential souls in Tortuga–a stop that reunites him with both Elizabeth (who escaped from jail during all of this) and her former fiancee, the now-desperate Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport)–Sparrow decides to try to find the legendary “Dead Man’s Chest,” a long-buried chest belonging to Davy that contains a still-beating heart that promises everlasting life and control of the seas to its owner. This leads to a number of wild swordfights, unexpected reunions, attacks by zombie pirates and the fearsome Kraken, plenty of cliff-hangers and what may be the first non-self-serving act performed by Sparrow in his lifetime.
All of this is fun for a while but the problem with a film like “Dead Man’s Chest” is that a tone of sustained whimsy can only be maintained for so long in a film before it starts to get a little wearying. (If you doubt this, try watching “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” sometime.) By trying so hard to thrill, dazzle and amuse us in every single scene, the filmmakers never give their efforts the kind of breathing room required to fully appreciate their efforts. Take the first set-piece involving the escape from the cannibal island–for a while, it is a genuinely hilarious slapstick ballet on a scale not seen since Steven Spielberg’s throughly underrated “1941" but it goes on for so long that it winds up peaking long before it ends. This happens throughout and by the end, what should have been a priceless example of slapstick stunting (a three-way duel fought atop a enormous runaway water wheel) just kind of lies there. Adding to the problem is that screenwriters Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio and director Gore Verbinski (all returning from the first film) apparently didn’t heed the criticisms that the original was too long for its own good–while that one could have lost 20 minutes easily, “Dead Man’s Chest” takes approximately 105 minutes of top-notch entertainment and packs it into a 156-minute running time.
At the same time, I am still recommending “Dead Man’s Chest” for many of the same reasons that I recommended the first film. Although they go on far too long, the action set-pieces are an ingenious blend of practical effects, elaborate CGI creations and impressive fight choreography. The storyline deftly moves from high melodrama to low comedy to creepy horror (like the first film, this one is rated PG-13 and parents should heed that when considering whether or not to bring the wee ones) with nary a hiccup and ends on a note that should have everyone salivating for the other sequel coming out next summer. As for the performances, Nighy (the man underneath various motion-capture devices in the same manner as Andy Serkis in the “Lord of the Rings” films) is appropriately loathsome and icky as Davy Jones, Knightley is appropriately spunky and delightful as Elizabeth (not to mention quite fetching when decked out in a tri-cornered hat) and Bloom is . . . Bloom is the boring and blandly handsome straight man that no one notices because everyone else gets all the colorful material.The real selling point of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise is, once again, the magnificently fruity performance by Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Once famously based on Keith Richards (though one could also detect traces of Depp’s late pals Hunter S. Thompson and Marlon Brando as well), he has here taken the role far beyond the realm of mere impression into the kind of demented realm that only the most supremely confident of performers ever dare to enter. Most actors would shy away from a role like Sparrow for fear of coming off as ridiculous. Here, no matter how strange the circumstances–whether he is tied to a barbecue spit or battling oddball creatures or demonstrating that the monkey in his possession is indeed undead–Depp always figures out a way to put an additional spin on the material via his hilariously mannered approach. In a film that comes close to proving that there really can be too much of a good thing, Depp somehow manages to leave audiences hungry for more.
link directly to this review at http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=14738&reviewer=389
originally posted: 07/07/06 01:23:56
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USA
07-Jul-2006 (PG-13)
DVD: 05-Dec-2006
UK
06-Jul-2006 (12A)
Australia
06-Jul-2006 (M)
![[trailer]](/images/icon/trailericon.gif) Trailer
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