I hate to give a movie like “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” a negative review. I enjoyed the first one, although it wasn’t spectacular and Dead Man’s Chest looked very promising, in fact I thought it could be better than the first. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed and although I enjoyed the movie at times, ultimately it wasn’t nearly as good as the original.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” is the sequel to the smash-hit “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”. It follows the story of Captain Jack Sparrow, who is the pirate captain of the Black Pearl ship. He seems to be in search of a mysterious key and leads his crew across the ocean in search of the keys location. Meanwhile, on land, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan, who ventured through the sea with Jack in the first film, are supposed to wed, but are both arrested by the authorities for helping Jack Sparrow escape. Elizabeth is locked up, but Will manages to strike a bargain with a Lord; if he can retrieve Jack Sparrow’s compass, him and Elizabeth will be dropped of all charges and both will be released. Will sets out to find Jack and retrieve his compass, confused as to why the Lord wants Jack’s compass.

The beginning of the movie drags on and eventually ends up with a man named Davy Jones, who seems to have an octopus for a face, coming to take Jack’s soul and turn him into another one of his monstrous crew who do Davy’s bidding and help man Davy’s ship, “The Flying Dutchman”. Years earlier, Davy supposedly created a bargain with Jack, which said that Davy would make him a captain for 10 years in return of Davy’s soul. So now Davy and his crew of monsters set out to capture Jack, while Jack, as well as Will and eventually Elizabeth, try locating the key, which supposedly unlocks the Dead Man’s Chest, which has Davy Jone’s heart inside. Anyone in possession of Davy Jone’s heart can make Davy Jone’s do their bidding. Jack intends to save himself by getting Davy’s heart.

Confusing, isn’t it. The plot makes little sense and is so complex, and that is “Dead Man’s Chests” biggest problem. Barely ten minutes into the movie, I was already confused and in deep thought as to what was going on. I found myself constantly having to think back to the first movie, regarding characters and points in the plot which are extremely difficult to understand without having seen the first film recently. Anyone who hasn’t seen the first film should just give up trying to make sense of the whole movie. Throughout the whole movie I had to refer back to the first film in my head to make sense of the plot. The plot is just plain confusing and it took me half the film to actually figure it out. I found myself asking too many questions in an attempt to figure out what was going on. I never did figure some of them out either, such as what Jack was doing in the beginning of the movie and where exactly was he.

As well, in a horrible attempt to explain the confusing plot, “Dead Man’s Chest” includes so many scenes where characters explain what is going on for long periods of time. This gets extremely boring. These scenes are necessary since we would otherwise be clueless to what was going on, but they are extremely boring and drag on. This was a huge problem for me and overall I found “Dead Man’s Chest” to be rather boring. Yes, there are a number of exciting action sequences, but this movie clocks in at 2 hours and a half, when it could have easily been half an hour shorter. There is about half an hour of useless scenes riddled throughout this movie. Some are the explanatory scenes which I have already mentioned. Others are scenes which, although necessary to the story, went on for far too long. There were a few of these scenes, such as when Jack met up with a psychic. The scene could’ve easily been a few minutes shorter and we didn’t really have to watch Jack chatting with the lady over things that didn’t concern the plot. Even the action sequences began to bore me at times, for they were far too long. Did we really have to watch three similar sequences where the Kraken (an octopus-like sea creature) attacked a ship? By the third time, I was pretty bored. I also found the savage scene, which lasted a good 20 minutes, to go on for far too long. Although there was plenty of good action, I got restless by the end of the scene. The first Pirates of the Caribbean didn’t have nearly as much action as this installment, but still managed to entertain me much more. It had a simple plot and avoided explanatory sequences. As well, it was very fast paced and none of the scenes dragged on. It felt much shorter than “Dead Man’s Chest”, even though it is only 7 minutes shorter.

“Dead Man’s Chest” does have some interesting stuff though. Generally, the action is all well done. There are some great sword fight sequences, including one which takes place on a hamster wheel contraption which was very entertaining. However, it goes on for too long. There are some amazing sequences where the Kraken rips apart ships and kills the crew, but there are too many of these. As well, there are some great chase sequences on the savage’s island, as well as some good sword fights, but all of them are overkill and last way too long. The action is all well done and most action fans will enjoy it, but for me it got too tedious.

I did however enjoy the cool creatures in this movie, and the stunning special effects that accompanied them. Davy Jones’s crew is composed of a variety of deformed monsters, most of them based on sea creatures. Davy Jones himself is an octopus-like man with tentacles protruding from his face. He looks so “cool” and realistic that it is simply amazing. The design of Davy Jones is amazing, but the realistic CGI is even more amazing. While I’m normally the first to bash CGI (I prefer puppetry and makeup), Davy Jones is a prime example of realistic CGI. As well, the rest of his crew look awesome and are all creative and unique sea creatures. One is based on a Hammerhead shark, another is a hermit crab and another seems to just be some crazy monster man. Either way, they all looked incredibly cool and freaky and were enhanced so well by the CGI.

There are a few negatives towards all of the monsters though. In the first Pirates of the Caribbean, most of the movie didn’t involve monsters or any of that fantasy stuff. The first half of the movie was devoid of any mythical creatures. Once the second half arrived and the crew of the “Black Pearl” turned out to be skeletons, the movie was even more entertaining. It was somehow believable and extremely well put together. This time around though, there are an excess of different creatures, which make the movie much sillier and less fun. “Dead Man’s Chest” comes across as far too campy and silly for my liking. The whole idea of Davy Jones’s crew being monsters and his heart being locked inside a chest is too silly for this movie and would probably be more suitable within a Harry Potter movie. I found “Dead Man’s Chest” to be way too campy.

Of course Johnny Depp does amazingly well as Jack Sparrow. I like Johnny Depp quite a bit and while I hate some of his movies, he truly is one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood. Unfortunately, this is the second time Johnny Depp has played Jack Sparrow, so the portrayal isn’t completely new, but I still greatly enjoyed Depp’s acting. He is quite funny and is truly a very interesting character as Sparrow. I have to say Depp’s portrayal of Sparrow is one of the better acting performances I’ve seen all year. As well, Bill Nighy is great as Davy Jones. He is a very interesting character and he is acted out well, although he could’ve been a tad scarier. When my friend’s first saw him, they began to snicker, which can never be a good sign when you’re introducing a villain.

It’s a shame that Depp’s and Nighy’s huge contribution to the movie has to be weighed down by Orlando Bloom’s and Keira Knightley’s acting. Orlando Bloom’s portrayal of Will Turner isn’t very good. Orlando Bloom’s acting is very cheesy and over dramatic. I couldn’t believe him; he didn’t seem realistic at all. If it wasn’t for the fact that girls find him hot, he probably wouldn’t be a very well liked actor. Keira Knightley suffers from a similar problem. Her acting seems phony and I couldn’t believe her character, especially in the fight sequences. There is no way a 90 lb lady could take on a horde of 7 foot tall monsters. That’s just way too unbelievable. Sure, a girl could fight a bunch of monsters, but at least make sure she has a bit of muscle. Keira Knightley is 90 lbs and I personally think anyone could beat her up. That’s not really anything she had control over though, but I thought I’d point it out.

My one last beef with “Dead Man’s Chest” is that it is basically a trailer for the third Pirates of the Caribbean. There is no resolution to any of the conflicts within this movie; there is only a set-up for the third one. This reminded me of “The Matrix Reloaded”, which had a similar issue. Sure, the ending in “Dead Man’s Chest” is cool, but it left me unsatisfied. As well, the clip they show after the credits is hardly worth waiting for. It’s basically just a joke and the credits are at least 10 minutes long.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” isn’t a very good movie. It’s ok. It does have some good action, some cool creatures, nice CGI, and some great acting from Depp and Nighy. Unfortunately, the plot is confusing and silly, the movie is far too long, many scenes are incredibly boring and there are some bad performances from Bloom and Knightley. If it wasn’t for the first, I doubt “Dead Man’s Chest” would be a hit, although Gore Verbenski deserves a bit of extra cash since “The Weatherman” flopped. I don’t recommend spending money to see “Dead Man’s Chest”, but I doubt anything I say will convince fans of the first to skip this one. Hopefully the third will be better.


Recommended: No

Movie Mood: Action Movie
Worst Part of this Film: Ending