PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

By: Rachel Reitsleff
Date: Thursday, July 06, 2006

2003's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL surmounted what would seem to be the rather powerful curse of being based on a Disneyland ride, turning out to be hugely enjoyable and even earning a deserved Oscar nomination for leading man Johnny Depp. The film managed to wittily incorporate both the overall themes and specific details of the ride while coming up with a nicely complex plot, entertaining characters especially Depp's eccentric, fey Captain Jack Sparrow swell action and a fairly cool mythology to explain all those sword-wielding skeletons.

In PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, Jack and his fellow pirate survivors of the first film (where they were under the now-lifted curse that prevented them from dying but also turned them into living skeletons under a full moon) are searching for a mysterious key. Meanwhile, Jack's erstwhile rescuers and sort-of friends, governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and upright blacksmith/son of a pirate Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) are under sentence of death by East India Trading Company representative Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), who has taken over the island from Elizabeth's protesting father (Jonathan Pryce). Beckett will commute the sentence only if Will brings him the erratic (and, we soon surmise, enchanted) compass belonging to Jack Sparrow. Will isn't the only one seeking Jack so is mortal man turned sea spirit Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), the formidable captain of the Flying Dutchman and her unusual crew, who is trying to collect on the supernatural debt Jack owes him. Throw in Elizabeth's resentful ex Norrington (Jack Davenport), Will's long-lost father (Stellan Skarsgard), a stupendously destructive sea monster and some unexpected romantic longings and we've got ...

Well, a lot less than it feels like we should have, especially considering that most of the key personnel from PIRATES I are on board, including director Gore Verbinski and screenwriting team Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio. It must be noted up front that the CGI makeup on Davy Jones and his crew constitute a must-see feat live actors motivate the performances, but as they are a combination of human and sea creature, the eyes and mouths belong to the real players, while other facial features are added via seamless computer animation. Nighy's Davy Jones is particularly astonishing to watch, the squid tentacles around his face expanding and contracting individually to match each brusque reaction (Nighy is a splendid villain, by the way).

But other spectacles within the narrative don't fare so well. It seems almost as though the filmmakers had more dramatic plot ideas than comedic bits and decided to balance the two by repetitively stretching the humorous setpieces until they reached the required length to make them even. The result is a series of visual gags that go on so long that, for anyone but the staunchest PIRATES fans, the eventual sentiment is, "Get on with it already!" In some movies that are two-and-a-half hours long, the running time is justified, but here, easily half an hour could be cut without damaging the story or the performances in any way.

Depp's Jack Sparrow is still a one-of-a-kind characterization, and still fun to watch, but there's a sense of things being milked just a bit this time. Bloom is suitably stalwart and gets some agreeable funny moments, Knightley gets to be sexy and swashbuckling, Hollander is aptly dry and self-assured as the baddie and Skarsgard brings a level of conviction to his character that makes us believe he's been going through all that he's been going through since last he saw Will.

There is fun to be had in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, but getting to it takes more patience that should be required it's got good parts, but there are a lot of times when we wish it would just speed up and get to them.