Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest
©Disney
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Jonathan Pryce, Stellan Skarsgard, Jack Davenport
Writers: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
Director: Gore Verbinski
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
By: themovielordDate: Friday, February 09, 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is only half a movie. Now I am not saying that it is a bad movie and I am not saying it is a great movie. What I am saying is that we, as an audience only got the first half of the story. The second half will hit theaters next summer and its a bummer to have to wait.
In the age of back to back sequels this is to be expected. The cost of movies and their stars escalates every year and with a shaky box office Hollywood believes that with cast and crew in hand lets crank out two for the price of one. What is in it for the audience though? Well two movies we have to see to get the whole story. Wait that sounds like two tickets to buy and two DVDs to buy as well. Sounds like there is nothing in for the audience, it sounds like it is better for Hollywood. In most ways Pirates 2 suffers from the same thing that hurt the Matrix movies. Long drawn out sequences that really have no influence on the plot, but are there to make the movie longer when we should actually be getting on with the story. Without ruining anything in Pirates 2 I'll use the Matrix Reloaded as an example. The big underground rave/dance number in Zion and the extremely long motorcycle rescue of the key master. Pirates 2 has such a sequence and here is where Pirates 2 suffers extra stuff like natives, Sparrow being funny, and a bit with a dog. We know Sparrow is going to get in over his head but we also know he'll get out of it so get on with it already. Get to the good stuff and get me there quick. Why are you saving it all up for Pirates 3? Spielberg didnt leave us with a cliff hanger at the end of Indiana Jones and the Temple Doom? He told a story with these characters and then went onto tell another one with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The characters in Pirates of the Caribbean are that good to tell seperate stories. These instant trilogies are great for Hollywood but it is as if they are saying, Well, if Pirates 2 blows well make it a cliff hanger so well get most of the people to come back and see how it all ends. If that one blows oh well we got there ten bucks times two.
Now I do believe that all the actors, writers, and the director are there to tell a great story. This is the reason why Pirates does have a good first half of a larger movie. Everyone brings there A game to the screen. This is a fun movie and the quintessential summer popcorn flick. Pirates, heroes, and monsters make for an all out good time.
Johnny Depp is now Captain Jack Sparrow, he's not even Johnny Depp up on the screen anymore. Here is an actor that lives and breathes his character with so much life that the actor is not even visible anymore.
The other actor that I would love to mention who steals a lot of the scenes is Jack Davenport. In the previous Pirates of the Caribbean he played the very taught and strict Norrington, the commander of the British forces, the man who wanted to marry Keira Knightly. Now he's just Norrington, a very desperate man who has everything to gain because he has lost everything curtsey of Captain Jack Sparrow. Davenport is the monkey wrench is the best laid plans of mice and men.
Now the villain is one Davy Jones played by Bill Nighy who chews through every scene and you cannot help but stare at his beard of tentacles and his villainous eyes which are filled with a hunger for vengeance and longing (why is to come up in Prates 3).
This is a great summer movie. A reason to get out of the heat and sit in a darken theater and go on a great adventure. I just wish Disney would have given us a complete tale instead of yet another manufactured sequel with a sequel to follow. To be continued and 10 more dollars please should have come up before the credits.
I enjoyed it but I have feeling we will get burned like Matrix Revolutions.
Click here to read the staff review by Mania.
