Going Downhill Fast

Rating: 2/10 (4 June 2007)

The first "Pirates" movie was truly great. Fresh and original with smart dialog and an impressive cast. The third, and to a lesser extent the second, are merely parodies of the first, milking as much as possible from the success of the first in terms of box office bonanza. This third entry is a mishmash of plots and subplots. The characters, so well-defined and charismatic in the first, are weakly written caricatures of themselves. Obviously, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on special effects, costumes, sets and talent. I am sure the script was not inexpensive. However, the dialog is wanting and the desire to inject twists and turns in the (many) plots makes it tiring, if not difficult to follow. The much-anticipated appearance of Keith Richards falls flat. I get the feeling that several people had ideas for scenes that were thrown together into one, final script. I truly could not wait for it to end. A major disappointment to me, but obviously a huge commercial success. Based on the box office success, there will be a fourth installment. Wait for the DVD. At least you can pause it once in a while and get up and stretch.