"No course is lost if but one fool is left to fight."

Rating: 6/10 (28 June 2007)

The final film in the very popular 'Pirates of the Caribbean' trilogy, 'At World's End' heralds the return of everybody's favourite drunken swashbuckling pirate, Jack Sparrow. With most of the saga's previous participants returning to conclude the story, director Gore Verbinski also tosses a few interesting new characters into the mix. Complete with many awesome action sequences, some comedy and a bit of romance, fans of the previous films will not being going home disappointed.
'At World's End' takes off where 'Dead Man's Chest' left off, with Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) banished to Davy Jones' Locker, the final resting-place of sailors lost at sea. When Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is resurrected from death by the mystical Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley) join with them to rescue Jack. Meanwhile, the fearsome Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), captain of The Flying Dutchman, has formed an unstable alliance with the villainous Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), with the aim of destroying every remaining pirate in the Caribbean. Among the newer characters introduced into the franchise are Captain Sao Feng (played with charisma by famous Hong Kong actor, Chow Yun-Fat) and Captain Teague, Jack's father (played by Keith Richards). Though the latter is merely a brief cameo or two, Teague's appearances are certainly funny and entertaining, especially since Depp reportedly based his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Jack Sparrow on the veteran guitarist and songwriter.
Curiously, the final product of 'At World's End' is something of a mixed bag, with both good and bad characteristics. Johnny Depp is brilliant as always, delivering another entertaining and memorable performance as the drunken, reckless and talented pirate captain. Believe it or not, I think that his character was slightly underused. I would have much enjoyed for more of the action to have focused on Jack, since I find Elizabeth and Will to be quite uninteresting characters. Geoffrey Rush demonstrates that his extraordinary talent was what 'Dead Man's Chest' was noticeably lacking, delivering an enthusiastic performance as Barbossa. The CGI visual effects are often cleverly and effectively used, though a bit overdone at times, especially during the climactic maelstrom battle. I did, however, particularly enjoy Jack and Davy Jones' sword-fight atop the ship's mast, however unrealistic it was. Hans Zimmer's inspirational score is also worthy of a mention.
Now let us move on to the parts of the film that I wasn't quite so enthusiastic about. First of all, Naomie Harris' character, Tia Dalma (later revealed to be Calypso, the goddess of the sea) is most certainly the most annoying cinematic character I've ever had the displeasure of watching  and that includes Jar Jar Binks. I had been relieved that her appearance in 'Dead Man's Chest' was rather small, and so was horror-struck to discover that she plays a substantial, pivotal role in this one. Her irritating, grating voice made me wince every single time she opened her mouth. I don't think this has anything to do with the actress' talents in themselves (she was quite tolerable in 'Miami Vice' and '28 Days Later'), but perhaps merely with the way she has decided to portray her character. To cut my rant short, I was just glad when the film got rid of her.
As in the previous films, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley were adequate without being anything notable. Knightley's would-be inspirational speech at the film's climax was not terribly effective, with the actress really lacking the screen presence to make a strong impression, though you can admire the effort. The film itself is long, much too long. Lots of action is sometimes a good thing, but the overly-extended battle sequence just went on for too long to maintain the audience's attention throughout. However - being a viewer who has enjoyed the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' trilogy without believing it to be anything particularly special  perhaps it's not my place to wish for the films to be shorter. After all, I'm certain that there are countless die-hard fans who were yearning for 'At World's End' to continue for hours and hours more.