'At World's End': How to blow several million dollars without breaking a sweat.

Rating: 1/10 (30 May 2007)

The third movie in this series is truly a lazy effort from all involved. The story is mundane, unimaginative and basically a rehash of what we have already learned from 'Dead Man's Chest'. For a family adventure movie it is unforgivably boring, with long sections of humming & hawing punctuated only by brief action sequences that look like they've been shot by the 2nd Unit director in a couple of hours.
The humor has been reduced to catchphrases, the script forcing Johnny Depp grind a likable character into the dust until it's nothing more than tiresome. The special effects while still excellent (notably Davy Jones' tentacles) offer nothing more than what we have already seen in the first two movies, and certainly nothing with even half the imagination of the original's moonlight skeletons. In a 3 hour 'event' movie it's shocking that not a single set-piece was in anyway noteworthy, from stunted opener to fizzling finale.
Geoffrey Rush deserves an honorable mention for keeping me in my seat during what has to be one of the most contrived love scenes I've ever witnessed. His performance as Barbossa, the quintessential pirate is deserving of a far better movie. This alone will earn 'At World's End' its one star, but yet I still can't help feeling like I'm being ripped off.