More enjoyable than I imagined, but still not as fun as the first film

Rating: 7/10 (25 May 2007)

As much as I was hyped up for it last summer, I am still in disbelief over how disappointed I was when I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I had bought advanced tickets, was in a packed and cheering theatre, and still managed to fall asleep from boredom. It was so disheartening, but I still enjoyed it for the most part. Unfortunately, on repeat viewings, I cannot say I have been so generous, but nonetheless, looked forward to the next film, At World's End anyway. And while it does the job a lot better than Chest, I cannot help but think that they really dropped the ball hard after the first film.
End picks up a short while after Chest with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), and the rest of the usual crew in Singapore. They meet with the revered pirate lord Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat), in an attempt to acquire the maps to Davy Jones' locker, where they hope to rescue Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Meanwhile, Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) is planning the extinction of all pirates, and is using Davy Jones himself (Bill Nighy) to help with the job.
Of course, anyone who has seen the trailer or know anything about the movie can predict what comes from here, and sadly, this is where the film loses a lot of steam. Running just short of three hours, the film packs a lot in, and pads a lot of itself out. Whereas Chest was just a whole lot of build up to nothing, End does build to something, but that something just does not feel as well planned out as it wants to be. Through all of the action, double, triple and quadruple crossings, and all of the laughs, the film just feels very drawn out for no reason but to stretch itself out longer. With the number one complaint of the series thus far being the length of the films, you would have thought a real editor would have come along and chopped out the useless stuff and left just the meaty bits. But unfortunately, this is not the case, and yet again, the viewer has to sift through a vast amount of material where a lot of nonsensical drivel (like numerous useless scenes featuring copies of Jack Sparrow) overtakes actually useful elements.
Where the film does do much better than Chest, is in its focus. While the latter was jumping all over the place, this film actually stays on course for the most part. It is a lot easier to follow, and despite some of the already listed issues, feels like a stronger film. But this comes at the price of basically throwing out almost everything that Chest brought to the franchise. All of those numerous subplots? Only a few are answered, and are answered in such simplistic fashion that they should not have even been questions in the first place. All the ones that are not? They are basically left to rot, and in a way, make Chest feel like a totally useless experience minus the final five minutes. It feels like a total cheat, and while it does not effect this film (in fact, it really enriches what is here), it totally kills anything the previous film had left going for it.
And with the subplots getting underused, so too are the new characters. The mysterious Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris) does next to nothing, and when the big reveal as to the purpose of her character comes, she ends up feeling like a waste of time (if you can even understand what she is saying). Much the same goes for 'Bootstrap' Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgård), Hollander's Cutler Beckett, and Yun-Fat's Sao Feng. They clearly had something to offer the last film (and Yun-Fat in this film), but here, do a few things, and then not much else. Even the astonishing performance from Nighy as Davy Jones is neglected here, taking away much of what made him such a great character in Chest. Even older characters like Jack Davenport's Norrington and Jonathan Pryce's Governor Swann are pointless, as they get next to no screen time at all.
Thankfully, Depp is even better than he was in Chest. He feels a bit overshadowed again, but his role is still as amusing and often bizarre as ever. At least here he actually seems like he is trying to do something new, instead of just aping his original performance. Bloom and Knightley are strong, and much more independent this go around, adding a great deal of needed emotion to their roles. Rush however, comes out on top of everyone. His over-the-top performance of Barbossa proves to be exactly what Chest was sorely missing. He steals every scene he is in, and breathes new life into the demented character. The rest of the crew, in all of their tiny roles, all help with some much needed humour to help liven up how dark it becomes at times (as a small cameo by a very make-up heavy Keith Richards).
But for all of what it does so much better (the special effects are just as great in this film, looking rather breathtaking in some sequences), the film still does not capture the fun and greatness of the first film. Yes, there is the humour and the action, but it just feels forced. It never feels as genuine or as well captured as it was in the first film (in fact, it teeters on passing ridiculous and becoming absurd, in a bad way). While the first one may have been thought of as a throw away at first, these films just stink of being pumped out just to capitalize on a wildly random success. It may be enjoyable, but for anyone looking for anything but an explanation for how shoddy Chest was, you will be looking in the wrong place.
7.5/10.