A visual feast... and that's it

Rating: 4/10 (18 April 2009)

It's a shame to see that a franchise with the potential of "Pirates of the Caribbean" has fallen so low. "The Curse of the Black Pearl" was a breath of fresh air, at least in what comes to blockbusters. Yes, it had the big special effects, the two lovers and all the clichés this kind of film offers, but it brought the pirates and the good old-fashioned adventure flicks. Although the second film was already a bit of a disappointment, it still had some of the spirit of the first and, at least it had its funny and entertaining moments and the end left some eager for more. But then came "At World's End"... Let's face it, Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow played a huge part on the films' success and he doesn't appear until about we're 30 minutes into the film. I don't mean to diminish the other actors' work, but during that time we see some of the worst moments of the three films. When Jack Sparrow finally appears, he makes his worst entry ever. The multiple Jacks don't make up for his absence at all and are just plain silly and boring, not funny in any way. Then, the film continues to get worse. Starting with the storyline. There's too much to be revealed and too many characters which makes for too many camera swifts and very confusing scenes. Some of the acting is unbearable, and most of these unbearable moments come from Orlando Bloom. He was never good in any of his previous films, but, on this one particularly, I just wanted somebody to kill Will Turer. He's by far the worst actor of "Pirates" and got a well deserved nomination for the Razzies. Unfortunately he's not alone. One of the things that made me hate the film, was the wasted talent. Bill Nighy is a great actor, but gave a very poor performance here, as well as Geoffrey Rush (which was surprising since he was great in the first) and Keira Knightley. But not everything is bad on this third film. Visually, it astonishing. The make-up is very impressive, specially Davy Jones and his crew. The special effects make some very epic scenes. Keith Richards was also a very pleasant surprise. Nevertheless, "At Worl's End" made enough money to let us guess that there will be more Pirates in the future, which shouldn't happen. I would hate to see them ruining it more than they already did.