Dull, dull dull, so desperately dull

Rating: 3/10 (27 May 2007)

If you went off to sleep at the end of PotC II then you will fare no better in this film.
Fundamentally, the problem is that it is very poorly edited and far too many extra characters and sub-plots which end up creating an overly long drawn out shambles. Various "asides" in the plot rely on you remembering what happened in the previous episode, but they were referenced so briefly, it was difficult to get your bearings. It desperately needed an hour cutting out of it. There was a brilliant film hiding in there. In fact, the first film was excellent and there is a single excellent second film to be made out of the footage of the second and third films.
A good example of the confused complexity was the introduction of several other pirate captains - each used stereotypes to establish their character and at various points the film stalled to ensure that each one was allowed their reaction: yet in the end they contributed nothing to moving the story along. In fact, so many other characters were allowed their little cameo that the key characters were reduced to bit parts along their way. Surely the ambiguous relationship between Elizabeth and Norrington needed more than a couple of snatched sentences to resolve? Similarly, Calypso is a critical plot device, but she is used as a tool to stage a major battle, yet simply vanishes from the plot without a proper resolution once that device is used. Keith Richards again puts in a cameo appearance, but you are left asking why bother?
Special effects so good you don't even consider them, but all in all an insubstantial and disappointing film.