An okay conclusion to a disappointing trilogy

Rating: 5/10 (9 June 2007)

It was alright. About on par with the second one. Both are big disappointments, in my mind, when compared to the first one, as tends to be the case with simultaneous sequels. The filmmakers seem to have forgotten what made the first film so much fun and have instead just gone for the epic feel. These films work best when they're about the characters, and the interactions between them - not the expensive action scenes. As such, my favourite part of this film was the first hour or so - before the action started. The last hour might have looked pretty, but I found it kinda boring and rather silly. Not really that entertaining. And the ending is just begging for another trilogy, which would not be welcome.
It starts off great, with the very poignant hanging/singing scene, the immensely entertaining Singapore sequence, and the comically brilliant Davy Jones' Locker stuff. It was uncharacteristically weird and bizarre and whacked out for a film like this and I loved it. And the hallucinations that kept coming back were just as great. And then the very eerie and very sad dead ferry bit. But once they get back to the real world, and start backstabbing each other and meeting with each other and conspiring with each other it loses a lot of its steam. I really liked the pirate's council, even though it wasn't really needed, and Keith Richards' cameo was brill. But by the time the final battle happens, you just want it to be over. It doesn't help that it's not a very thrilling conclusion.
The problem is that there's too much set-up and not enough payoff. There's way too many characters and almost none of them get proper backstories or even multiple dimensions. There's just so much left hanging. They could have cut Chow Yun-Fat's utterly useless character, as well as some of the double-crossing and backstabbing, and used the spare time to actually add some depth to the film. Not to mention it would have shortened the running time considerably. The film was far too long, and, unlike certain epic films, it certainly didn't need the three hours or so. I was never bored, but I'm sure I would be on a second viewing.
The performances are rather uneven, ranging from terrific (Depp + Rush) to downright wooden (Bloom). A lot of the supporting characters are given more to do than the leads at times, which is very strange, and causes the film to lose some of its focus. The dialogue was great (if a bit pretentious) until that silly freedom speech, after which all bets were off. Technically, though, the film is superb. The visual effects are outstanding, the production design, makeup, costumes are all stunningly beautiful and show true care and attention to detail, and even the cinematography is creative and fluid. The score hasn't changed much from the first one but it's still worth a listen, and everything fits together well. It's a pretty film to look at, if nothing else, and some editing and a few rewrites would have done wonders. It's not great, but it's not terrible either, and it's certainly not as bad as Spider-Man 3.