Weakest of the trilogy - I'm hoping we don't get a fourth one

Rating: 6/10 (13 October 2008)

I enjoyed "Curse of the Black Pearl". "Dead Man's Chest", I felt was OK. But rather than learning from its predecessor's flaws, this film expands on them, and ends up being decidedly average.
I agree with other reviewers who say that the plot is far too complicated. Everything's fine until the second act of the film, and then it all goes off in different directions, with too many side stories crammed in (some of which didn't really need to be there), and becomes extremely hard to follow if you're not paying attention. "Who's working for who?" "Who's betraying who?" "What arrangement have those characters got again?" "How did he end up on that ship?" The other problem with betrayals occurring left, right and centre is that it gets a little hard to sympathise with any of the characters, even Will and Elizabeth  even though they're supposed to be the romantic leads, they don't display much affection for each other for most of the film.
Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow hasn't changed, but somehow he's not as much fun as he was in the last two films  maybe he's just best in smaller doses. It's nice to see Geoffrey Rush return as Barbossa, as well as a cameo by Keith Richards, but nobody else in the cast gives a performance that's worth mentioning.
For all its faults, I don't hate At World's End. While you may be confused by the story, you shouldn't be bored at least. The fun, not-so-serious atmosphere that was present in the first film has diminished somewhat, but comes through in some scenes. And the final battle scene is high quality, almost making up for the flaws that preceded it.
At World's End is not a bad film, but with some editing and better writing, it could have been a lot better. I won't be happy if they do make a fourth film: based on how the quality has degenerated through this trilogy, three is enough.