Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Rating: 3/10 (22 November 2007)

I said I would see it to see why Barbossa came back, but to be honest, I wish I hadn't bothered, this has to be one of the worst sequels ever, the writers and director Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, The Ring) have truly lost all sense of reality. I only give it an extra two points because of the still quite impressive special effects, and one or two interesting ideas or twists. The basic story (tut, yeah right) is that Will Turner (Razzie nominated Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), the usual crew, and resurrected and now good Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) by Tia Dalma (28 Days Later's Naomie Harris, still using that great, sometimes amusing Jamaican accent) head to the land of the dead (aka World's End, aka a locker) and rescue their friend Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) (apart from Barbossa, who he has disagreements with), who was eaten by the Kraken. All together again they are now on a mission to face their foes, squid faced Captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), who's in control of Jones's heart. They gather all Pirate Lords from four corners of the world to release the goddess Calypso, Jones's damned lover, mainly just to create fear, but it doesn't work, and it is a bit silly it being Tia Dalma. The final scenes of the film are The Black Pearl, The Fkying Dutchman and all the other ships in battle to end the war for control of the seas. Also starring Jack Davenport as Admiral James Norrington, Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann, The Office's Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti, Lee Arenberg as Pintel, Kevin R. McNally as Gibbs, Stellan Skarsgård as 'Bootstrap' Bill Turner, Crouching Tiger's Chow Yun-Fat (Chow) as Captain Sao Feng (as Chow Yun-Fat), Keith Richards as Captain Teague (supposedly Jack's dad, of course, Richards inspired Depp's performance) and Omid Djalili as Askay/Pusasn. The interesting moments are Jack seeing himself carious times, rocking a ship under water to be the right way up, pirates losing their ugly looks for moments (including Jones), and a really unusual marriage with Will and Elizabeth while they are fighting (they see no other time like the present). The big problem with this film is that there is too much to focus on, too much spectacle and not enough put into the story, and ultimately, I didn't have a clue what was going on most of the time. Don't bother with it unless you have a crush on Depp or Bloom, you love special effects or you want to send yourself to sleep. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects. Adequate!