Surprisingly Consistent

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2007)

I felt the original Pirates of the Caribbean was the best in the series and after being mildly unimpressed with the second installment, I was actual impressed by the surprising consistency of the third Pirates movie.
The movie is Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Without Johnny this franchise wouldn't have any legs to stand on and in this movie, similar to the previous two, Depp carries the torch across the finish line. The movie is bigger and larger. It has a longer running time, there's more action, more plot and more battles.
The gang travels to Asia and then to the End of the World to rescue Jack Sparrow from the afterlife. There were some avant-garde and experimental scenes in the afterlife which was unlike a summer blockbuster to contain (Think of the scene in "Being John Malkovich" where every character is John Malkovich.)
I felt the screen writing was more witty and flowed more effortlessly than in the second installment. And even though the ending was not what I was expecting, I was certainly surprised with it, and with that it gained my respect.
the only thing I didn't enjoy was how it opened it up for a fourth movie. However despite its length and the superfluous monologues from Keira Knightley...did we really need to give her that many speeches, this is a good movie. Not as good as the original but the second best in the series.
7 out of 10, good summer blockbuster fun.