Confusing and too long

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2007)

The trend must have been set with the two "Matrix"-sequels: take a successful movie and expand it to a trilogy. Each of the sequels must clock in at 3 hours running time and the original simple story must be complicated as much as possible.
"Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End" the latest (final?) entry in the world's most popular franchise is another example of this approach. Sure, even part 1 was structured strangely but it still worked as a movie everyone could understand. After having already forgotten last years "POTC: Dead Man's Chest" you'll have a hard time getting into the story in the first place. What are everyone's motives? Why did Captain Sparrow have to die? What's the meaning of the heart in the chest again? Even if you can remember the ongoings of part 2 well, part 3 will give you enough new story lines and plot points to confuse you completely. There are new pirate lord-characters and a previously unheard of goddess called Calypso. Everybody has a different agenda and after a while you have a hard time figuring out who is who, who is where and if things make sense at all.
If this wasn't the third part of a well-established and overly promoted franchise it wouldn't have become a success. I doubt that most people could actually follow the storyline, but were merely laughing about the weird antics of Captain Sparrow, a character they have come to love so dearly for his wackiness. That alone is not enough to make a good movie. It's bad entertainment. Other characters like Norrington were underdeveloped and barely got any screen time at all. The romance between Will and Elizabeth was virtually ignored until it was clumsily hammered back into our heads in the final act of the movie. Just another badly established plot point in a weak script.
Apart from the fact that "Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End" is overly intricate it is also unnecessarily drawn out. And hey, that reminds me of the other big blockbuster this year, "Spider-Man 3". It has been said before, but it must be said again: Hollywood needs to stop making bad sequel after bad sequel and start showing some originality again. Movies like "POTC 3" might make money, but they leave no doubt that right now we are at a new low of American film-making.