Better than the second, but still not as good as the first.

Rating: 6/10 (6 May 2010)

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has come a long way from the romanticized, light- hearted Johnny Depp romp that was Curse of the Black Pearl. Dead Man's Chest was buried under it's own mythology and ambition. Not to mention the fact that the first movie wasn't made to be easily sequelized. But At World's End corrects a few of the second movies mistakes, and is a better movie as a result.
The first half was a nonsensical mess, and really had me wondering if this was just going to be three more hours of an empty plot that served only to carry the viewer from mindless action scene to mindless action scene. But the last hour and a half grabbed my attention again, and I actually ended up liking the way that the story ended.
Sure the action scenes are still too long and the story was as disposable as they come, but I still ended up having fun watching the movie. It's nice to finally have an end to the stories of Will and Elisabeth (though I will miss Keira's gorgeous face, I admit), because the best hope of the next movie being good is to have Jack Sparrow as the main focus, without all the story baggage of Pirates 1-3.
Anyway, At World's End left me hopefully for the future of the franchise, which is more than I expected from it. It's not quite as good as Curse of the Black Pearl, but it easily surpasses Dead Man's Chest.