Two parts boring, One part good.

Rating: 6/10 (1 June 2007)

The title says it all really. I felt the first two hours of Worlds End were actually pretty dull but then things pick up for the last hour and thats when I thought things started to get better. The movie itself has some neat ideas but it's also clear that the writers didn't really know how to wrap up some of the ideas introduced in Dead Man's Chest which is a real shame. For example when we first see Captain Jack he's in Davy Jones Locker (presumably he's delivered there by the Kraken) which is supposed to be some kind of hell but basically just looks like a big desert which conveniently has a big ship in the middle of it. This part felt really awkward and a bit contrived as do many parts in the movie. The directorial style feels different from the first two and I wonder if Gore Verbinskey didn't just let 2nd unit directors have a shot this time round.
There are only a few action set pieces, mainly the beginning and the end. The one at the start again felt contrived and was unnecessary and boring and only served to introduce us to Chow Yun Fats character who is basically just window dressing to the story and is mostly completely pointless. Characters don't feel right here either, they just don't feel like they did in the first 2 movies and in an effort to make the story a bit more exciting and unpredictable the characters are constantly shifting their allegiances for no good reason and sometimes with no good motivation either and that really got boring eventually.
The second major action piece is the naval battle at the end centred around a huge whirpool (you might have seen it in the trailers). This was pretty spectacular and exciting and was really well done.
Keith Richards is OK as Jacks Father with really cool costume and make-up, he makes for a really neat looking grizzled pirate although he took his role far too seriously and would have been better lightening up a bit.
FX in this movie are pretty much phenomenal across the board, you can really see where the money went with huge naval battles and inventive duels galore.
And then of course there's Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow who is as good as ever despite his material not being that great in some places.
The movie in general is a lot darker than the first two and that seemed to have sucked some of the fun out of it for me although there are still some funny moments in the movie.
Overall Worlds End really isn't as good as 1 and 2 but despite its misgivings it is fairly fun in quite a few places and does wrap up well. It even leaves room for a Pirates 4 so you never know.
P.S. Since when could Davy Jones walk through walls? Another unessecary plot mechanic that insults the previously established mythology and serves no purpose whatsoever in terms of plot mechanics.