Lots of 'Pirate-Action' -- not so much story...

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2007)

As people are running around wanting to catch the latest 'Pirates' flick, I wonder to myself if all a movie needs to be successful is good CGI and lots of action. Because that's what you have in 'Pirates 3'. The graphics were definitely superb, a lot better than those in Spider-Man 3, as well lots of action to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Another interesting thing in this movie is that it has a lot more innovation than the previous film in the series. There are a lot of new camera tricks that they do that could be described as quite abstract yet artistic, which contributes greatly to the film's cinematography, which is another thing I found to be quite well done. Not only that, but the funny moments in this one are quite original, unlike those in 'Dead Man's Chest' which were recycled from the first film.
Despite the great CGI, action, cinematography...and even acting, this movie did not live up to my expectations in terms of the story. I personally think that they went totally overboard with the complexity of the story that it just became too confusing and too hard to follow. At the end of the movie, you're bound to have a discussion with your friends about why some of the events in the movie actually happened. I also didn't like certain story elements, like Calypso for example, which seemed to not have any use in the story.
Lastly, the film was just too darn long! There were a lot of very long and slow scenes, as well as useless scenes that do nothing more than add to the complexity of the movie, which it definitely doesn't need. If some of those were a bit trimmed and made the movie simpler for audiences, I'd give it a higher rating.
All in all, I'm giving it a 7.