Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (25 May 2007)

I really wanted to like this movie. Really, I did. I thought the first two Pirates films were fun but very flawed movies. I was hoping that this would be the film to really rap it all up and give new life to those first two films. Sadly, it just didn't do that for me.
Personally, Jack Sparrow has never been more interesting than as he was in Curse of the Black Pearl. Depp's performance made that movie and he deserved his Oscar nomination. But in these sequels, something's missing from Jack and I'm having real trouble figuring out what it is. Depp plays him well enough in At World's End and they take the character to some bizarre new places, but I actually found myself not rooting for Jack in this film. I was rooting for Davey Jones.
Speaking of Davey Jones, there is just not enough of him in this movie. He and his crew were by far the highlight of Dead Man's Chest. The rap up to his story is very disappointing. He has abilities in this movie that seem inconsistent, and the way he gets around not being able to set foot on land in one particular scene is quite honestly just lame. More of his history is explained, but it goes absolutely nowhere and amounts to nothing, as does a subplot involving Calisto that is truly and aggravatingly underwhelming.
Some of the recurring characters just feel tacked on. The bumbling pair of British soldiers really didn't need to be here and they provide for a very weak plot resolution in the film's third act.
Bloom does the best he can I suppose, but let's face it, Will Turner is just not a very interesting character. Kiera Knightley has improved, though I still don't completely like the way she plays angry, what with all the jutting out of the lower jaw. The return of Geoffrey Rush is glorious however. I found Captain Barbossa to be a much more compelling character than Sparrow in this film. Playing a pirate is a role that can easily lead to overacting, and Rush masterfully knows when to go full throttle or apply the breaks a bit. Stellan Skarsgard's role is so small it's barely worth mentioning. Chow Yun-Fat was good, but I wanted more. the real revelation here however is Keith Richard's small role. I was dreading his cameo, but his character completely steals the show and his line delivery is wonderful.
The special effects are amazing, despite a few unconvincing shots of multiple Sparrows in act II (it's too complicated to explain). The final action scene is an absolute marvel of technical wizardry. I'm gonna go ahead and call this as next year's Academy Award winner for Best Visual Effects. The only problem is, the final battle is underwhelming. Without getting into spoilers, this scene could have been far more epic. While I was amazed with the visuals, I just couldn't bring myself to get excited as I did in say the Mumakil stampede in Return of the King.
I'm sure this film will make gobs of money, and many people might still love it. I never understood what people found so great about the other two, so I'm not going to try to predict how die hard fan's of the series will react. All I can say it left me empty and longing for the great adventure epic it could have been.