The barren plains of madness

Rating: 7/10 (9 July 2007)

There are two good scenes in "At World's End". At a runtime of 168 minutes, that's not a lot, but they are, indeed, excellent scenes. Magical even. The first is set in an otherworldly state of limbo. Captain Sparrow's ship is stranded in a featureless white nowhere halfway between the moon and Utah, without a drop of water in sight. Sparrow is not technically alone, but except for a few shape-shifting crustaceans, all the other inhabitants of the otherworldly plain are nothing but copies of himself. Small surprise Sparrow is continuously on the brink of madness. True, it's a dual rip-off: Vincenzo Natali's "Nothing" meets Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich". But the cinematic craftsmanship is magnificent, and the madman is, after all, Johnny Depp. He's been a safe bet as the offbeat nut-case ever since "Fear and Loathing and Las Vegas". The second scene features a weathered Englishman as the Keeper of the Pirate Code. Any more, I won't say. Who am I to spoil *both* scenes that make "At World's End" worth your while?