Difficult sequel to a tee

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2006)

Criticising Pirates of the Caribbean is a bit like criticising Christmas. It is one of those sacred institutions whereby daring to even utter a word against it leaves one branded a miser and a scrooge with no sense of fun, but the downside is sometimes it is quite apt. Now the original Pirates movie was terrific, an energetic romp through the high seas that has become one of the classic blockbusters of the decade, but the sequel sadly isn't quite as good. Like trying to recreate the childhood magic of the holiday season as an adult, it just isn't as rewarding. Not that Dead Man's Chest isn't a good film, far from it. In fact it's another highly entertaining ride with enough one liners, set pieces, "yarr matey" shenanigans and sea monsters to keep the multiplexes packed for months, but unfortunately it doesn't have the zest of it's predecessor. The main reason for this appears to be a case of over-ambition on the producers part as they have crafted an epic film with multiple plot strands and have sadly succumbed to the same over-stretching that blighted the Matrix sequels.
The storyline here involves Captain Jack Sparrow's (Johnny Depp) attempts to pay off a blood debt to Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), commander of a fearsome crew of sea monsters and Captain of the fabled Flying Dutchman. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) meanwhile is hired by the East India trading company to retrieve a key that Sparrow is searching for in return for pardons for his crimes in the first film. Inevitably, Turner's fiancée Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) becomes involved as well and all three characters set off on their own individual plot lines as they race towards a reunion in the latter half of the film. This may sound exciting on paper, but sadly what it translates to is increasing the running time to a bladder-challenging length and over-complicating the premise. Worse, each character is afforded an equal amount of attention and as they all become separated, Johnny Depp is given less screen time. Bad move. Jack Sparrow was the best thing about the first film and once again, every second he is on screen is a joy to behold. Unfortunately, Turner and Swann are considerably less interesting characters and whenever the storyline returns to them, you find yourself tapping your fingers and waiting for the mascara-clad pirate rogue to reappear. The pacing suffers because of this and there's a continual sense that much of the fat could have been trimmed to make this as sleek a vessel as the first: an escape from an island populated by cannibals at the start for instance is riotously enjoyable but in all truthfulness, isn't that essential to the rest of the film.
That said, Dead Man's Chest is still a rewarding experience despite it's faults. Alongside Depp's vibrant charisma there are some terrific performances including the return of the ever bickering Pintel and Ragetti (Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook) who provide a lot of laughs, plus the foreboding sight of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy). His is a villain that easily matches that of Captain Barbosa from Curse of the Black Pearl, a sea-dwelling abomination with horrific arachnid legs and a beard composed of a slimy wriggling mass of tentacles. But the real breakout is from Jack Davenport, who returns to play the now-ruined Commodore Norrington. Where once was a man of honour is a drunken, brawling, back-stabbing villain and one of the biggest surprises is that he quite effectively steals every scene he's in.
Furthermore, the studio hasn't held back on some big budget set pieces. A three way sword fight inside a spinning waterwheel is perhaps the standout as director Gore Verbinski makes the players throw in a really rough and tumble ride that looks so dangerous it's amazing nobody was hurt. Added to this are plenty of rucks with the Kraken, a vast sea monster sent by Davy Jones to drag Sparrow to the bottom of the ocean and numerous clashes with all kind of villains.
Additionally, they should be praised for making Dead Man's Chest a significantly darker proposition. There's an ever lingering sense of foreboding hanging over it and the moody lighting, grim score, themes of damnation and the sight of men having their eyeballs pecked out by crows leave no doubts that the waters are far more turbulent this time around. And let's not even get into the sub-textual references of Jack Sparrow falling into an open grave...
In a nutshell then, Dead Man's Chest is a film all set to divide audiences. The over-indulgence in the running time and the sometimes convoluted storyline do it no favours but these grievances aside, it still makes for a glorious evening's entertainment with plenty of giddy thrills to remind us all why we love Jack so much. Just bare in mind that it is the first part of a two part story and come the jaw-dropping cliffhanger ending, you'll be counting the days till Pirates 3 sets sail.