A half assed attempt at a sequel to cash in on a truly great original

Rating: 5/10 (9 July 2006)

I wanted to love this film. I did. The three previous movies of Gore Verbinski's (The Ring, Pirates 1 and The Weatherman) I cherished. They showed a rising director who had talent. This film is nothing like those movies or for that matter, even "Curse of the Black Pearl."
While watching the film, I got the sense that I was in a test screening to see what works and what isn't. Then the realisation that I wasn't in a test screening, I was in an opening weekend viewing sunk in. It was a realisation i wish I would not have had, because I was desperately wanting to fill out the card and voice my opinion.
My main problem with this film is that they didn't try hard at all. The only thing it felt like they tried at was to re-establish how good the first movie actually was. I'm guessing that like me, most people loved the comic lines from the first film. Unlike the first film though, they don't subtly throw them out anymore. The comic lines in this film aren't thrown out to the audience; they gave us the equivalent of putting us in a batting range and hit all the ball to us at speed's so fast that the laughs aren't even over with before they expect us to laugh again. The laughing may cause to miss key points.
The acting was another disappointment from this film. Don't expect another nomination for Johnny this time. Yes, I am saying that Johnny Depp even was unbearable in this movie. It's not that he was bad in this movie per se, it's just he attempted to completely copy everything that made his performance in the first one so great. Exclude the character development from the first movie and he's still the same antagonist; even this time he's not likable, in fact, one could possibly say he is the most unlikable thing about the whole movie. Even Stellan Skaarsgard was understated in this film and I think he's an amazing actor. Looking back on this film, the only character I did like was Kiera Knightley's who this time around wasn't just reserved for eye candy but actually had things to do.
One of the things I did like was Gore Verbinski's amazing cinematograghy. Except the problem with his cinematography was that he uses amazing shots in the middle of an action that takes you out of the movie and has nothing to do with what's going on. Peter Jackson esquire, except PJ makes his cameras useful for the scene and not a way to say "Wow".
On a closing note, this was one of Hans Zimmer's best scores he's done
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