With a completely unexpected, hopeless and open ending, "Dead Man's Chest" provides an endless adventure, first-rate special effects, chilling scenes and romance

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2020)

After the resounding success of the first "Pirates of the Caribbean", it was only natural that Disney started planning sequences for this great phenomenon. The two sequences to "The Curse of the Black Pearl" were conceived in 2004, with Elliott and Rossio developing a story arc that would last both films. Filming took place from February to September 2005 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Palos Verdes, Dominica and the Bahamas, as well as on the sets built at Walt Disney Studios. The film was recorded together with the third film in the series, "At the End of the World".
Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), the daughter of Governor Weatherby (Jonathan Pryce), is about to marry blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). However, the event is hampered by the threat of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), the captain of the haunted Flying Dutchman, who owes blood to Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), the couple's friend. Fearing being cursed to an afterlife as a slave to Jones, Sparrow must find the mysterious chest of death to escape the threat.
This second part of the sequence manages to surpass the previous film in quality and scale. The combination of humor and adventure worked so well previously that it was maintained and expanded. Although the option is for a darker film than the previous one, the chemistry between the main actors still exists and this time even entitled to a climate of love triangle - mainly reflecting the change in attitude of Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, more mature. Another aspect of the franchise is the way the legends of the sea are used to compose this universe that mixes fantasy and reality. The first film had done this with the cursed gold, and this second did something similar with Davy Jones and the Kraken. With the absence of Geoffrey Rush in the cast (at least until the final minutes), the writers, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, needed someone to match Sparrow to meet the pirate and Jones was the perfect choice, both for his characterization, as for the man who lives the character.
Fortunately, the script of the duo Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott is right to bet on a different film in structure and narrative progression, by avoiding thematic repetitions of the damsel in distress or cursed treasure, preferring to keep the characters separated in different subplots and offer a much more macguffin interesting in the shape of the chest that names the film. The entire arc of Jack Sparrow running to save his soul offers more dangerous risks and really brilliant ideas from the team, from the convict crew that slowly fuse with marine elements and the structure of the Dutch Flying Ship to the imminent threat of the monstrous squid mythological giant, the Kraken.
On the other hand, the duo's script does not show such care in all its parts. Inheriting one of the problems of the first film: the prolonged duration, Dead Man's Chest extends for two and a half hours, making this an exhausting adventure. Although they are probably the funniest and most creative parts of the film, the part on the island with cannibals will be totally dispensable to the story narrative, serving only for distraction and adding nothing to the main plot. This is one of the examples of the increase in the scale of the film, but the extra time is not used to delve into the machinations of Becket or Jones, but with expendable passages that have no influence on the story. As a result, some aspects become confused, since they do not receive the necessary focus, while others sound too busy, see the whole interaction between Will and his father.
Since this film was shot with the third, much of the plot of Death Chest serves to explain concepts and characters that will gain more prominence and depth in the next chapter, as well as letting the film end on a devastating hook and perpetuating it as a work with no end, but which is part of a whole. Other problems include some inconclusive cores, such as the forced and artificial development of a "love interest" between Jack and Elizabeth, which yields only a turnaround during the climax, in addition to disposable moments of jealousy between the girl and Will - not to mention the presence of ex-commodore.
Regarding the cast, Depp maintains all his detailed physical construction and the character's mannerisms, such as the staggering gait and his arms always in motion, as if the character needed a lot of concentration to be able to stand. The character's wit and irony also return, but it is remarkable how Jack is much more comical here, see his hilarious performance when he is elected "king" by the cannibals of a local island. As for his scene mates, unfortunately Bloom maintains his striving performance on a single note, with Will's determination and willpower, while Keira Knightley benefits from the improvement in his character to bring more toughness to his performance, even though he maintains a femininity. Bill Nighy's Davy Jones is the highlight here. A tragic and heartbroken villain, Jones is a ghostly presence that we are both able to fear and admire at the same time, and much of this is due to Bill Nighy's impressive performance capture mix with Industrial Light & Magic's photorealistic visual effects., deservedly awarded Oscar for his work here.
From the first frame of the film, Verbinski's care in establishing a beautiful and realistic world can be seen, with the beautiful and melancholy image of a deserted wedding ceremony punished by a heavy rain, taking us immediately to a terrifying dungeon where we see crows pulling out the eyes of living men ... until breaking it all up with an appropriately hilarious introduction to Jack Sparrow, demonstrating his incredible control of rhythm and pitch variation, something that is crucial to the success of the production. Not to mention the Kraken's gradual appearances. The first is something practically out of a terror, with a violent suction that sinks a small fishing boat in a matter of seconds, gaining a much more elaborate resourcefulness when we get to the second attack. Here, we see the filmmaker's ability to control the spatial geography of events, keeping our focus on Will Turner climbing a mast while his camera roams the chaos on the deck and all desperate men are grabbed by the creature's giant tentacles.
Verbinski and director of photography Dariusz Wolski know how to work with night scenes without making them excessively dark, using wet scenes and characters and moonlight to justify the presence of light. They capture the naturalism of the beautiful landscapes and locations where history walks, which include the colorful island of cannibals, marked by the green of their tree tops, to the climax at Isla Cruces, where we have a duel of swords on a sandy beach very white. Indoor scenes involving candlelight, especially the ship's cabin and the sequence in Tortuga, bring a typical orange of the light source flame and a remarkable contrast between the other scenes, with the color changing drastically to a heavier shade and bluish during the moments in the Flying Dutchman, creating a terrifying environment that really looks like a marine hell. In fact, the memorable characterization of the Flying Dutchman and his crew is a spectacle by the production designer and art director. Merging crustaceans with marine beings, they all gain strong visual identities, not being as forgettable as the skeletons of the first film.
Hans Zimmer, Oscar-winning composer for "The Lion King", returned to the post of composer of the franchise's soundtrack and did the unimaginable: he surpassed the quality of the tracks shown in the first feature. With all the mythology suffered by Davy Jones around his love and hate for Calypso, Zimmer tried to compose the character's theme in a way that showed all his feelings, and succeeded. Not to mention the Kraken scenes.
With a completely unexpected, hopeless and open ending, "Dead Man's Chest" provides an endless adventure, first-rate special effects, chilling scenes and romance in the right measure - but a decision was wise enough to guarantee the good result: the characters and the plot are attractive enough to guarantee the viewer's attention and make him anxious for the third part that will end the arc of this first trilogy.