Ship's in for a draining trip

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2006)

Disney struck gold three years ago when they first released "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which ended a long slump for films about pirates. So it's only a matter of time before sequels followed. And because the ship ain't broke, no major fixing was done. Everything from the first film was there: from the amusing one-liners to the excellent special effects here and there. And yes, Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom are all in a second go for a ride, including director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. In short, everything that made "The Curse of the Black Pearl" a work of entertaining summer fun was there. Except for some.
Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) and Will Turner (Bloom) are about to be married, but no sooner than the movie had begun when they are arrested and condemned to death by Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) of the East India Trading Company for helping Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp). But Beckett offers a reprieve for Turner if he can give him Jack's compass (a compass that points to one's true desire).
Meanwhile, Captain Jack is warned by "Bootstrap Bill" Turner (Stellan Skarsgård) - Will's father - that Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is set to settle a debt Jack owes the ruler of the sea and captain of the Flying Dutchman. Jack must find a way to pay his debt to avoid serving Davy Jones for a long time. So we have Will after Jack's compass, Jack after Davy Jones' heart hidden in a chest buried somewhere (hence the movie's title), Elizabeth after Will, Bootstrap Bill after the safety of his son, and former Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport) after Jack to reclaim his lost honor.
Therein lies the movie's problem: it didn't quite work the second time around (for me at least, because as we all know, this film shattered a lot of box-office records in its first weekend run). The first one was thrilling, funny, and entertaining, albeit in a Jerry Bruckheimer-flick kind of way, which is turning your brains off. The sequel is still exciting, humorous, and entertaining. But unlike the first installment, "Dead Man's Chest" lacks focus. The overstuffed storyline might have seemed reasonable in pitching the story before it's green-lit but it comes across as similarly confusing and confused. Verbinski isn't exactly a household name in terms of big movies, but his work in the first film (and in "The Ring" to some extent) clearly shows he has a knack for escapist film-making by crafting the picture in a simplistic but enthralling enough manner that didn't hinder the characters, the action, or the adventure. It also seems that the scriptwriters tried to take everything in the first film and bloat it exponentially.
Some of the action scenes seemed a little otiose and without neither reason nor rhyme, which stripped it off of a sense of urgency that made the first film thrilling in the first place. And granted that the special effects were of visual caliber my academic daydreams are made of, it feels like virtually every aspect of the original is rehashed and then geometrically pumping up every detail into something bigger. I'm actually a fan of the first film (not a big fan, but a fan nonetheless) but "Dead Man's Chest" is just turgid in every sense of it. Only the still likable cast (Depp made a lot of college girls in the audience swoon) and the prevailing fact that Verbinski proves to be more effective at delivering pure popcorn flicks recently than the likes of Michael Bay and Rob Cohen keep this film barely afloat.
"Dead Man's Chest" film has all the things that made "The Curse of the Black Pearl" work, and yet the paradox of it all is that while it's crammed, it feels lacking in the end. Partly, of course, due to the blatant come-on for the third "Pirates". Still, this second ride's more exhausting than thrilling.