Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006) **1/2

Rating: 6/10 (18 August 2006)

I have to say upfront that I wasn't particularly impressed by the original and was very surprised that Johnny Depp's overrated performance ended up among the Best Actor Oscar nominees. This sequel proves to be an even less attractive commodity: the epitome of the empty-headed and over-produced summer blockbuster, the film is tiresomely long while providing nothing that's remotely new, very little plot (with the much-sought titular object coming to little purpose!) and an over-abundance of effects (there are about four separate attacks by The Kraken alone!) to make up for its lazy scripting.
While the original was supposed to evoke the Saturday matinée' adventure films of old, this one has little real feeling for the genre; the accent is on the supernatural (what this has to do with a pirate film in the first place is baffling to say the least, and doesn't work quite as much as the film-makers seem to think either!) which allows the make-up department a free hand to create the silliest-looking creatures this side of the "Star Wars" saga! The stars seem to be merely going through the paces this time around: Johnny Depp overdoes the roguish charm (again!), while Orlando Bloom is as bland as ever; Keira Knightley, after her star-making turn in the original, is under-used here (as if the film-makers didn't quite know what more to do with her!). As for the 'ghosts', we have a ridiculously-tentacled main villain played by the little-known Bill Nighy (who had previously appeared in another saga which vulgarized a myth {or two}, the "Underworld" films) and Stellan Skarsgard (making little impression) as Bloom's 'undead' pirate father.
The film ends on a cliffhanger on the lines of the first entry in "The Lord Of The Rings" saga and also features an uncredited bit by Geoffrey Rush (turning up at the end to reprise his role from the first installment in the series, whose third episode is already being filmed...which means that we have to suffer through another Summer of this). Mind you, the film is entertaining enough in a mindless {sic} sort of way, but it's all overkill in the end...and, really, the creators of this franchise ought to think more of their audiences rather than merely thinking of how to fill their own pockets (this film's phenomenal box-office performance is preposterous)!!