Not bad... just... different

Rating: 7/10 (10 July 2006)

Captain Jack is back with William Turner and Elizabeth Swan in tow, while the East India Trading Company has warrants out for their (and former Commodore James Norrington) arrests. Its double crosses and secret pacts abound on ye olde Black Pearl.
The entire cast returns from the first film as the nuptials of Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Swan (Keira Knightley) are interrupted by their arrest for the aiding of Cpt. Jack Sparrow's (Johnny Depp) escape from custody at the end of the first film. Turner is then offered a deal. If he can get Sparrow's famed compass which does not work and bring it to the conniving Cpt. Bellamy (Alex Norton) than both he and Swan will go free. He agrees and goes on a hunt for the elusive Sparrow. Sparrow meanwhile has had an unfortunate run in with famed pirate Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), to whom Sparrow owes his soul, and if he doesn't make good on their deal of 100 souls for Jones' half human/half sea-creature crew, then Sparrow will be forced into servitude. And as a bonus subplot, Turner is reunited with his long lost dad, Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgard).
I must preface the rest of the review with the fact that I did like it, and it was a good film. I really enjoyed it.
It was a different film though. But in neither a good nor bad way. It's a hard to describe sort of thing. The first film was a very tight film, with everything working together, and it was pretty character driven, with the action element. But director Gore Verbinski seemed to take it into a different direction with the second (and subsequent third) installment of the franchise. It was infinitely more action oriented, and since it is a companion piece it would be hard to fully appreciate or enjoy without third, which we have to wait just under 11 months to see (fyi, it's been titled Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End). Verbinski does set up the end to lead into the third one, with the shocking departure of one character, and the even more shocking return of another.
And to Verbinski's credit, it is still a well crafted film. It's got the swashbuckling grandeur that made the first one so enjoyable. It's a true delight to see, because even with the human/shark hybrids wandering around the deck, you can't really see any CGI, which itself is marvel in this day and age.
The performances of all involved were top notch. I could speak volumes on Depp as Sparrow or the chemistry between Bloom and Swan. But the two who really show cased their talent in this film were Nighy and Jack Davenport. Nighy was acting through both prosthetics and a computer generated beard of tentacles. But he was able to keep his very expressive face and every so often you could see a hint of Nighy peaking through the make up. And Davenport as the now-broken Commodore Norrington who has since been discharged from the Royal Navy and now travels about searching for Jack to get some of his former life back in order. We first see him on the pirate haven island of Tortuga. Davenport plays a pitch perfect moody and broken man, with inklings of Sparrow inside himself, which is why I believe he detests Sparrow so much. Norrington is starting to become a version of Sparrow.
The biggest annoyance I had with this film was the recycling of old jokes. A few at the beginning were just fine, I chuckled. But some just got beat to death. About halfway in I was sitting there thinking, "Alright, I get it, the goddamn rum is gone!" That removed me from the picture.
I can't down vote a film just because of a minor annoyance like the repetition of jokes. Certainly not one which was an otherwise enjoyable experience, and was by no stretch of the imagination bad. But I have to take into consideration that they made it a companion piece with the conclusion a year away, instead of a stand alone film.