Preserves the mood and even excels at some points.

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2006)

This time I did expect a lot from a sequel and for the first time in my recent memory I am totally satisfied and adequately entertained. Come on, "Dead Man's Chest" starts off with the same mood and pace the first film left us with. But this film is far more complex in order to deliver something new.
First of all, it is just insanely hilarious. Really I didn't expect so much bout of comedy. Yes, a few of the funny scenes are rather forced but the rest are just brilliant... and this comedy mood stayed throughout the film even when suspense and action were full on. Second, the new characters... be it the crew of Jack Sparrow or Davy Jones and his men... are extremely well-designed and well-written. For the actors, Depp's acting this time looked rather forced sometimes as he was trying hard to achieve his Oscar-nominated standard of the character. But face it, in the first film Jack was something unique, here we already know his character and his antics, manner of speech etc. So I think ultimately Depp did a nice job. Keira Knightley has got a more wide and complex role this time but she does little besides delivering her beautiful bullet-like English accent. She falters often with careful emotional sequences. Bloom also hasn't much improved from his previous portrayal of Will Turner.
Bill Nighy portrays the infamous Davy Jones with much style. And the make-up and visual effects regarding him and his crew are really worth every praise. The overall special visual and sound effects are top-notch, as expected. Verbinski took special care building the sets and location, as evident by the excellent outdoor scenery and entirely believable and captivating indoor atmospheres like the bars, the dungeons and the tribal area in the river at night.
The film has enough amount of action, perhaps too much at some places with the underwater monster. It ends in a rather interesting manner, making you crave for the part 3 to come out. I really enjoyed the ending and its various implications or predictions. To summarize, "Dead Man's Chest" is definitely one of the best summer blockbusters in a long time.