Remember: this is a Trilogy!

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2006)

I can't get this film out of my mind. I just really want to go see it again.
I've read people who bash this movie as "too convoluted" with a thick plot that made little sense and all I can say is that I followed it fine. There were some moments where I felt slightly out of the loop, but I loved it! Gore Verbinski manages to create a world so real that outsiders like us feel like, well outsiders. It's fantastic to lose oneself completely in this absolute creation instead of sitting through another dumbed downed version re-written in modern American- speak so the lamest of the audience can comprehend.
If you let yourself be lost in this film, in the world, the characters, and just go for the ride, it's a good one. I really want to see the flick again just so I can catch the little things in language I missed the first time. I think the people who complain about this movie for being too complicated are just not ready for intelligent films. Go see some pretty, but stupid, film like Superman. Leave the real stories for the rest of us.
And speaking of pretty.. wow, what fantastic shots and scenes and fight sequences! This flick played like an adventure book, where you're so excited to turn the page and see what happens.
Near the end of the movie, I was beginning to notice the amount of passed time, but it didn't matter. I just wanted to find out more.
Now, I knew going in that this was the middle film in a trilogy, so I didn't mind that it opened a lot of doors and had no resolutions. That's what the middle does. The beginning sets up, the middle builds, and the end ties it up. Next year, we can get the finale and I am so looking forward to it!
Also, partly because I ran into the cast while they were filming at Universal, and noticed Georffrey Rush in the mix, I knew that Barbossa was in there somewhere, so the end didn't bother me at all, but intrigue me enough that I'll be at the midnight for Pirates 3, no doubt!
Enjoy this film and the fullness of true storytelling. Stories have taken a backseat lately to big budget special effects, so here's the rare opportunity to have both. And don't worry.. it'll all make sense when number 3 opens next year.
And kudos to both Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley for moving their characters forward. Both felt different.. more matured, more complicated. Obviously their characters had been changed since the last adventure and it showed, but both kept the basic core of the character and built on it. Brilliant work. As for Johnny Depp, it was fantastic to see him as a true Pirate.. in the first film, he was a castaway on a mission. Now, he's in his element and yes, remember.. he's still a Pirate. They weren't known as the good guys. Sparrow has his moments where he shows how one can be a Pirate, and a good man.
Good work to all. I could care less about you nay-sayers. I'll see it enough times in the theatre to make up for you.