Alright, but feels held back by a few inconsistencies

Rating: 6/10 (7 July 2006)

I checked out the midnight screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with mixed anticipation. I had thoroughly enjoyed the first film, and seriously consider it as one of the most recently released films that actually felt like it was made just to be fun. It was an obvious risky gamble as a film, and it paid off for Disney. As could be expected, two sequels were greenlit, and filmed back-to-back. And as one of the key highly anticipated films of the summer, it has some mighty shoes to fill. And understandably, there are mixed results.
Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightely) are about to get married. Unfortunately, the newly appointed Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) has other plans. They are placed under arrest for aiding and abetting felon Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), and are told that their penalty will be death. Meanwhile, Jack, after a great intro, is informed that he has to pay an owed debt to Davey Jones (Bill Nighy), and is now a marked man.
Revealing anything else would just give away some of the intriguing subplots, and the useless boring ones. Some elements felt a bit half-baked, but of course, will sound and feel a lot more developed come At World's End next summer. The script seems fairly well formulated, but it feels like they went heavy on story here, and cut back on the comedy and action that made the first film so much fun. There is plenty of it to go around of course, but it just feels totally lessened down in comparison to the first film. Another element missing here is a lack of character development. A few crazy developments do happen, but the characters really do not change at all throughout the film. Again, something that may be fixed in the next film, but nonetheless feels awkward here. One thing they did not bother changing from the first film was the intensely long running time. In fact, it's even longer. The editing feels a lot sharper as opposed to the original film, but there is still quite a bit of dialogue and useless add-ons that could have been excised.
Although not at the forefront of attention this time around, Depp still has the right amount of flavour to pull off Jack Sparrow. His performance in the original film was flawless, and he just continues his fabulous Oscar-nominated role here. As said though, he does take more of a supporting role here as opposed to Bloom and Knightely. Bloom does great again as Will Turner, and while nowhere near as stunningly superb as Depp, he puts in another fine performance for what is arguably his short career's best character. Knightely is alright here, but she looks and feels a bit distracted for the most part. She does not have the genuine independence or the spunk that her character had in the original film. Her character instead feels a lot more static and uneven in comparison to the other two.
Jack Davenport pulls in a great continued supporting turn as the conniving Norrington, as does Kevin McNally as first mate Gibbs. Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook, although they could have done with a little bit less screen time, do great as the comedic pirate duo of Pintel and Ragetti. They were shining parts in the original film, and despite feeling overused, do very well here too. And although they only skimmed the surface of their characters, Nighy's Davey Jones and Stellan Skarsgård's 'Bootstrap' Bill Turner (who was only mentioned briefly in the original film) are great additions to the cast. The only thing they would have benefited from, was more screen time. I can only hope they get extended and more developed in part three. Other characters like Hollander's Lord Cutler Beckett and Naomie Harris' Tia Dalma are almost totally unreviewable, as they get even less screen time, and are given nothing but plot advancement/surprise revealing to do.
The music, while featuring a few recycled/redone tunes, is just as great the second time as it was the first. The depth and feel of it only complements the film. The costumes, set designs and makeup also continue to be well done. Their authenticity adds greatly to the film.
And even with their unevenness, the special effects dazzle. Davey Jones and his crew look absolutely phenomenal. Watch them in battle scenes and they look just as awestriking, if not more so, than the skeleton pirates in the original film. A particular standout for me was watching Davey Jones play the piano with all of his tentacles. It looks so realistic, and is done so well that it looks absolutely flawless on screen. However, the Kraken (a giant octopus that can be summoned at will) just does not look anywhere near as good. His tentacles, as they come around on the various ships, look fairly well done, but look weak when they attack any member of the cast. And when they do show anything more than just his tentacles, the effects look totally off, and feel inadequate in comparison to the great effects used for Jones and Co.
In the end, the film really is a mixed bag. It does have many inconsistencies and a lack of completion, but it is watchable. The original film is obviously better, but at least this does not feel totally rushed and ill-managed. I can only hope that they fix up the loose ends in the screenplay, clean up the effects and get a better editor for the next round though. Otherwise, this really is going to be a one-trick pony of a franchise.
6/10.