Great fun.

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2006)

Yet another sequel! Capn' Jack returns for another adventure, and this time the scale is ginormous! If you thought Pirates 1 was action packed, and spectacular, this film goes far beyond with massive sets, brilliant effects, and a massive 2 and a half hour running time, that will have you leaving the theatre feeling like you've spent a year in the harshest prison, wearing a ballerina's outfit, with a bull's-eye painted on your rear. Now the scale is huge, and there's all the lavish extravagance that Bruckheimer loves to give his punters, but the story lacks some cohesion, and it's all a bit too much, without much in the way of character depth. That could be an unfair nitpicking for a film entitled Pirates of the Caribbean sure, but the film is little more than a rollicking and fun night out at the cinema. It's not going to adorn top 100 lists of film buffs around the world that's for sure.
However this is the second in a series of films that should be predominantly about fun, spectacle, and pure entertainment. In this regard Pirates 2 more than delivers, while maybe lacking the ingenuity and surprise factor of the first movie which, mainly thanks to Johnny Depp, took the public by storm. Depp once again is superb, despite giving one of his least interesting performances, as of course this is the first time ever, he's reprised a role, and Depp of course is renowned for doing startlingly different roles from one film to the next. It actually seems incredibly strange to see Depp treading old ground, still his creation of Jack Sparrow is superb. Orlando Bloom again is in the film for little more than to play the straight man to Depp, and to look good for the ladies. It's not a great role for Bloom, who as yet hasn't proved just whether he's going to be a top actor or not, or merely a pretty boy. To some extent the same is true of Keira Knightly, who come mud, sweat, grime, or rain, or dragged up as a boy, looks phenomenal. However while this role offers little for Keira she has already proved she's going to be a great actress (one Oscar nod to her name already!). On one regard though Bloom and Knightley at least have more to do in this film, and Depp is allowed to step back every now and again. This isn't merely the Depp show, which is arguably to the films detriment. The rest of the cast are good, but it's Bill Nighy who steals the show managing to convey an amazingly expressive performance from behind his squiddy CGI mask.
All in all Pirates 2 delivers all you could want in a fantasy adventure. The story gets muddle in amongst all the swordfights and giant sea creatures, but still for pure fun at the movies, you can't go far with this. I most certainly look forward to Pirates 3. ***1/2