Pretty much the same as the first...

Rating: 6/10 (2 August 2006)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest The Oxford English Dictionary defines amnesia as "A severe loss of memory characterised by the inability to recall whole blocks of time" and after watching this film I felt as if I was suffering from this condition, as I could recall very little of what I had just seen. I know that I enjoyed the film because I felt happy afterwards and was strangely compelled to shout "Yarr!" rather like "Dodgeball"'s Steve the Pirate but I can only remember certain scenes from it. I think the reason for this bizarre affliction (bizarre because I have no trouble recalling most films) is that the lack of a cohesive narrative in "Dead Man's Chest" to bind together the admittedly mouth watering eye-candy on display.
Let me just demonstrate how confusing, or rather confused, things are: Set a few years after the first film, C18th Capitalist juggernaut The East India Trading Company has issued death warrants for the arrest of Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Jack Sparrow following their escape stunt in the first film and commandeers Port Royal. It's chief Lord Beckett is an unscrupulous arse who offers to amnesty Will and Elizabeth in exchange for Jack Sparrow's compass which points to the eponymous "Dead Man's Chest" a quasi-mythical box containing the heart of Hibernian Squid-demon Davy Jones (the nefarious captain of ghost ship "The Flying Dutchman", not the lead singer of "The Monkees"). With this heart Davy Jones, and more importantly his beastie, the kraken, would be under Beckett's command, but Jack Sparrow also wants the heart so that he can erase a debt of his soul, which he owes Jones. Elizabeth is in prison and so Will sets out to find Jack but he gets forced into joining Jones' cursed in order to get his hands on the chest's key, aided by his undead father Bootstrap Bill. Meanwhile Elizabeth escapes and sets out to find Will, disguising herself as a boy aboard the ship of that-bloke-from-Taggart-who-isn't-Taggart and heading for Tortuga. There she catches up with Captain Jack and they are confronted by James Norrington, now disgraced and vengeance obsessed, who joins Jack's crew with mutiny on his mind That's only about half the plot but I imagine by now you're reaching for Tolstoy for something simpler. A further problem arises in that the film doesn't only try to tell this story, but is also full of redundant scenes that stretch the things out to a ridiculous 2 ½ hour length. Case in point: the 20 minute cannibal island sequence which is only present as comic relief to younger viewers and has NOTHING to do with the narrative whatsoever. This is not to say however, that the film doesn't have any good points because it does, but the similarity between the curse plot line of this and the first film is a little too similar. That said, it is tonally darker than the first film, with the emphasis being more on death than life and the rain drenched opening contrasts starkly with the sunny idyllic Port Royal of "Black Pearl".
The problem is that this being a kids' movie we don't see as much as the more sinister locations as we'd like to. For example just before Jack is reintroduced (probably the best character entrance ever) we are shown the outside of a hellish Bastille style prison fort with crows pecking the eyes out of men in gibbets, yet just as our interest is aroused we are shown no more. The same is true of Davy Jones' magnificent CGI "Flying Dutchman" which is pretty seldom glimpsed. Having said that, the film is visually stunning in almost every respect, the production design creating a relatively convincing portrait of 1700s dress, locations and architecture.
There are also some highly impressive action sequences within the film, notably an epic and very lengthy swordfight between Jack, Will and Norrington, that could have made Errol Flynn jealous and an extremely suspenseful onslaught on the Black Pearl by the kraken as well as a great sequence in which almost all the characters are involved in a mass scramble for the chest with Davy's troops.
The acting is also largely excellent. Johnny Depp once again greatly impresses as rockstar pirate Captain Jack while Bill Nighy is magnificently sinister as the squid like demon Davy Jones. Keira Knightley is also great as tomboyish Elizabeth and I defy any man not to fall in love with her. Orlando Bloom is still as wooden as the Black Pearl but at least his character has been allowed to take on some complexity as he accepts his role in bigger events. The actor who really steals the film though is Jack Davenport as ex-commodore Norrington, a character that has undergone a startling metamorphosis from Nelson-like man of honour to self-loathing devil-may-care bounty hunter. While in the first film he was by the book and uptight, he is now a vengeful drunk who will (and does) stop at nothing to regain his former glory and as such is probably the most well rounded character in the film.
In conclusion, the film is too much like its predecessor, without the originality or tight plotting needed to keep it afloat (no pun intended) but its entertaining while it lasts and the cliff-hanger ending will guarantee you'll be going back next summer for part 3.
3.5/5