"Great In Doses...But The Film Accomplishes Nothing"

Rating: 7/10 (8 July 2006)

Captain Jack Sparrow owes an unpaid debt to Davy Jones and his underwater sea creatures. The deal was that he would be captain of the black pearl for 13 years, in return for his soul. Time's up for Jack and he must pay up.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is the much anticipated sequel to POC: Curse of the Black Pearl. With every sequel, one must be able to up the ante. People expect more action, more adventure, more danger, and more love challenged between the characters. At first glance it would seem that Dead Man's Chest would deliver all of this and more. Unfortunately, it suffers from many things and relies on too much in order to get the audience to go along with the ride. When compared to the original, and you always compare the sequel to the original, Dead Man's Chest doesn't match up. The film is good, it was quite good and it will most definitely entertain, but the film doesn't seem to accomplish all too much.
Dead Man's Chest and it's soon to be released sequel At World's End (what a goofy title) takes a note from the Matrix trilogy. Both movies were filmed at the same time and will most likely start off directly where the other left off. The ending to DMC does in fact set up everything in the third. Much like reloaded though, no matter how good this film is, it won't be able to touch the original. My main complaint is that the characters accomplish nothing. DMC is a much darker film then Pearl, at the end the characters are basically left with nothing which is suppose to make us want to see the next installment even more to see how they get out of such predicaments, specifically speaking, Jack Sparrow's current situation. But like I said before, the characters accomplish nothing. At the beginning of the film, Will and Elizabeth are suppose to get married, they don't, They are suppose to get the Dead Man's Chest, they don't. Will is suppose to free his father, he doesn't. Jack is suppose to the souls, he doesn't. DMC is just one long set up for the third film, which makes me beg the question. Did this story really need to be split up into two films? There was so much that they could have cut out in order to condense the two film into one. But alas, we live in a greedy world.
Depp, does very well with Sparrow, as is expected. Although, Sparrow seemed to come off as too feminine in this film, I don't know if this was just me but that's what I got from Depp's performance. From the way he would run to the way he would try and grab the key off the Commodore. This doesn't hurt the film all too much, but it can be distracting. Bloom, he seemed to annoy me in this film. As he does in every other film he is in, save for LOTR. Not necessarily his performance, but his voice. The way he tries to seem commanding but comes off as a pretty boy. Keira Knightley was alright here, she doesn't do all that much and there is no real chemistry here between her or Bloom. Or even character development for that matter. Hats off to Nighy, he did a superb job replacing Rush as the main villain. The special effects of his character were very well done and you can see how they modeled this character after him with every expression that he makes. His "sea phantoms" are another great treat for the eyes. These guys make the skeletons in the original look like nothing. I really enjoyed seeing the ship burst out from underneath the water surface. Skarsgård was another treat, for the very little screen time that he had, he did a mighty fine job. But what was with the voodoo chick? I did not understand half of what she said.
The special effects are great and are perfect for the "summer blockbuster adventure" film. From the giant sea creature to the sea phantoms, everything is top notch. I spotted one or two off beat parts but that's mainly due to the crazy factor of what was on the screen. Seeing the creature destroy the ships was great. But that's the only real adventure action type sequences we get. Other then a long and drawn out sword fight on a giant wheel, that was cool at first, but once it kept rolling, the cool factor was rolling away with it. The sword fights do not match the original in any way, but that's not supposed to be the highlight, it's the huge sea creature destroying everything in its path.
The comedy did seem forced in some parts. You could tell that they were going for the funny in some scenes but it doesn't always work. Sparrow is basically one joke after the other, or one funny look after the other. There are funny parts in the film, but it just tried to capture the same spirit as the original, but it doesn't. The score is great and has that "adventurous" feel to it, even if it is played once too many. But when you have a great score like that, or Superman, you're suppose to play it every chance you get.
In the end, Dead Man's Chest is a good summer action adventure film. It does deliver on the action, the comedy (in parts), the excitement, the special effect and the enjoyment. Although, you may find yourself wondering what more they could have done, why the film is so long with so many things that do not even need to be in here. As well as with the final scene, you may have some questions that you can only pray for get answered in the finalhopefully final installment.