A decent action/adventure film that has a secret weapon

Rating: 6/10 (19 October 2003)

I have never been to Disneyworld or Disneyland so going into this film I had no idea what this movie based on an amusement ride was going to be about except for the fact that it was going to have pirates in it. And lots of them. After seeing this film, I still have no idea what the correlations between the ride and the movie are, but I did come to one solid conclusion: Johnny Depp is an unbelievable actor.
Without Depp in the role of Jack Sparrow, this film probably would have still done very well. It's a fun, reasonably well-done swashbuckling film that has a `cute' lead actor (Orlando Bloom), a `cute' lead actress (Keira Knightly) and Geoffrey Rush, a very good actor (who has unfortunately made some, shall we say, `interesting' career choices in the last few years) as the main villain. Plus we have a lot of sword fighting, perilous moments and an undead monkey  all elements that will bring the kids in droves to the multiplex. Myself, I had no interest in seeing it really  mainly because I figured I would either A) embarrass myself by laughing at the pirate-speak, which never fails to set me off, or B) engage in said pirate-speak myself, thereby embarrassing both myself and whoever was unlucky enough to drag me to see the film in the first place.

I could not ignore the buzz surrounding Johnny Depp's performance however, which ultimately is what got me into the theater in the first place. He is *so* incredible as Jack Sparrow that even a subtle facial expression or use of body language was enough to make me laugh out loud. I have long respected his career since he eschewed the mainstream `hunk' roles that he seemed to be genetically predisposed to doing after his stint on 21 Jump Street in favor of more avant garde fare, but this particular performance solidified my opinion that he is one of the best actors we have in the industry right now. I remember hearing that he had taken this role last year and was disappointed that he seemed to be jumping from his independent/obscure film repertoire in favor of commercialism, but his inspired performance will without a doubt get me into the theater to see the sequel(s).
In terms of the direction, I had absolutely no problem with Gore Verbinski's approach. I found it to be atmospheric and evenly paced, and the special effects were impressive as well. Conclusively, a good movie  with Johnny Depp, a great movie.
--Shelly