Hard Of Hearing

Rating: 5/10 (11 February 2004)

Johnny Depp's withering pirate parody is probably the only reason to watch this swashbuckler update, but he's been better elsewhere and his performance is typical of the film's major problem, namely the slurred, mumbling accents that most of the cast has adopted. It makes for difficult viewing: the needlessly complicated plot is hampered by an inability to understand much of what is going on (although the basic outline is elemental to anyone who's ever seen a film of the genre); you have to strain to hear explanations for the more mystical aspects of the story. It's a very generic piece of work; the director, Gore Verbinski, doesn't seem to have the ability to create any real tension or action sequences that arouse much excitement and consistently allows the set pieces to be interrupted by long stretches of exposition (thanks to a wordy script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio that could have used a few decent jokes). Verbinski chooses to keep the focus on Depp and while Depp is always welcome whenever he's onscreen, he has trouble connecting with the rest of the cast, which, though it includes the incredibly hammy Geoffrey Rush, has nowhere near the acting bravura he has. The remainder of the cast includes Orlando Bloom (who fails to impress after `The Lord Of The Rings'), Jonathan Pryce and Keira Knightley.