memorable Johnny Depp

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2015)

Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce), his daughter Elizabeth and Lieutenant James Norrington (Jack Davenport) rescue boy Will Turner from a burning wreck on their way to Port Royal. Elizabeth hides Will's gold pirate medallion. Eight years later, Governor Swann is trying to set up Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) with the fast rising Norrington but she is still taken with Will (Orlando Bloom), now a swordsmith. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) rescues Elizabeth from the water but he is set to hang for being a pirate. He escapes but Will helps catch him. Meanwhile the gold pirate medallion has called in Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) on the haunted Black Pearl to attack the port. Barbossa kidnaps Elizabeth with the medallion. Will frees Sparrow to pursue her.
The movie is bombastic, chaotic and messy. It's great to have Knightley and Bloom but it is Johnny Depp who steals the film. It is such a crazy performance that it is bigger than everything else. Without it, this movie would be a messy muddled thing. With it, this is a wonderful brilliant exuberant fun mess. In a film overstuffed with CGI, big sets and wild characters, Depp has a neon sign flashing over him in one of the most original performance ever in movie history.