Review 266: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
By Dead Man's Chest, it's clearly evident that the people behind this trilogy are influenced by the original Star Wars Trilogy, the first film, The Curse of the Black Pearl is the establishing film that can stand on its own in case no sequels are made, the third on is the grand finale where everything is wrapped up in a nice tidy bundle which makes Dead Man's Chest the darker middle chapter which ends with a bit of a downer with the heroes defeated.
Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) of the East India Trading Company arrests Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) for aiding Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in the previous film. Beckett offers clemency if Will agrees to search for Jack's compass in a bid to find the Dead Man's Chest – and inside, the heart of villainous Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) – which would give Beckett control of the seas. However, Jack wants the Chest to escape from an unpaid debt with Jones, who raised the Black Pearl from the seabed (after it was sunk by Beckett) and made Jack captain for 13 years in exchange for 100 years of service aboard Jones' ship.
The plot is (in typical sequel fashion) considerably darker than the first film, not just dark in terms of tone but darker in terms of plot,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is essentially three converging storylines: The A story is Jack trying to find the titular chest so he can freed from Davy Jones debt. The B story is Will trying to find Jack so he can get his compass for Lord Beckett. The C story see Elizabeth breaking out of prison to find Will and to also find the compass. Eventually all three of these storylines collide
The film does, however, suffer from some severe pacing issues, Will's search for Jack leads him to finding him on a island being worshiped by Cannibals as their God/Idol (don't ask me why) the only problem is they want to kill and eat him because that's how they role. They spend sooooo much time in this location and on this gag it gets overlong and protracted. Not counting cuts to other storylines, it goes on for 16 solid mins and it kills the pacing and detracts from the overall plot. At least the escape is spectacular and features some pretty outrageous stunt work.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is essentially three converging storylines: The A story is Jack trying to find the titular chest so he can freed from Davy Jones debt. The B story is Will trying to find Jack so he can get his compass for Lord Beckett. The C story see Elizabeth breaking out of prison to find Will and to also find the compass. Eventually all three of these storylines collide
The film does, however, suffer from some severe pacing issues, Will's search for Jack leads him to finding him on a island being worshiped by Cannibals as their God/Idol (don't ask me why) the only problem is they want to kill and eat him because that's how they role. They spend sooooo much time in this location and on this gag it gets overlong and protracted. Not counting cuts to other storylines, it goes on for 16 solid mins and it kills the pacing and detracts from the overall plot. At least the escape is spectacular and features some pretty outrageous stunt work.
That being said, this is every bit the swashbuckling adventure the first film was, it's just way more over-the-top and has a darker, more complex plot.
Returning director Gore Verbinski's direction is the cinematography is beautiful and once again captures the beauty & exoticness of the Caribbean setting & locations, the production design is outstanding, the costumes are fabulous, the stunts are outstanding and creative, the action scenes are spectacular, the score by Hans Zimmer is rousing and thematic, the make up is rich and beautifully detailed, the locations are gorgeous, the scenery is breathtaking, the props are superb and the ending was rather unexpected.
An extremely welcome addition to this planned trilogy is Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett, chairman of the East India Trading company. Devious, ruthless, manipulative, sarcastic and perfidious, he arrives at Port Royal with arrests warrants for the trio but it soon becomes clear that he deeper ulterior motives in how he makes a deal with Will to find Jack for Becket to employ as a privateer and bring him Jack's compass for his own personal use/nefarious purposes.
Returning director Gore Verbinski's direction is the cinematography is beautiful and once again captures the beauty & exoticness of the Caribbean setting & locations, the production design is outstanding, the costumes are fabulous, the stunts are outstanding and creative, the action scenes are spectacular, the score by Hans Zimmer is rousing and thematic, the make up is rich and beautifully detailed, the locations are gorgeous, the scenery is breathtaking, the props are superb and the ending was rather unexpected.
An extremely welcome addition to this planned trilogy is Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett, chairman of the East India Trading company. Devious, ruthless, manipulative, sarcastic and perfidious, he arrives at Port Royal with arrests warrants for the trio but it soon becomes clear that he deeper ulterior motives in how he makes a deal with Will to find Jack for Becket to employ as a privateer and bring him Jack's compass for his own personal use/nefarious purposes.
As Davy Jones, Bill Nighy is practically unrecognisable thanks to a combination of brilliantly detailed CGI make-up and putting on a very thick Scottish accent which was pretty cool. Cruel, malevolent, sadistic
3.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
3.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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