This week’s PACE movie, the second of three and what some believe to be even four “Pirates” movies, “Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest” was a success. The movie itself, a two and a half hour epic, did drag at some parts, but mainly was your typical swash-buckling adventure.
The original cast in its entirety returned from the first movie for “Dead Man’s Chest,” helping with consistency in characters and plot. The movie did not seem to flow as well as the first; the plot jumped through several smaller plots abruptly and transitions seemed almost nonexistent.
Another disappointment was how little Jack Sparrow appeared in the film itself. So much of the movie revolved around Davy Jones, the particularly creepy captain/squid of The Flying Dutchmen, his literal hell on earth for sailors who have opted to give 100 years of service to him instead of death. His story seems to take over the movie and it becomes about him, not about Sparrow.
The other main plot focuses on the takeover of Port Royal by the East India Trading Company. Taking over Port Royal and sentencing Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan to death by hanging for helping Jack Sparrow escape is Lord Becket, who wants Jack’s compass and will exchange their lives for it.
Somewhere in the mix is Jack Sparrow and his quest to find the heart of Davy Jones to be able to bargain for his soul, whom he promised to Davy Jones in return for Jones raising The Black Pearl from the depths.
All in all the story is quite long, the characters have changed and the ending is frustrating. Keira Knightley has morphed from a swash-buckling kick butt heroine into a “Desperate Housewife”-type character who complained constantly. Unlike the end of the first movie, where it leads it wide open for a sequel but it would be perfectly ok if there wasn’t, one will never be able to sit down and just watch the second “Pirates.” The story is left unfinished and the third movie is necessary to finish the plot, an infuriating feature of this movie. Make sure you half.com this one – it’s not worth paying full price for.