Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest (2006, PG-13)

The second part of the Pirates of the Caribbean series and the first part in a back-to-back sequel story arc, Dead Man’s Chest may have the piraty feel to like before but it also feels dry and actually uneventful in several places.  It's all stretched out to an unbearable 150 minutes, and it takes over an hour alone until the story comes into full swing.

            Johnny Depp, who has gone on to become a very gifted and talented actor, is once again Captain Jack Sparrow.  This time, he’s received the black spot from Davy Jones, who has sent his Kraken on a hunt for him.  This time though, the real villains are the East India Trading Company, led by Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), who gets Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and his now fiancé Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) caught up in this big mess.

            At about 2 ½ hours even, Dead Man’s Chest lacks a lot of the humor and the wit that was present in the Curse of the Black Pearl, which was an enjoyable and fun ride.  If you want my opinion, I don’t think that they should have made this film, but they did it anyway to gross a lot of money.  That was probably a wise move on the film producer's part, considering the fact that Dead Man's Chest has grossed over 1 billion dollars and is one of the highest grossing movies of all time. 

            Jerry Bruckheimer produces this pirate adventure, just as he did previously.  However, Depp is still as good as ever, displaying his usual talent, but he’s sadly the only highlight of this film that I can think of. 

            The overall tone of Dead Man’s Chest is also somewhat depressing.  One of the villains, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) had lost his one true love, Calypso, and has now been transformed into a guy with a tentacle beard, crab leg, crab hand and a squid tentacle for his other hand, who spends his days ferrying souls to the underworld.  His vessel, the Flying Dutchman, is always dark and gross, sucking away all the fun from before.  I could go on to name other things concerning this matter, though I hate to release spoilers.

            Dead Man’s Chest feels too much as a build up to the even worse at World’s End, but the main fact is it was a disappointing though determined popcorn adventure.  I’ll still give Depp a gold star.  But can he alone save the movie?  Unfortunately, no.

                                                                   **/5