Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Jul 10th, 2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is the sequel to the surprise hit Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It is the middle film in a trilogy, and due to this, the film acts as the typical “middle film”, introducing the plot points, yet ending on a cliffhanger, and leaving many unanswered questions to be covered in the third film. As an introduction to the third film, it works well as it generates excitement and leaves you wanting more. However, as a film by itself, it does not work as well because the unanswered questions and cliffhanger frustrate and does not make for a satisfying ending.
The film’s story is sometimes difficult to follow, but it begins with the arrests of Will and Elizabeth by the newly crowned Lord Beckett, on the charge of aiding the escape of a pirate (Jack Sparrow). Will is told to obtain Jack’s compass in the exchange of their freedom. Of course, like in all situations, this is much easier said than done, as Will is led to a cannibal island, where Jack is worshipped as a God. Will and the crew must rescue Jack from an untimely death by roasting before carrying on to bigger (and better) things.
The scenes on the cannibal island are generally unimpressive and a bit overlong. A good ten or fifteen minutes could have been cut without affecting the story. There are a few laughs, but for the most part, the scenes on the island are just a bit of filler.
Once they’ve left the cannibal island, the main story starts. Jack owes a debt to Davy Jones, and if he does not collect one hundred souls, he will be forced to work on his ship for all eternity. Jack is told that Davy Jones locked his own heart in a chest, so if he obtains this heart, he will have control over Davy Jones. Much of the film is centered around finding this heart, as it is the key to Jack’s salvation.
There are many new characters introduced in the film. One is the villain, Davy Jones, played very well by Bill Nighy. While he is not as good as Barbossa in the first film, (not that one would expect him to be, Barbossa is a tough villain to top), he is still creepy, and works well as the villain. He was created using motion capture, very much like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. The CGI looks great, and him and his crew all look fantastic.
Another one of the new characters is Bootstrap Bill, portrayed by Stellan Skarsgard. Skarsgard does a truly wonderful job in this role, he gets the audience to sympathize with Bootstrap, and he really is a likeable character. He was not in the film for a particularly long time, but the scenes he were in were among the best in the film.
The returning characters were good, for the most part. Elizabeth was a bit on the annoying side, and Bloom’s portrayal of Will was still a bit wooden (although a vast improvement from CotBP), but Depp was still magnificent. The crew members, both from the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl were all great. The inclusion of Pintel and Ragetti as “new” crewmembers of the Black Pearl was really great, as they were the source of much comic relief, as they were in the original.
While it was a bit overlong, and some of the film was a bit of a rehash of the original (mostly the jokes, some of them were a little hit or miss), the film is still great summer entertainment. It is definitely one to see on the big screen, because the special effects would lose something when watched on a television screen. As long as you don’t take it too seriously, Dead Man’s Chest is a lot of fun, and leaves you wanting more.
8/10
Thanks for the write-up, Jenni! Another returning character worth noting was Norrington. I’m looking forward to finding out where they go with him. Right now he’s dark, but I hope he regains the promise we got a glimmer of in “Curse of the Black Pearl.”
You’re right about Bootstrap. I was very surprised to find the starfish on his face almost endearing by the end of the movie.
Very good review, Jenni. I found myself nodding my head in agreement the whole time while I was reading it. Except I disagree about Pintel and Ragetti, I didn’t think they were that funny. It’s a great way to set up the third movie, but I hope they’ll include enough Jack in it because the way it is set up now, he’ll probably be missing in action for at least the first half of it.
I hope they include enough Jack as well. That’s something I’m also worrying about, because he’s easily the best character, and I doubt Bloom and Knightly will be able to carry the majority of the movie themselves. I hope they show him in the afterlife or wherever before they’re able to properly revive him, because reviving him probably won’t be something that can happen in the first ten minutes.
And Robin, I’m hoping Norrington doesn’t turn into a villain, but he’s sided now with Beckett, and it isn’t looking too good for him. I was so hoping he’d turn completely pirate but I don’t think we’re going to get that.
Thanks for commenting guys.
Keira Knightly was mostly annoying whenever she had to act “girly”, but she was very effective during her action bits. When she, Pintell and Ragetti had their swordfight with Davey Jones’ crew on the island, I thought it was very well choreographed the way the kept passing the two swords around. On Davey Jones’ crew, I had a hard time telling them apart. with the exception of the Hammerhead guy and the Hermit Crab guy, they all seemed to blend into one seaweed green CGI mass. As a result, they lacked personality. Nevertheless I’m incredibly psyched for part 3. Bring on Singapore and Chow Yun Fat’s Chinese pirate King! But before that, I’ll definitely watch Dead Man’s Chest again.
I’m looking forward to Chow Yun Fat in the next one as well. And Elizabeth’s little bitch fit was really annoying. It was almost as if she didn’t know what she wanted. Sometimes she was a pirate, other times she was girly and didn’t want them to be fighting.
I think with Davy Jone’s crew, you weren’t really supposed to tell them apart, besides those two guys, Davy Jones himself and Bootstrap. The others were just…there I think.
In that case, it’s a wasted opportunity. Apart from Pintell and Ragetti, Barbossa’s crew was bland as well, but they managed to be bland without the excessive CGI.
Hey, high budget summer movie, they’re going to spend as much money as they can, eh? And it isn’t like they’re not going to be getting it back.
Although it would be nice if they all looked different, but that’d probably take a while to do.
Nice review Jenni, I didn’t like it quite as much as you did (although my kids loved it), but I definitely felt I at least got my money’s worth. The over-the-top action scenes (like the wheel) were loads of fun. Also, I loved Bill Nighy’s performance as the squid dude.
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