In the summer of 2003, Disney released a movie based on a ride at their theme parks. It was arrived with almost no hype, and that is why “Pirates of the
This time around Jack Sparrow…sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) gets a visit from octopus-faced Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and his crew. Davy Jones raised The Black Pearl, Jack's ship, from the bottom of the ocean. Jack’s payment was to serve 100 years on Davy’s crew. Now he must find a way out of the debt and the only way out is to find the chest of Davy Jones or the Dead Man’s Chest. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) are set to be married when their past catches up with them. For their part in helping Jack to escape, they are arrested and sentenced to be hung. Their only way out is to find Jack and get his compass for Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander.)
The big reason many people, including yours truly, loved the first one was Johnny Depp’s performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Disney was hesitant at first to have Jack be played in the way Depp did, but looks like it paid off. Jack is back in full force in this movie, complete with the abnormalities that made him famous. He lies his way through most of the situations he gets into, uses others for his own benefit and makes wisecracks in even the most grave of positions. As we all know by now, Depp based Jack on Rolling Stones member Keith Richards (who will be making an appearance in the third film.) He may be based on another, but Capt. Jack Sparrow has taken on a life of his own. He makes both movies what they are. Sure the other actors are good and do a great job of making these characters interesting, but it is Jack who adds that little extra to the movies. That is a credit to Depp (who before this had never done a sequel.) He has made his career by playing different characters. He doesn’t just act, he becomes Jack Sparrow and that makes the character what he is.
Visually this was an incredible movie. One of the most amazing visual effects in the movie was Davy Jones. The actor Bill Nighy had no make up on, it was all added digitally. He wore motion sensor balls on his face so that the tentacles could be added later. The other members of the crew, who all have changed into human/sea creatures were really well done and looked awesome on the big screen.
My only problem with the movie is they tried too hard. There were a lot of moments in the first one that made it special and the surprise hit that it was. In this one, it seemed that they tried a little to hard too replicate the first. There are those same moments in this one that made the first unique, but there are a lot put in for just that reason. It was as if they decided to cram as much odd Jack into the movie as they could. One of the things that I liked about Jack was that there are times where he was torn between what is right and what he wants. There are times where we see his conscience in this one, but there could have been more. There were times where he seemed to just betray people without a second thought. He is not as torn as he was in the first.
Lots of people I know were mad at how it ended. That is because technically it didn’t end. The third; “Pirates of the
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of adventure violence, including frightening images.
Runtime: 150 min
8 out of 10
