Johnny Depp's sassy pirate wit, as Captain Jack Sparrow, is still sharp as a swashbuckler sword, but the "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" could have used some cutting down.
Plenty of pirates get sliced up, but director Gore Verbinski had trouble chopping down the length of the scenes.
Everything jumps out from the big screen as visually stunning. Although, the marvelous use of computer-generated images, costumes and engaging sword fights lose their mystic after they're continually drawn out.
The movie runs for 2-1/2 hours, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but many of the scenes drag. If the plot line was so intricately constructed that it needed some extra time to develop itself, then length wouldn't be such an issue, except for the fact that the film purely sets up the third film in the series.
Even Captain Sparrow's sparkly personality can't save an excessively long film with no resolution.
Walt Disney Studios was in a position to make a ton of money and that's all they did, rather than creating a tight, brilliant film. Instead, the new "Pirates" film wanders in and out of a cohesive story line, while most of the characters are pretty emotionally flat, besides Captain Sparrow.
Orlando Bloom, as well as he works as eye candy for teenage girls, plays a terribly boring Will Turner. His character is as round as a ruler and he's a pure goody-goody.
Using the same emotional depth as James Marsden in his portrayal of Cyclops/Scott Summers, Bloom is painfully dull. It's just not interesting to watch a stock character — Mr. Always Do Good — that is really corny, with very little chance of every muttering anything slightly insightful, humorous or edgy.
The role of Elizabeth Swann, played by Keira Knightley, translates into a slightly more interesting role than the Turner character because Swann takes on many different personas to get her way. She's a polite, proper lady, she's a seductive temptress and she's a tomboy sword fighter.
The film is still entertaining because two of the coolest things on the planet have been combined: Depp and pirates.
It just stinks that Disney used this film to make a mockery of the mass film-going community. Disney proved that people, in great numbers, will pay to watch a film without a highly original plot, pretty much stock characters, zero resolve and excessive scene length.
And the next film will make just as much money, if not more, because nothing was really established in this one. People can die, but it really doesn't mean anything because they can always come back to life — just like in the comic book films.
The film validates the theory that there aren't that many quality family films these days. Because in all actuality, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, don't have anything over "Swiss Family Robinson," except for better special effects and Depp.
What Verbinski should have done is cut out all the scenes that didn't directly involve Captain Sparrow because everything else is just cinematic fluff. Without Depp, this film would really suck, so why not focus in on the best part.
The next film will be great if the characters around Captain Sparrow stop acting like stock, bore-fests and Depp is in every scene.
