Dead Man's Chest : Still not great.

Right, with the release of the fourth installment of the Pirates of Caribbean franchise hitting cinemas (at extravagant cost looking at the reports) and having noticed I could get hold of parts two and three for a reasonable amount of pennies I have rather rashly revisit them.

Now, as some my recall I've not been particular enthusiastic about of these two film, like much of the world, but since I've not seen either of them in their entirety since the cinema I'd thought it would be worth reassessing them.

Just to clarify I do think Curse of the Black Pearl is a top notch fantasy comedy action adventure that did a fine job of not taking itself too seriously.




First up is Dead Man's Chest (I've not yet caught up with At World's End since it's about eight year long) which was promised as the "Empire Strikes Back" of the trilogy. The dark middle chapter where the good guys don't win. Well that's true in some respects but truly it's only the opening minute or so that really holds to the idea of a darker tone.

After that it's more of the same as the first film with action set pieces separated by comic beats, romantic beats and Johnny Depp being paid a lot of money to lark around. Which would be fine but for the fact that the sense of fun seems to have gone.

An overly portentous plot regarding Elizabeth and Will trying to save their own lives whilst Jack tries to evade having his soul taken by Davy Jones with the East India Company being evil in the background bogs things down and is not helped by the fantastical elements heaped upon it.

For the crucial failing of the story is the fact that Jack, who was basically the comedy relief of the first effort, is here put front and center only to them spend most of the running time double crossing most of the other major characters to save his own skin.

He does over everyone and yet they all decide to try and save him at the end. Hmm. Yes, Jack still has a few nice comedic moments but personally in this film I find it hard to buy him as the roguish chancer who is good at heart. He's much more the slimy operator out to benefit no-one but himself.

The strained effort to create a love triangle between the three leads is strained and unneeded as well.

Anyway, it is the lighter moments that film works be those the fleeting one-liners (the best often from Kevin McNally's Mister Gibbs), the skewing of film tropes (there is at least one quite sly sequence riffing on clunky exposition) and the standout set piece of Will, Jack and Norrington's three way duel that ends up on the water wheel. The set piece with a sense of fun. And one of the few bits of the film imaginatively staged.

Elsewhere the film feels as little overdone (Tortuga is too self consciously pirate town, the Voodoo lady could be straight out of Monkey Island) especially in the design and execution of Davy Jones and his crew. The conceit is nice one but is overdone in an orgy of CGI and misplaced gothic design as the film tries too hard to recreate the ghostly crew of the first film. It's hard to really emphasis and take the plight of Bill Turner seriously when half his face is a starfish.

Though I admit the kraken is a largely successful inclusion and makes for a solid monster to be feared and it's attack on the Pearl is a decent sequence, which makes it the stranger that it is inexplicably cast aside in the next installment.

Anyway I think it's safe to say my judgement of the film hasn't really changed. It made chuckle once or twice, I still think making Jack the star was a mistake and I frequently found my attention wandering during the run time (it can easily be at least twenty minutes shorter).

So, basically, it's on the a little bit rubbish side of alright. I'm not really looking forward to watching At World's End, but who knows I've not seen any of that since watching it the first time. Though at the time I thought it was terrible.