Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
Dir: Gore Verbinski
2006 Cert: 12A
150mins
Having taken record returns at the US box office in its opening weekend, Gore Verbinski’s sequel to the first blockbuster is a bum-numbingly long film which, at times, makes you want to walk the plank yourself. Pirates 2 promises a thrilling high-sea swashbuckler good enough to live up to the enchanting ride at Disneyland which charmed us as kids. |
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But, seeing this film makes you realize that the ride wasn’t that much fun, the pirates were obviously robots and the water was probably really dirty. Equally, the only credits to this film are Depp’s acting and the incredible CGI effects. The rest of it makes your box of popcorn look as interesting as a pirate’s chest.
This time round we see Captain Jack Sparrow running into trouble with the fearsome legend of Davy Jones. Damned to spend an eternity serving the tentacle-faced pirate aboard the Flying Dutchman, Jack has to find a way to erase his blood debt and manages to embroil old friends Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Knightly) in his misadventure - effectively ruining their wedding plans. What’s more, multinational tycoon Cutler Becket (Tom Hollander) wants to rid the Caribbean sea of Jack Sparrow and other nuisance pirates to further his economic evils. Then the film gets more complicated as storylines tangle in a sailor’s knot of convoluted plotting. There are waves of tension and resolution rather than the coherent build up to a climax. The film is overflowing with pirate clichés, sporadic intervals of swordplay and even Jack’s double crossings make you forget what the initial story was all about. Pirates 2 delivers two and a half hours of multi-stranded plot and I don’t know how half of the many pre-teens in the cinema got any of it.
The film is thrown a life buoy in the form of Depp’s performance. Like the first film, he provides a magically amiable antihero for us to love. Unlike the first, Captain Jack Sparrow possesses a fairy-like camp quality when he prances all over the place. Depp’s irreverence is still irresistibly watchable and he does dominate whenever he’s in the frame, proving that it is indeed a pirate’s life for he.
The compromising consequences of Jack Sparrow’s antics are probably the most memorable scenes of the film; from being tied up as a human fruit kebab to running in a giant guinea pig wheel (don’t ask), these moments rebalance later instances of dry humour in the film which are hard to swallow. Familiar stock pirates played by Mackenzie Crook and Lee Arenberg also provide the film with some genuine comic relief. On the other hand, Orlando Bloom feels like an adolescent teen feigning the role of the archetypal hero. Keira Knightly demonstrates bouts of good acting ability but her performance is diluted by an overeager attempt to be as funny as Depp.
The film was aesthetically very impressive. The CGI effects were spectacular, awe-inspiring and made the piratey theme even darker, which is nice to see from a Disney film. For this reason, Pirates 2 is a lot more frightening than the first installment and actually does ‘shiver ye timbers’ – it is kind of like seeing Mickey Mouse with fangs. Davy Jones’ particularly repulsive crew of undead monster pirates accomplishes this effect, but after a while you’ll find it is fun to make out what kind of barnacles and marine beings are growing out of the ghostly pirates. Even the sniveling octopus-swallowed Bill Nightly (who also does a good job) gets less repulsive the more you see him, and you begin to appreciate the cleverness and creativity behind the fishfaces.
Gore Verbinski tries to pack Pirates 2 with as much blockbuster fare he can, but it seems the plot is a poor peg leg for the film, barely propping up the acting and the special effects. Once dragging the audience through the main plot, the film seems to coast on forever to quickly and awkwardly set up the next installment. Pirates 2 merely continues the trilogy rather than propelling it with some momentum and readying us for the final. Keith Richards was Depp’s inspiration for the portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow and apparently the Rolling Stones guitarist is ‘prepared ta be boarded’ for the sequel as Jack’s father. Let’s hope Pirates 2 was the weakest link in the chain and the next installment makes us want to visit Disneyland again and relive the original thrill of Pirates of the Caribbean. Err matey!