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Pirates: Dead Man's Chest Review

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Review

Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley

Director: Gore Verbinski

Year: 2006

The first Pirates of the Caribbean was sort of set to be a one movie film, but was open ended enough to make a sequel, and thus here we are. The second title set out to make the series a trilogy, and for some reason people get pissed off by this. "Oh no, a fucking trilogy, they’re just spamming out releases!” Okay by the time of this writing they’re thinking of Pirates 5, so I can understand, but I still don’t see what the problem was with making a second movie. People usually don’t mind this one, and hate the third one. Why? I have a theory a lot of people only hate what the internet tells them to, and this is one of those cases. Although it is flawed, and I can see why people don’t like it, but I’ve heard people rant about these movies when they haven’t even seen most of them. I’ll get to the problems, but let’s just get on with the review. This was literally one of the first movies in my DVD collection, and to move from the VHS to DVD was a big moment for me, and I watched this movie a lot. Each of the Pirates movie seem to have themes to fit into the entire franchise, and each one has their own separate little theme. Each time it’s a different type of adventure and fun, but with a little bit of supernatural or fantasy added. The first one was eerie, the third one seems to be more intense, and this one aims to be fun. The first one it was dark and gritty, and in this one it’s bright and green, and the last one it’s foggy and cold. As for story, it’s actually much more complicated than you would think. Usually these "forced,” sequels always have some sloppy story that is undermined compared to the first one, and it really doesn’t feel like the story is moving forward. It’s another shot of the first movie like the Hangover 2, has a forced story that is small compared to the first movie like Taken II, or it just sucks. Or maybe both. But this story if anything has too much going on, as there are a lot of variables. When I first saw this I knew what was going on, and I was a child in the movie theater, so I don’t think it’s super hard to keep up with. But the third movie I do feel has that going on, but this know what’s going on, and it’ll all be good. And no, Norrington and Beckett aren’t the same person. If you don’t know that, then you need to see the movie again. But back to story. Will and Elizabeth are being sentenced to death by our new antagonist Lord Beckett. Beckett makes a deal with Will that if he gets the compass from Jack that points what you want most in the world, (he wants what is in the "dead man’s chest.” Meanwhile, Jack is being perused by Davy Jones (the fantasy/supernatural element of the movie) Davy Jones is an undead man who is the Davy Jones of legend. His heart was carved from his chest, thrown into the other type of chest, and now he goes around the seas forever. But he also gave Jack his ship, and said after so many years he’d have to be apart of his ship. But Jack doesn’t want to serve his sentence, so he’s avoiding the Kraken, Davy Jones’s monster he uses for big guns, which is pretty much his trump card that can kill anyone. Meanwhile Elizabeth escapes from prison, and is out on the run for Will. So there are many arcs and stories going on, not bad for a sequel to me. As far as characters go, there is no Barbossa this time around, but Davy Jones and Beckett are both really unique, and I really like them both. They feel rounded, and although the next movie covers most of their back-story, their characters now are interesting, and have good dialogue. And on that topic, I really like the dialogue in these movies, and this is no exception. Captain Jack is more humorous, and I don’t love that fact, but it still feels like him to me, and it never bothers me when I see the movie. Anyway, I remember in my review of Pirates 1, I said that was probably my favorite. But after seeing this again, I just can’t decide. I think maybe this one, but I know if I see Pirates 1 again, I’d just think that one was better. Anyway, I actually do love this movie, the first half I don’t like too much, but the next half is spectacular. Dead Man’s Chest was a great addition to the show, and started it into a franchise.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest gets a 5/5

Spoilers: First lets start with the end. It is revealed that Barbossa is alive, or revived, whatever. It ends right afterward, and I remember getting such goosebumps in the theater when I saw it, and I got them again just seeing it now. I think it was a good and bad decision, but ultimately I think it was a good choice. Another of my favorite moments is when Jack dies. Yeah, the main character dies. And Jack literally walks into the belly of the beast. Other moments that I liked were the cat and mouse chase with the chest, pretty much the entire ending, and of course the awesome fight scenes.