THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
As if Walt Disney weren’t making enough of a fortune of their theme parks, they decided to make movies based on their attractions. With Pirates of the Caribbean being the biggest success through The Curse of the Black Pearl in ‘03, there was no way to not capitalize on a sequel.
PLOT
2006’s Dead Man’s Chest shows the wedding of William Turner & Elizabeth Swann get interrupted by Lord Cutler Beckett, who charges them both for helping Captain Jack Sparrow escape his death penalty. Will makes a deal with the Lord to be pardoned in exchange of Sparrow’s compass. As Turner sets off to reclaim freedom for himself and his fiancé, the pirate has recently escaped from a Turkish prison. He is able to pull this off after retrieving a drawing of a key that belongs to the supernatural pirate Davy Jones, who is condemned for eternity to rule the Seven Seas. Years prior, Sparrow made a deal with him to be captain of the Black Pearl in exchange of 100 years of service in the Flying Dutchman ship. Sparrow obviously wants out of the deal and wants to find a treasured chest that could help him gain control over Jones. Just before the next voyage can begin, he gets a visit from Will’s father, Bootstrap Bill, who is now part of the Dutchman’s crew. He comes to warn Sparrow Jones is after him to claim his debt and if he doesn’t, he will be trapped in Jones’ Locker, a dimension where sailors cannot move on to the afterlife if claimed by the sea. Before leaving, he marks him with the Black Spot where he will be tracked by Jones’ sea beast, the Kraken until a debt is paid either way. Feared for the worst, Jack commands first mate Joshamee Gibbs to head for any land in order to avoid being devoured. Will does find the Pearl beached at Isla de Pelegostos and gets captured by the native cannibals on the islands, just like the Pearl’s crew. Jack is almost prepared to be roasted alive when being originally mistaken to be a tribe chief, but he pulls off escaping with Will and the crew. They are also accompanied by fellow pirates Pintel & Ragetti who have escaped from Fort Royal’s prison. Jack is able to get on common ground with Will when convincing him to help him find the key to Jones’ chest instead of surrendering his compass. Elizabeth is able to escape prison as well with the assist of her father, Governor Weatherby (Jonathan Pryce), which results in him getting captured. She confronts Beckett and makes the same deal he made with her fiancé. In her own voyage, she stows away onto the Edinburgh Trader, disguised as a sailor boy. Upon traveling to Cypress Forest, Gibbs explains to Will the danger of the Kraken. At Pantiano River however, they join Jack in meeting his acquaintance, voodoo priestess Tia Dalma. Getting straight to the point, Will asks on where the key could be. She takes this time to explain that Jones literally put his own heart in the chest said key opens to, as an act of heartbreak over losing a woman he loved and he keeps the key with him at all times. This action resulted in him to be the cursed pirate he’s known for, only able to set foot on land once a decade. As protection, she gives Jack a jar of dirt. Will goes to an abandoned ship he believes to be the Dutchman only for Jones to arrive in the actual ship. He and his crew, including Bootstrap Bill, have sea creatures assimilated into their bodies after spending so many years serving said ship. Jones offers proposals for shipwreck survivors to serve him rather than face death, resulting in one refusing and others joining out of fear. When he meets Will, he sees that he’s not dead nor dying. The young Turner explains that Jack sent him to settle his debt. Jones would then confront the pirate himself to negotiate on how to be paid. He refuses to be lenient since Jack has called himself Captain for 13 years even after being mutinied upon. Sparrow quickly convinces him to trade his soul for 100, with Will being the first and given at least three days to pay for the remaining 99. With the Dutchman’s captain agreeing, he removes the Black Spot. So, Jack makes haste to Tortuga to round up the 99 souls and surprisingly gets at least five. The fifth man however ends up being James Norrington, who resigned as Commodore of the Royal Navy after failing to capture Sparrow. He tries to shoot him, which only leads to a bar brawl and him being knocked out by Elizabeth who arrived in Tortuga in Edinburgh Trader. She then joins Jack’s crew to where the compass directs them, to Isla Cruces. As they sail, Elizabeth shares that Beckett wants the compass, resulting in deducing that he’s after the chest too and can control the sea if he gets it. At the Dutchman, Will does reunite with his father, motivated to save him from his own debt, challenges Jones to Liar’s Dice for the key, knowing he can manipulate the Captain to free him if he wins. He loses, but takes it anyway while he’s sleeping and stows into Edinburgh Trader. When Jones wakes up and finds out what he did, knowing Sparrow will also use his heart against him as well, he sends the Kraken after him and set sail to protect the chest, resuming the Black Spot on the Pearl’s captain. Surprisingly, Turner escapes its wrath and abandons ship in time. At Isla Cruces, Jack finds the chest with the assist of Elizabeth & Norrington, just as Will arrives too. As he calls Sparrow out for leaving him without regret, he plans to stab the heart in order to free his dad. Sparrow is against that because it will prevent negating his debt. Norrington however wants to use the heart as leverage to regain his navy life. This results in a three way duel between all three men. Ragetti & Pintel choose to take it for themselves and when Elizabeth follows, she fights alongside them once Jones’ crew pursue the chest. When Jack is able to get away from the fight, he places the heart in the jar of dirt. When distracted however by dealing with the opposing crew, Norrington takes the heart from the jar, making Sparrow believe he thinks it’s still in the chest. He even surrenders the empty chest to Jones’ crew before he retreats. All of the Pearl’s crew are able to outrun the Dutchman once escaping the island but once Jack realizes the jar is empty, he considers abandoning ship alone until helping his crew fend off against the sea beast. They’re able to injure it with a net of gunpowder and run. It is then where he orders for the crew to abandon ship. Knowing the Kraken is only after him, Elizabeth chooses to kiss him as a distraction to shackle him. She tells the others he elected to stay, but Will saw the whole ordeal and had no idea she would do that. Only after Jack goes down the ship does Jones realize he doesn’t have the heart with him. When Norrington returns to the East India Trading Company, he delivers the heart to Beckett. With the Pearl’s crew visiting Tia Dalma to share a toast for their fallen captain, Will boldly claims to do anything to bring back Sparrow. This inspires Elizabeth and the others to follow him to World’s End, an endless waterfall that leads to Jones’ Locker where Jack would be. However, Tia Dalma shares they’ll need a more experienced captain to lead the way. The film ends in a shocking cliffhanger revealing the new captain to specifically be one she resurrected, Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).
THOUGHTS
Considering how much of a blast it was getting through The Curse of the Black Pearl, there was no way I would skip this. Director Gore Verbinski picks up where he left off and excels from there. All the practicality done for the production design and costumes to match the 1720s aesthetic is still effective, but it is the Oscar winning visual effects that bring a home run to the movie magic. Each member of the Flying Dutchman crew was outstandingly terrifying from one another thanks to their motion capture performances and the fear peaks when witnessing the wrath of the Kraken. You hardly get a full glimpse of beastie itself and you'll be stunned each time. With all the action and chases that ensue, my favorite would be the cartwheel scene that occurs during the threeway duel. It happens so fast you're in awe of it occurring. Add all of these elements with Hans Zimmer's epic score, you're in just as much of a ride as you are in the original attraction. Interestingly, I think this entry still holds up because it has its own spin on saying to keep fighting for what you believe in and each character, returning and new, give their own spin at it. Johnny Depp was the scene stealer last time as Captain Jack Sparrow, which was the number one reason this would still be a success. As expected, he still delivers in being an eccentric man who has to be calculating to better his chances at survival. He's smart when he chooses to be which works out for the most part because this is an example of desperately cheating death. I mean the man proved he had determination when leaping over a cliff while tied to a bamboo. Due to how he did some good in stopping Barbossa, he was able to do the right thing again in defending the Pearl until he couldn't. In a way, I felt like him losing his hat to misdirect his scent represented his lack of confidence. He gains both by the time he accepts his fate because even he came to a realization he wasn't invincible and at the very least, he chose to die a hero when he wasn't even trying. With such courage in his final act, you can't help continuing to respect him to the point you don't see any of these follow ups work without him, for better or worse. Will & Elizabeth are both fighting for their love and the paths they take to have a better tomorrow are quite surprising. Orlando Bloom still has us love Will because he's still quite adaptive in each surrounding he has to put up with because that's how far he's gotta go to be happy. He's still the most selfless one of the franchise because he never thinks about himself that much. He's either thinking about keeping Elizabeth safe or freeing his dad from a curse he doesn't deserve. You could argue that Norrington had such a 180 of a path since Jack Davenport showed him to hit a heavy rock bottom before regaining momentum, it's really Elizabeth that had the most unexpected evolution. Keira Knightley shows her break from being a damsel to embracing her intelligence at every given turn. It was better for her to better chances of success in getting pardoned by getting involved, no matter how much faith she had in Will. Because of this, she felt like a natural in being a pirate and she basically accepted that path when she left Jack to die to save herself. While she does show regret in doing that, I feel more bad for Will because she could've told him she was gonna deceive him with a kiss. And it is her regret where he considers bringing Jack back just to cheer her up, not to be serious until a legit opportunity was given. With Barbossa by their side to pull it off, it only made another fascinating adventure. I'll always love Kevin McNally in making a loyal confidant as Gibbs, but I oddly couldn't get enough of Lee Arenberg & Mackenzie Crook as Pintel & Ragetti because they had their own inner chaos when together and they had their own path to survive. The fact they didn't stick around after At World's End was a catastrophe realization for me. Going into new characters, it was a big deal for the official introduction to see Bootstrap Bill, who is the reason the preceding plot happens in the first place. Stellan Skarsgard is unrecognizable through all the makeup put on him, and you feel all his sorrow for all his mistakes as his sanity gets consumed by his tenure on the ship. He wanted his son to have a better life than his, away from all the bad. It definitely seemed to work out since he still turned out to be a better man without him since he was willing to bring him back without hesitation the moment they reunited. The only thing you wish is that it didn't take such stakes for it to happen. Naomie Harris went all in with her two scenes as Tia Dalma because she nails it in making her a seductress that leaves you guessing for eternity. The way describes Jones' origin with such pride, you're already certain there's more to the tale she's not sharing. Even before At World's End, you're sure she's got a trick up her sleeve. With a bait and switch going on for Barbossa now, this means there had to be villains much worse than him and boy did we get a pair. We don't even get any bit of a clear conscience once we meet Beckett because Tom Hollander makes him straight up vindictive of a figure. The guy is thinking ahead of the curve in wanting to control the sea and basically be the most powerful man in the world. With such high expectations, you can believe that he can claim such undisputed power and the fact he got the heart proves how much luck was on his side for once. While he is the mastermind, it isn't really him that shook me the most. If any villain defined this franchise better than anyone else, I know the core answer will always be Davy Jones. The name has been passed around for years as part of pirate folklore and little did we expect to ever see him in the big screen. Bill Nighy brought such unimaginable life to him that captivated us all. He can be looked as the personification of the sea for being ruthless to get what he wants. Little did any of us expect we would relate to him though for understanding that heartbreak led to his downfall. Because things didn't go his way, he lets everyone else feel the same pain he feels everyday. Little did he expect that he would also be in a vulnerable state without the protection of his heart and now must take a voyage he never anticipated. This movie lived up to my expectations, but there are still a few things that don't make sense upon re-watching. Like how the hell did Will & Elizabeth think there wouldn't be consequences for freeing a pirate from a death penalty? Just because you're good hearted and are related to the governor, you are so not gonna get off the hook. I then wonder how would Elizabeth be so sure of the Edinburgh crew mistaking her dress to come from a ghost? I know the supernatural basically became common due to encountering Barbossa last time, but not voyage has to narrow down to this. And how exactly did the cannibal tribe decide on making Jack their sacrificial chief? If Gibbs knew what they were gonna do to him, he could've told Will how they narrowed down to picking him. I mean not knowing makes it more confusing than the tribe being able to sneak up on Jack so quietly when there were dozens of them. Also, I don't see the point of Beckett's assistant Mercer (David Schofield) pursue Elizabeth the second he saw her with Jack? If he followed them, he could've gotten the chest before Norrington. And if he found Norrington with his pardoned papers he took from Elizabeth, he should've felt Jones' heart when he padded him down. I want to complain about how Will was able to ride the Dutchman all the way to Isla Cruces without being detected, but what pissed me off more was how he spends more time fighting with Jack than telling everyone else Jones is onto them. I know you're pissed and got your own intentions but if he wants to live another day, remember the stakes that are on them all and bail. Moving on, how was Norrington sure the heart was in the jar? It looked deeply covered up, so that is eagle eyes he got on him to spot because I did not. Is it me or does the Kraken heal from cannon shots? I gotta ask because every time it went underwater, it would be fully healed as it never got injured. If this is a continuity error, someone please tell me. Other than that, this movie is still good for what it is. In short, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is an excellent sequel for raising the stakes in order to become another extravagant adventure. If adventure is still what you seek after watching the first one, see this now.
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