What I Rented - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

It’s easy to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest as being just a showcase for Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow. He certainly steals the show with his off the wall comedic timing, but all of the attention placed on Depp has taken away from the solid work of director Gore Verbinski.

For the most part Verbinski’s talent seems to be revitalizing tired genres. That’s certainly what he’s done with the Pirates series, and while I can’t say that Pirates 2 is firing on all cylinders, I can certainly admire how hard everyone is working to make it entertaining.

The biggest problem is just how long it takes the movie to get going. Jack Sparrow has made a deal with Davy Jones, and now that the deal is over, Jones has come to add Sparrow to his crew of the undead.

The first hour is almost completely pointless. Once the plot is set up, the script takes far too many detours. I understand that there are a lot of characters we need to be reintroduced to, but there are far too many subplots that could have easily been cut or trimmed. A whole story involving Elizabeth Swann crossdressing so she can stow away on a trading ship feels unnecessary, as does the hilarious, but plot halting, sequence where Jack Sparrow becomes the leader of a Native tribe.

Thankfully the film has so much energy, that these scenes seem more like mere diversions than crushing weaknesses, and once the big set pieces kick in Verbinski proves why he is becoming the go-to guy for blockbuster filmmaking.

A three-way swordfight between the main characters intercut with some backstabbing by the supporting characters is the highlight of the film. As the swordfight moves from a beach to an abandoned fortress to a runaway waterwheel, the choreography becomes more and more intricate. The scene fuses Buster Keaton’s stunts, with Errol Flynn’s swashbuckling, and Gene Kelly’s dancing. It’s exhilarating to watch.

While less original, the epic climactic battle with the Krakken is stunning in its own right. As characters are batted around by a barrage of tentacles, the heroes try everything in their power to defend themselves. It’s big in scope, has huge special effects, but is intimate enough that it still allows the character arcs to come to a close.

Pirates 2 is solid blockbuster filmmaking that doesn’t rest on the laurels it garnered from the first part. It’s not redesigning anything, but it is allowing a sharp creative team to craft a fun two and a half hours.

Star Rating *** (out of 4 stars)