Pirates of the Carribean - Dead Man’s Chest
Oh dear. How far off the mark can Gore Verbinski be with his follow-up to his surprise hit, Pirates of the Carribean. While the first film was a well paced and well judged piece of entertainment, this time we have an over-long series of set pieces with minimal storyline. It’s too intense to be enjoyable and too fast to follow with any ease.
In addition, the characters become even more 2D (if that was possible?!) and their relationships from the first film may as well start from scratch. The only light in the film was Bill Nighy’s portrayal of Davy Jones, but even this can’t lift the film out of mediocrity. Coupled with so-so effects (which frequently suffer from the Star Wars-esque cartoony look) means POTC2 is a massive missfire.
It also seems that any successful film now seems to demand a mammoth two-part sequel that forces the audience to pay up twice to see the full story. Occasionally this works (Kill Bill), but more often than not it’s a massive waste of fimgoer’s money and time (POTC2, The Matrix sequels etc). Also, it’s usually a sign of a bad editor or director who can’t put together a tight story with a decent run-time - and given the plot of POTC2, there wasn’t enough story for one film let alone two.
4/10