A Sequel's Life for Some
I remember seeing trailers for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and thinking that it was going to be really, really dumb. Don't get me wrong; I love pirates (more on that later this week), but the idea for the movie just looked terrible. Then I saw it. And wow, was I ever wrong. Johnny Depp redefined cool as Captain Jack Sparrow, <td valign="top">Orlando Bloom</td><td valign="top" nowrap="1"></td> showed he could be an interesting character, and, well, Keira Knightley is pretty. Really pretty. Besides, watching the movie was just about the most fun I had in a theater that year or almost any since. As soon as I walked out of the movie, I knew that there would be a sequel, and probably a trilogy before all was said and done. After all, it seems that every big summer blockbuster these days gets turned into a trilogy, not matter how ill advised. But Pirates had a chance to be different, because it came from virtually nowhere to give new life to the swashbuckling comedy. That very same fact made me wary going into the second film of the trilogy, Dead Man's Chest. After all, this one came will all those damn... expectations.

Dead Man's Chest picks up almost immediately after Black Pearl ended: Jack is back at the helm of the Pearl and Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) are preparing to marry. On their planned wedding day, they are both arrested for their hand in Sparrow's escape from the gallows, but Will is offered clemency if he can track Jack down and offer him a plea bargain. While all this is happening, Jack is confronted by Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), to whom Jack owes service on his ghostly ship that was exchanged for the opportunity to captain the Pearl in the first place. What each of these plot elements sets up is a grand battle for Jack and Will's souls, Will's relationship with Elizabeth, and the mysterious contents of the chest in the title that Jones has the key for.

If it all sounds a bit confusing, that's because it is. Like The Empire Strikes Back, Dead Man's Chest sends its three main characters to different corners of the world and takes an act and a half to put them back together, but it's all for one common goal. Like Empire, this movie is a feast for the eyes, with more special effects than you could possible imagine (and they're done well...the entire crew of the Flying Dutchman looks spot-on realistic, to the point that it's creepy). Like Empire, the film ends with a hell of a cliffhanger that makes you curse the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End doesn't come out next week.

But Dead Man's Chest is no Empire. Heck, it's not even as good as Curse of the Black Pearl. My side was sore from being nudged so many times with references to how important the damn rum is to our pirate friends. There's a ton of wink-wink references to the first film, precious time in a two-and-a-half hour movie that could have been cut. It's funny, yeah, but the line that it draws back to the first chapter is rather unnecessary. The plot is confusing as all get out, and though it may have been necessary to jam so much into a second movie, it seems disjointed to me. There's a whole bunch of visual stimulation in things that go clang and boom, but the big, twisting plot is little more than a way to make those things go clang and boom.

The lead trio does a fine job reprising their roles, Bloom's Will growing the most out of anybody. Nighy is outstanding in his role, using the CGI tentacles on his face to suck the scenery from around all the actors in his scenes. Perhaps the best surprise in the movie, besides Nighy, is the character change in Jack Davenport's Commodore Norrington. He and Nighy are worth the price of admission alone.

Dead Man's Chest gives you all the action that you enjoyed so much in Curse of the Black Pearl, but a good bit of heart was lost in the move from a single film that was an instant classic to a three-story arc. While At World's End may prove me wrong, and I hope it does, Dead Man's Chest doesn't convince me that it was necessary, other than to see Depp don his captain's hat one more time. But hey, it's a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

Rating: * * * of 5