After a triumphant start to this franchise, I'm sad to report that the final installment in the original trilogy is only partly successful, leaving me vastly disappointed in all the potential wasted. Convoluted, over-long, dramatically weak in too many areas, contrived and often unfunny, this bloated exercise in over spending on razzle-dazzle to distract audiences from a void of enough new ideas will probably satisfy some with a solid conclusion, but others might find the time invested not worth the journey.
With Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander, THE LIBERTINE) wielding his control over Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, SHAUN OF THE DEAD), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom, ELIZABETHTOWN), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley, PRIDE & PREJUDICE), Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, SHINE) and Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY) must begrudgingly team up to help save Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, ED WOOD) from Davy Jones's locker, so that the nine members of the pirate alliance can free goddess of the ocean, Calypso, and stop Davy Jones from terrorizing the sea.
All alliances are up in the air in this affair. The heroes must convince Capt. Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) to help them, but he has his own issues with Capt. Jack. Will and Elizabeth's relationship has been on the rocks since he believes that she has fallen for Jack, so his focus is on freeing his father Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgard, GOOD WILL HUNTING) from his eternity of servitude on the Flying Dutchman. Elizabeth's father Gov. Weatherby and her former fiancée Norrington (Jack Davenport, THE WEDDING DATE) have made shaky partnerships with Lord Beckett and his corrupt East Indian trading company. Also we can't forget Capt. Jack's right hand man Gibbs (Kevin McNally, SLIDING DOORS), scruffy pirate duo Pintel (Lee Arenberg, WATERWORLD) and Ragetti (Mackenzie Crook, THE BROTHERS GRIMM) and Capt. Jack's father Capt. Teague (Rolling Stones' legend Keith Richards).
This two hour and 48 minute epic is weighed down by plot for nearly two hours. The double crossing that goes on between all the characters could have been fun, but it's handled in an over-winded way here. Situations that could have taken seconds to set up take forever. Motivations for the double crosses are often weak. Calypso is brought up in a clumsily way. None of the new plot elements like the evil Lord Cutler Beckett control of Davy Jones, the pirate alliance, Calypso, etc., etc. never mean anything. They never add much tension to the story.
DEAD MAN'S CHEST sets up Davy Jones as a menacing figure than just makes him a tool of the East Indian trading company until a moment toward the end when he's not. Really contrived. The internal issues between Will and Elizabeth that were set up in the second film are drug out until then end when the plot decides to get out of the way of character development. The resolution of their stories is actually a highlight. It goes in a gutsy direction for a big entertainment film. Calypso's connection to Davy Jones is interesting, but never developed in an engaging way. Additionally, there is way too much of Capt. Jack going crazy. It's never that funny to start with, but it gets tiresome as the film goes along. All this being said, the visual effects are again first rate (if they don't take over at times). The resolution of Will, Elizabeth and Bootstrap Bill's issues are well resolved, crossing with Capt. Jack and Davy Jones' motivations nicely too. The humor is more inspired at times that the second installment, finding some original jokes on pirate lore and conventions. The ending closes some stories, but allows room for more adventures if later desired.
If they do decide to make more PIRATES films, I suggest going back to the original film, which kept an emotional story at the center and left the pirating as the surrounding color. The emotional story is resolved nicely, making this worthwhile for franchise fans. But in lifting the approach that made EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI work, the PIRATES franchise lost its way in taking on more than it could handle. The original STAR WARS trilogy added wonderful new visual adventures to each sequel, but drove those stories from its central conflicts. The PIRATES trilogy loses its way by focusing too much on its Ewoks (aka pirates) and losing its Luke/Vader conflict (Will, Elizabeth & Bootstrap Bill).
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
