Like its predecessor, Dead Man's Chest features delicious visuals, a plot that's actually quite complicated, cool action sequences, marvellous acting and Johnny Depp. What more could you possibly ask for in a movie? Well, maybe some editing (read: cutting), but I'm sure, being moviemakers of such high calibre, they had very good reasons to leave those extra scenes in (perhaps the editor died). I did not mind watching Johnny Depp for all that additional time.
SPOILER ALERT
We pick up a short but indeterminate amount of time after The Curse of the Black Pearl ends, with Will and Elizabeth facing the gallows for helping Jack Sparrow escape. The new bad guy (prissy-British bad guy, not sea-monster bad guy) is willing to offer free pardons in exchange for Captain Jack's magic compass, so off Will goes to find Jack.
Who is, of course, in a uniquely Jack-like pickle. That gem of a line from the first movie, "And then they made me their chief", takes on a whole new meaning. This tribe of cannibals loves Jack, has made him its king, and wishes to eat his flesh to free his spirit. The captain's escape from the would-be diners is nothing short of epic, involving flying leaps, steep falls and human fruit-kebabs. At the end of that chase, hanging from the cutlasses of the Black Pearl, Jack makes his little speech: "My friends, you will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain -" Enter big wave, reducing him to a sputter.
Jack's soon in worse trouble than mere cannibals, though. Davy Jones, that tentacle-faced devil figure, is after his soul, which Jack bartered for the Black Pearl 13 years ago. The only way out is to find the heart of Davy Jones, locked in an unseen trunk in an unknown location with an unavailable key. In order to find that, he has to go to this voodoo high priestess who seems to scare him (scare Jack!) for some reason. You wouldn't blame him for being confused at this point. He doesn't know what he wants. His compass doesn't work for him any more.
So he sets about solving problems the way he always does: sends Will off as bait onto Davy Jones's ship, steals trinkets from the voodoo priestess, manipulates the hell out of everybody for his own ends - and this time, he loses. Spectacularly.
*sigh* :)
Johnny Depp.
Was there ever an actor the camera loved more? True, Jack Sparrow is not as fresh as he was in The Curse of the Black Pearl, where his every step, his every expression was an unexpected delight. But he's still here, and he's still undoubtedly the star of the show. He reduces Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom to "also appeared in this movie". He holds his own against a bad guy who, Phantom-of-the-Opera-esque, plays a gigantic organ with the tentacles coming out of his face.
In the first Pirates movie, when Jack Sparrow throws sand in Will Turner's face in a swordfight, Will is stunned. "You cheated!"
Jack shrugs and says, "Pirate."
It's the only word for all of this. What's filling up my chest with glee to even think of it? What makes me want to chuck popcorn at people who try to trivialise this experience, as if it wasn't something rare and precious? How could I laugh all the way through an overlong movie - and overlong action movie - and come out feeling, of all things, exuberant?
Pirates.
Seriously!!??
ReplyDeleteI thought Dead man's chest was very ordinary when compared to The curse of Black pearl. Loved Johnny Depp though.