Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

I was excited for this film but I also knew that sequels do not always live up to the original film or to the audience’s expectations. Despite that, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” comes up a winner. The story has a climax and revisits a lot of what we loved in the first film. The special effects just like the first film are not the central feature of the movie but they do go further than what was possible on “The Curse of the Black Pearl”. The characters that we love are fully embodied for a second time and even some minor beloved characters from the first film become more important in the sequel. The mood and style is also the same but because the first film felt so original, it is hard to live up to it. Another great quality of this movie is its ending (spoiler alert). You can’t wait for the next installment.

Once again, the characters are the central feature of “Dead Man’s Chest” and they make the story better. Jack is back and Will still maintains his Errol Flynn persona. Elizabeth becomes even more active in this movie and that is a good choice. Norrington’s character is different because of what has happened to him in the events in between both movies but Jack Davenport handles this change very well. Gibbs hasn’t lost his role as the one in charge of exposition and bringing everyone up to speed. We have four minor characters from the original film that become regulars from this point on because of their popularity. The first two are Pintel and Ragetti from Barbossa’s crew who join up with Jack on the Pearl for lack of better options. I like the decision in that we can root for them while they make us laugh. The other two are Cotton and Marty, the miniature pirate. A sequel must introduce new entertaining characters that can stand along side the returning cast and we get some. Bill Nighy’s Davy Jones is a great substitute for Barbossa and despite the special effects, Nighy’s performance comes across fully thanks to motion capture. It is fun to watch that character. I like Tia Dalma and the inclusion of Bootstrap Bill is a great choice that adds drama. Lord Beckett is a character however that is not as entertaining. His purpose in the film seems to represent a new theme that is begun in this film and carries on into the third film.

In the scene with Will and Beckett, a theme of the sequels is introduced: freedom vs. tyranny. Jack Sparrow for example feels free as a pirate but if pardoned, he will have to join the East India Trading Company and lose his freedom. It feels like revolutionary ideals from the time period are affecting everyone. “Dead Man’s Chest” has many fun and great story moments. Jack gets a nice entrance once again and I love the gag where the prisoners are trying to call Elizabeth over to them instead of the dog with the keys. The waves cut Jack off from his usual farewell speech and Pintel & Ragetti give Jack his coat and salute him when he steps on board. They are on the good side now suddenly and I find that humorous. The journey to and scene with Tia Dorma allows this new crew to bond and give us exposition in a fun way. The Liar’s Dice game is a great moment of drama and suspense as is the scene where Will tries to steal the key. I like how Will pulls an Indy move and switches the key with the tracing. The sword fight between Norrington, Jack and Will has complex subtext but it is explained twice and that is very important. The other good thing is that the explanations don’ t feel forced. The fight is also well staged and the use of wheel is great fun. The film’s climax starts with this sword fight and ends with Jack being consumed by the Kraken. I like the action and special effects of it. The music also helps. At the end of the film, Will drinks to the toast but says nothing. Elizabeth adds to the tribute but doesn’t drink. The subtext is that she has guilt for being responsible for the death of Jack and as for Will, he thinks that he has lost his fiancée’s love. Even though a decade has passed, the ending shot of “Dead Man’s Chest” is still for me the greatest ending that sets up a sequel in a franchise. Some honorable mentions include “Batman Begins”, "Back to the Future: Part II" and "The Fellowship of the Ring" . In the theater, when Barbossa appeared with Jack the monkey and his apple, everyone in the audience cheered and could not be more excited for the third film. I was so surprised with this cliffhanger ending and so was the rest of the cast, as evidenced by their last shot in the movie. They were under the impression that Zoe Saldana's character was going to make an appearance by the way.

The special effects in this film and other elements make it appealing also. The sea creature pirates are a good substitute for the skeleton pirates. Technology is pushed further and yet the special effects do not take center stage. The CGI pirates feel real because they match Bill Turner’s makeup and costume. This film by the way introduced me to actor Stellan Skarsgard. Sometimes in shots with Bootstrap, I forget that the other pirates next to him are not real. The Kraken is also well handed special effects-wise. The real test for any organic CGI character is daylight and the crew of the Flying Dutchman still looks real in those scenes. Just like Jar Jar and Gollum before him, Davy Jones is an important character in the history motion capture technology. He looks completely real sometimes, especially his face. Whereas Gollum had to be motion captured later off the actual set, Davy Jones and his crew were motion captured as the cameras rolled. The acting of Bill Nighy is what makes the special effects feel real. Without “Lord of the Rings” to compete against, this film won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects hands down. Even a decade later, the effects stand up to current CGI. Other Oscar nominations garnished by "Dead Man's Chest" include Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Art Direction. I love the scene where the crew is swinging from their cages so they can grab on to the cliff because of how it starts. The first shot shows them yelling but we don’t know why until a few shots later when we have a wide shot and we hear the music. It sounds like it is from the circus and it is very humorously fitting for the scene. The music of the sequels has been taken over completely by Hans Zimmer where as Klaus Badelt took all the credit on the first film. You can’t really tell, as the music is still great. I also like how we barely hear a bell in the moment when Jack gets the idea to throw the coconut.

When I first saw the movie, I was going to be leaving the theater and going directly on a vacation with my extended family (My suitcase was in the car). To have this movie as the start of a vacation was awesome. Because the film has a lot of what we loved about the first film, “Dead Man’s Chest” succeeds. While it doesn’t live up to the original film, it does come close. The new characters for the most part fall right in line and the mood & design are similar to the original film. The film has better special effects but they are not the centerpieces of the movie. The show held the record as the highest-grossing film released by Disney for six years. Ever since 2006 however when this movie was in theatres, Jerry Bruckheimer has failed to satisfy me on the big screen. The cliffhanger ending of "Dead Man's Chest" is awesome but if you are going to show something as cool as that to end a sequel, you better have an amazing third film in mind. We did not get it. As I predicted during the time in between the 2nd and 3rd films, the Pirates trilogy went the way of the Matrix trilogy.

4 Stars