Pirates Beware!

Ye been warned...


Yar scurvy dogs, you best be washing my plank and not playing with my tidlybits!

Yes we have another version of our favorite swashbucklers return in there summertime roles of Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann and Captain Jack Sparrow. Does it pick up where the baton left off and keep up the great smashing success of the Disney Franchise of sailing the wide open seas? Does it? I wanted it to.

Ah Jack... I feel your pain. I really do. Running from your success and failure. I understand, its okay. I really do. Its understandable that you don't need some things and that you really do need some old things. Like all addictions of the American public, we need you in moderation. Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest. Strong enough title. When first hearing of the franchise back in 2003 with Curse of the Black Pearl, I groaned at the sound of it, it sounded like well, a very big chirldren's movie. Disney has had made flops in the past. When I saw previews and I saw Mr. Edward Scissor Hands, I had hope. When I saw the film, it became great, the characters were true characters. Our drunken Captain, our noble Hero and his Heroine love interest. In 2003, it was new, it hadn't been seen before in such grandiose, such bravado, that with every Rum reference you burst in laughter. It was indeed great. And the view! Oh my do you want to see the view! Watching your ship, the Pearl, sail the high seas in such a beautiful surrounding, those wide open shots... Those setup shots... Those needed setup shots that were so present in Pearl... But not so present in Dead Man's Chest.

Enjoy it boys and girls, your wide open shot. So very far apart were they. Isn't it beautiful? Yes it is, and its not really part of Dead Man's Chest. A very basic type of film editing and film making which originated back in the 50's was the so called "Setup" landscape shot. It showed where you were, it showed the audience the setting, where everything took place. Now then, this setup can be overshot, but sometimes its needed. Many of the settings that take place in Dead Man's Chest just appear on the screen and it takes away from the bravado and great epic feel that the first one had. Those few shots might seem insignificant but they really do impact the atmosphere the audience has while watching the movie. So my personal feeling during the movie was that the characters were on a studio set and not on a ship at sea, or on an island. Also the very close up of the characters and often cluttered background kept the feeling of the movie to be again very limited in its epic feel. The only locale that did not have that clustered feel was the Church/Wheel sequence which did indeed make the movie feel again like it was part of the Franchise with epic happenings and epic locales and epic tension.

Lets then go to the acting shall we? Savvy? Yes I am Mr. Sparrow. I am Savvy for acting! So how does our swashbuckling heroes fair with acting? Well, they are characters and damn good ones at that, fitting for a novel lets say. But after that, they get stale. Like a potato chip you've had for a very long time and you adore the taste, but after awhile, damn do you long for a grapefruit! Analogies aside, the acting that you felt so profound the first time around is back in all its glory, and un-glory. Meaning is that the characters keep there overly characterized feel so much so that the depth of a real emotional being is lost. Sad I know. Again we have another male dominated film, Keira Knightly you say could be smoking hot, yes she can. But in this movie she seemed well, more schoolboy and less naughty frumpy proper mistress you visit in the night. Get my drift?

With our characters return the humor. Our lovable Rosen Crantz and Guildenstern return! The humor in the movie is again there and sometimes very present in a quick witted dialogue by one of the new stylized characters ("Well then it helps") or in a very epic seen that is so over the top that you have no urge but to laugh. However this is where the buck stops of new humor. It seems the old adage of if it ain't broke, don't fix it, seemed to play in line that many of the jokes are from the original movie just reiterated. The dog with the keys returns, granted in a new setting. This however sometimes doesn't always work as with our human companions acting along. While the first movie kept you entertained with breath taking views, Dead Man's Chest keeps you holding on to the same breath until the next re-used joke where you just roll your one good eye and keep watching the film. The same joke used, again, and multiple, multiple times in the movie. Alas I had my hopes.

Our summertime rump through the islands to the south returns the feelings of humor and swashbuckling. The movie as a movie works but it does not top the epic feel that the Pearl had. By the end of the movie aswell, for those who have seen it, a feeling of standing and yelling at the screen for the in your face "SEE PIRATES 3" advertisement is felt. Maybe even a groan. By the end of the movie, there is a fantastic final sequence with Jack Sparrow spear heading the finally, then the movie slows down for five minutes, and then, the dreaded advertisement. Its quite a thorn in the side. For a PG-13 movie, it fits the billing. It fits the Disney mold. The movie works, it wont win awards. For the more adult and movie lovers who enjoy emotional invovlement in there movies, see something else. For those interested in a tale of swashbuckling only to not be told how it ends, see Dead Man's Chest.