Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

 

After the immense success of the first Pirates' film, it stood to reason a sequel would be hatched. And to be fair: it's not the worst idea, because they now venture even further into fantasy than the first one and you can tell the focus is slowly shifting to more Johnny Depp, as his portrayal of Jack Sparrow was probably the best thing anyway. 

Things are not looking to good for our threesome of heroes. Jack Sparrow is desperately trying to avoid the mythical Davy Jones, as he made a deal with this creature but now the ocean is no longer a safe place for Jack. Elizabeth and Will are also in trouble, as Cutler Beckett, a representative of the East-India Trading Company is now firmly establishing his hold on the Caribbean and using them for his own motives.

What are they, you might ask?

Well, Beckett wants mastery of the oceans and to do this, he needs a special chest. This chest actually contains the beating heart of Davy Jones and whomever holds the heart can make Jones, a supernatural being, do whatever he wants. Whicb mostly boils down to sinking ships willy nilly, but no one ever said plans had to be complicated. 

But it does get tricky when Elizabeth discovers that Jack has sort of betrayed her and Will yet again and eventually sacrifices Jack to the Kraken, the mystical massive creature that Davy Jones can command... 

Yes, this is where everything starts to get a little complicated, but it's not yet such a bloated mess as the next entry. The introduction of Davy Jones is a great idea, as we are now fully embracing the more fantastical fairytale section of the stories and you could do a lot worse than cast the always wonderful Bill Nighy as said character. Nighy can convey so much with just his glance, even beneath a thick layer of CG, that you can tell he is a villain of sorts with a lot of depth to him. Everyone else that crossed over from the last one is decent, and Jack gets some more laughs than before, as Depp is starting to seriously exaggerate the tics that made his portrayal so memorable. It's not yet too much, but it's slowly getting there. 

The story does feel a bit flimsy and a little convoluted at times, but that may be due to editing choices and pacing. The stand-out scene is absolutely the duel (or more like threesome, even if that sounds a bit kinky) between Will, Jack and Norrington atop a spinning mill wheel. It's absolutely insane, but it is also insanely entertaining. 

This one is a decent entry into the series and still a lot of fun to watch, even if it does start to feel like a bit much at times. But if you can leave your brain at the door, it's a nice dose of entertainment.