Film Review: Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007) B-

Date Viewed: 5/27/07
Venue: The Bridge Cinemas

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End is a mess. But at least it's a watchable, sometimes entertaining mess. If you thought, like I did, that Dead Man's Chest (last summer's first chapter of these filmed-back-to-back sequels) was a tad convoluted in the story department, then you'll certainly find At World's End even more unnecessarily confusing and patched together.

Our heroes begin At World's End in search of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), whose sacrifice at the hands (well, teeth, really) of the beastly Kracken (at Dead Man's Chest's climax) has cost him his life. However, there is an afterlife in these movies, however flimsily explained (and beautifully shot), and that's where Will (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth (Keira Knightly), and the recently-resurrected-himself Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), must travel. Once retrieving Jack from his purgatory and returning to the world of the living, our intrepid company must rally pirates from around the world to fight the dreaded East Indian Trade Company, who now employ Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) himself to do their dirty work.

Confused yet? And I didn't even mention Chow-Yun Fat's pirate lord Sao Fang, nor Calypso the sea goddess, nor the return of Will's misbegotten father, nor Keith Richards' cameo turn as Jack's father, nor the resolution of Davy Jones' stolen heart. My point is there's just way too much going in this film, and very little of it is thought out very well. Mythological angles and rules are brought up only when convenient, characters are often wasted (Sao Fang in particular), or meet a demise unbefitting in relation to their importance.

Still, the special effects are top notch and the action scenes are as breezy as they ever were in these films. The snappy dialog, humorous characterizations, and overall chemistry haven't faltered, either. At times, At World's End is a real joy to watch.

It's very frustrating to see a franchise with so much going for it stumble over a completely overambitious, throw-in-the-kitchen-sink story (which in it's bones, bares a striking resemblence to another second sequel, Return Of The Jedi). I know the mantra with sequels is to make them bigger than their predecessors, but I'll take coherence over size any day.