Dead Man's Chest: Pirates II Success Despite Few Flaws

Considering the film was made under the same umbrella as “Country Bears” and “Haunted Mansion”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” has brought Disney more treasure than the original theme park ride. In an effort to bump the box office slump off the plank, Disney has cried not just “sequel”, but “trilogy” to Gore Verbinski’s successful 2003 film. But with more crazy characters, a bigger budget and a longer running time, is “Pirates” getting in over its head? 

The nuptials of lovers Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are interrupted by the corrupt official Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), who has a warrant for their arrest and a bargain to strike. Now, only a mysterious compass can keep the two of them from the gallows. While both go their separate way to find the compass, its owner, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), is busy contending with the Faustian fallout from his deal with the ghastly Davy Jones (Bill Nighy). 

The first “Pirates” marked its shots remarkably well - every line well said, every scene well shot and every fight well cut. But now secure in budget and audience attention span, “Dead Man’s Chest” languishes too long in its own mythology. Verbinski seems more comfortable, and perhaps too comfortable, in his macabre horror roots, and soon the film looks less like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and more like a sequel to “The Fog”. 

The major reason for this lies in Davey Jones and his crew. Jones lacks the endearing charisma and humor of predecessor, Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush). Bill Nighy is completely unrecognizable under an octopod combination of CGI and heavy make-up. Although Nighy manages to act beyond the make-up itself (a Herculean task in itself), his character fails not from the exceptional actor, but from a script which succeeds in making him scary, but fails to make him intriguing.