ryan.smith.blog

The general gist of the story (if you can call it that) has something to do with mutant fish men and a human heart in a box, but it’s really not worth going into. Just know that it doesn’t much sense and is predominantly absurd, unlike the first film, “The Curse of the Black Pearl”, which was also absurd, but made you believe it. There was a sort of Indiana Jones realism to “Pearl”, with its artful mingling of classic adventure and fantasy, and it felt inspired. “Dead Man’s Chest”, however, plays like Looney Tunes on steroids. In fact, at one point early in the film, after Captain Jack Sparrow has crashed through multiple bridges and fallen one hundred feet to the ground unscathed, I think I may have heard the Roadrunner chirping in the background, but don’t quote me on it.

The effects are fantastic, but to what advantage? The plot is so convoluted that the visuals only contribute to the chaos. I suppose the film will be nominated for a Visual Effects Oscar, but shouldn’t that be reserved for those films which use technology to deepen their story, rather than complicate it?

Perhaps the filmmakers had noble intentions, but they don’t translate to the screen. All that exists is a moneymaking vehicle, teetering on the legs of a half-ass screenplay and the success of the first film, which succeeded in every area in which the sequel fails. Not even Johnny Depp, with all his reservoirs of indubitable charm, can save this one.