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Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Horses, Parrots, Dogs, Pigs, Goats, Monkeys, Kissing.
Falling into that category of franchises that attempt to draw a direct sequel from a self-contained story, Dead Man's Chest is already fighting an uphill battle. How does it do? I think it does well.
Not only does every memorable character from the first movie return, some even with more lines and narrative relevance, this movie makes no mistake about who it is you're here to see, this is Sparrow's story from start to finish. Jack's just as swanky and likeable as in the first movie showing they haven't yet run him stale and his uncertain qualities are given even more attention from his fleeing and return to save the day by the end of the movie to the entire plot effectively hinging on his inability to decide on what he wants.
Will and Swan's romance is pushed into the background, but they stubbornly remain attached to the plot by virtue of have narrative ties to the first movie.
Davy Jones is the new baddie on deck this time and as most have said, Bill Nighy The Vampire Guy makes for a likable rumbling performance on par with the CG likes of Andy Serkis as Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Davy Jones, design-wise, is arguably more impressive visually given his facial tentacles which have to have been most of the most crazy difficult things to animate realistically, draping and flowing objects those, particularly when they're supposed to fall and move against each other tend to test the extreme limits of what physics emulation can do. You can generally tell quality animation from how well they manage this recurring concept.
The rampant CG appears, to me at least, to look better than the somewhat cheesy skeletons of the first movie, not just quality-wise but also in design. It was cool to see actors rapidly shift from live-action to CG, that must of been and incredible challenge, but I must admit I liked the Flying Dutchman crew better due to the fact that each of them looks to have uniquely adopted elements of the sea into their bodies.
I feel the action ramps up this time around too, with Will and Swan pushed closer to the background, Norrington and our two other comedy relief from the first movie come closer to the foreground, regularly rotating which of them share scenes together and eventually pitting their allegiances against each other like real pirates. The cannibal island sequence is a fun distraction (even if I personally loathe how The Dog gets the shaft at the end), but the highlight for me comes with the three-way fight between Will, Norrington, and Jack which is played seriously just as much as it's played for laughs.
This three-way however comes with the unfortunate caveat however that Swan has officially transitioned into Bitch Mode. They make a feeble attempt to piratize her along the way, but it's only enough to offset the in-world sexism that compartmentalizes her character, it's not enough to help how she's written.
There's just something profoundly facepalmy about a woman, teeth-bared and threatening a port authority at the point of a gun to his face being immediately followed by her reaching down, lifting up her dress, and shuffling away. That's like a drug dealer acting like a grandmaster pimp right before he sees a cop and trips over his own pants because his crotch is at his knees.
When she's just standing there alone, screaming at a swordfight which verges dangerously on a "boys will be boys" moment, I've pretty much lost any interest in seeing her live. If she dies, good, I don't care, she's just another impotent female character with scarcely anything I would term a redeeming quality.
And then the ending, which it seems everyone complains about.
It's a CLIFFHANGER. Frankly, I don't get people's hate for such things, I thought it was a damn good cliffhanger. Jack has his climactic face-off with the Kraken and we see the return of an enjoyable personality from the first movie without warning making for a solid twist to leave off on. I consider it an exceptional ending, one that definitely hypes me to see the sequel.
If there's one criticism I have of the ending it is that it sets up At World's End as a "search for Jack" story when it's SWAN... THAT KILLED HIM.
What the hell, bitch? Seriously? He comes back to save your ass and you leave him to die? Then you're all tears and sorry goin' on about you'll "go to the ends of the earth" to save him?
YOU COULDN'T STAND TO FIT HIM IN A ****IN' ROWBOAT!
Bonus points to the music. Solid soundtrack. I swear I've heard that Davy Jones theme somewhere before though, hmmmm...
Final Verdict: [Pretty Good]
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest
Fantasy Adventure Comedy / English / 2006
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
For the Action Movie Countdown.
Also reassessing for action-oriented purposes.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Also reassessing for action-oriented purposes.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
"Why is the rum always gone?"
Horses, Parrots, Dogs, Pigs, Goats, Monkeys, Kissing.
Falling into that category of franchises that attempt to draw a direct sequel from a self-contained story, Dead Man's Chest is already fighting an uphill battle. How does it do? I think it does well.
Not only does every memorable character from the first movie return, some even with more lines and narrative relevance, this movie makes no mistake about who it is you're here to see, this is Sparrow's story from start to finish. Jack's just as swanky and likeable as in the first movie showing they haven't yet run him stale and his uncertain qualities are given even more attention from his fleeing and return to save the day by the end of the movie to the entire plot effectively hinging on his inability to decide on what he wants.
Will and Swan's romance is pushed into the background, but they stubbornly remain attached to the plot by virtue of have narrative ties to the first movie.
Davy Jones is the new baddie on deck this time and as most have said, Bill Nighy The Vampire Guy makes for a likable rumbling performance on par with the CG likes of Andy Serkis as Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Davy Jones, design-wise, is arguably more impressive visually given his facial tentacles which have to have been most of the most crazy difficult things to animate realistically, draping and flowing objects those, particularly when they're supposed to fall and move against each other tend to test the extreme limits of what physics emulation can do. You can generally tell quality animation from how well they manage this recurring concept.
The rampant CG appears, to me at least, to look better than the somewhat cheesy skeletons of the first movie, not just quality-wise but also in design. It was cool to see actors rapidly shift from live-action to CG, that must of been and incredible challenge, but I must admit I liked the Flying Dutchman crew better due to the fact that each of them looks to have uniquely adopted elements of the sea into their bodies.
I feel the action ramps up this time around too, with Will and Swan pushed closer to the background, Norrington and our two other comedy relief from the first movie come closer to the foreground, regularly rotating which of them share scenes together and eventually pitting their allegiances against each other like real pirates. The cannibal island sequence is a fun distraction (even if I personally loathe how The Dog gets the shaft at the end), but the highlight for me comes with the three-way fight between Will, Norrington, and Jack which is played seriously just as much as it's played for laughs.
This three-way however comes with the unfortunate caveat however that Swan has officially transitioned into Bitch Mode. They make a feeble attempt to piratize her along the way, but it's only enough to offset the in-world sexism that compartmentalizes her character, it's not enough to help how she's written.
There's just something profoundly facepalmy about a woman, teeth-bared and threatening a port authority at the point of a gun to his face being immediately followed by her reaching down, lifting up her dress, and shuffling away. That's like a drug dealer acting like a grandmaster pimp right before he sees a cop and trips over his own pants because his crotch is at his knees.
When she's just standing there alone, screaming at a swordfight which verges dangerously on a "boys will be boys" moment, I've pretty much lost any interest in seeing her live. If she dies, good, I don't care, she's just another impotent female character with scarcely anything I would term a redeeming quality.
And then the ending, which it seems everyone complains about.
It's a CLIFFHANGER. Frankly, I don't get people's hate for such things, I thought it was a damn good cliffhanger. Jack has his climactic face-off with the Kraken and we see the return of an enjoyable personality from the first movie without warning making for a solid twist to leave off on. I consider it an exceptional ending, one that definitely hypes me to see the sequel.
If there's one criticism I have of the ending it is that it sets up At World's End as a "search for Jack" story when it's SWAN... THAT KILLED HIM.
What the hell, bitch? Seriously? He comes back to save your ass and you leave him to die? Then you're all tears and sorry goin' on about you'll "go to the ends of the earth" to save him?
YOU COULDN'T STAND TO FIT HIM IN A ****IN' ROWBOAT!
Bonus points to the music. Solid soundtrack. I swear I've heard that Davy Jones theme somewhere before though, hmmmm...