Written by
Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio

Reviewed by Larry Stanley

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy,
Jonathan Pryce, Stellan Skarsgård, Tom Hollander

"You know, these clothes do not fancy you at all. It should be a dress or nothing. I happen to have no dress in my cabin."

I got to the theater at what I figured was an early time for "Pirates of The Caribbean Dead Mans Chest" but even then there was already a line starting to form. By the time 9:30 PM rolled around about a thousand people had already bought tickets and the line by now had snaked almost to the far corner of the building.
Folks were sitting in lawn chairs, drinking soda and whatever, some were playing a game at a folding table they had brought. It was interesting to look at the various people standing there for a movie. I know there were Christians, Jews and a couple of atheists because I knew them personally. But they were getting along splendidly, joking and doing dialogue from the first film.
Sure, they all had differences; race, religion, economic status but here was what America was supposed to be about. Ok, you think that is silly? Think about it; all these different people together on a hot summer night, standing in a dry, warm wind, bugs around them waiting over three hours in some cases to see a film. And they were all happy with each other.
Because of a silly movie, we were all accepting each other. Perhaps it would be nice if more movies had that affect on viewers it might cause a societal awakening, where we could all live in peace, everyone is fed and has a place to live and a job and Wild Stallions are the greatest Rock and Roll….. Oh, wait. That was Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Ok, screw it. I still think there is a simile in there somewhere.
Dead Mans Chest is not the laugh a minute almost slapstick film the first Pirates film was. Oh, there were a lot of funny lines and situation but it was a lot more serious then I had expected. To be blunt, I have seen it twice since last night and it took the second viewing to actually start to Like the film. I noticed things I missed the first time and had more of a chance to really watch the screen.
But, after I realized that DmC was not supposed to be the same as the first movie, I began to truly enjoy what was going on.
Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner are preparing for their wedding day when a foppish Lord in the British Navy arrives to arrest them both. The charge is helping Captain Jack Sparrow to escape.
What follows is a whirlwind film that moves at a pace that is sometimes hard to keep up with but always exciting. You wonder what is going to happen with each scene, and even though some of the actual scenes are predictable the way they are executed make them a winner.
Will is commissioned (re: blackmailed) into getting Jacks compass. He is informed that this is his only chance to free Elizabeth who will remain locked up. As Will travels the sea, Elizabeth's father, the governor (with Jonathan Pryce returning of course) plots to help her only to have her begin to make her own way in search of Jack.
Meanwhile, Jack is trying to escape his fate but life and luck keep handing him obstacles to overcome. Like Cannibals, roasting, falling off cliffs, typical Jack Sparrow days.
As sinister characters and henchmen abound, so do heroic fights and lots of swash-buckling. In some ways, I compare the film to the Richard Lester Three Musketeers. While the first one had lots of humor as well as action, adventure and suspense, the second one, Return of the Three Musketeers was more somber, even though it did retain milder humor and just as much action and suspense. The first Pirate film could have been enjoyed by just about anyone.
This one can as well, but some of the scenes might cause really young kids some problems at night.
I have tried to avoid telling you much about the story simply because you have to see it to actually believe it. What I am trying to do instead is tell you about the wonder, the thrill of the film.
More adventure, more fighting, more sea-tales. So far, there have only been two films I could set through more then once this summer, Superman Returns and now Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest.
I wish the rest of the summer looked this bright. Go see Pirates. It is a treat you all deserve.