by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: July 13, 2007   Last Updated: September 10, 2008

As with Back to the Future before it, the final two parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy were filmed back to back. Generally it's believed that Back to the Future 2 let the side down a bit before the finale in 1885 finished the series off with a bang. People have said similar things about Pirates, but I'm not so sure it applies, really.

To me, Dead Man's Chest was a flawless continuation of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, expanding the story beyond the fairly low-key antics of Curse of the Black Pearl, but retaining the humour and light adventure that made the first film such good fun.

Although Dead Man's Chest left a huge number of loose ends - provoking criticism that the whole film was just setting up the third part of the trilogy - it was still a hugely enjoyable movie in its own right, with mind-blowing special effects and fantastic performances from Depp and Bill Nighy. Geoffrey Rush's cliffhanger resurrection set up giddy anticipation of the finale.

And those expectations just weren't met. The resurrection of Captain Jack Sparrow was what everyone wanted to see, and what was promised by the second film's climax. To say Depp's return is anti-climactic is an understatement. Although the surreal atmosphere of the desert scenes is utterly brilliant, it goes on a bit too long, then Sparrow just sort of wanders up to his friends on a beach and it's all a bit too low-key for the epic rescue of a man trapped beyond death in a living hell.

It has to be said that in spite of this change of emphasis, the film does start brilliantly. The mass executions set the grimmer tone well, and the visit to Chow Yun Fat in Singapore is an unmistakable homage to Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi. With Will Turner obsessing about rescuing his seaweed Dad, you start to hope there might be some greater parallels with the Star Wars trilogy but... no.

Instead, the film turns into a convoluted mess about pirate lords fighting against the East India Company, with Davey Jones sailing around for no good reason. Quite what the East India Company is doing in the West Indies is never explained, but never mind. Then someone releases a sea goddess for some reason, but she doesn't seem to do anything much.

The Kraken which provided the thrills and spills for Dead Man's Chest is quietly disposed of, as is Johnathan Pryce, one of the greatest actors in the films. This was another problem for me, tossing out some of the better elements to clear the decks for the finale seemed like a weird move. I'd have got rid of the pointless commodore much earlier...

The climax focuses too much on the love affair between Will and Elizabeth, despite the fact that people are only watching the film for Johnny Depp. Geoffrey Rush's resurrection is largely pointless as he's given bog all to do, and to be honest the only thing saving the film from a Matrix Revolutions level of mediocrity is a two minute cameo from Keith Richards.

Apparently there will be a fourth installment to this franchise, so At World's End won't be the end of the story. This is excellent news, as such a talented team deserves a better swansong than this sorry mess.

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