Cutler Beckett, however, is still on the hunt for Pirates, and using Davy Jones as his personal tool (Beckett has Jones’s heart and therefore commands him), helps put into motion the final battle (until the next movie) between the British fleet with the Flying Dutchman, and the pirate fleet with the Black Pearl.
Throughout all this, Will Turner struggles with his relationships with Elizabeth and with his father, Bootstrap Bill. In order to free Bootstrap, Will would have to give up Elizabeth, something he is unsure he wants to do.
It’s a maddening, confusing maelstrom of logic, illogic, humor, and swashbuckling. And while I will not mount an attack on the plot holes, plot flaws, and dropped plot lines, it must be said that the film, weighing in at a mammoth 167 minutes, certainly ought to be about 30 or 45 minutes shorter. Not only would this tighten up several of the lagging areas of the film, it would require the complete elimination of some of the more weak plots.
The actors are good in their roles, particularly Geoffrey Rush, who, as Captain Barbossa, seems to relish every single scenery-chewing line. His over-the-top performance, rivaling that of Depp’s from the first Pirates movie, is what the franchise is all about. Jack Sparrow seems to have received fewer good lines here and overall has less to do, but Depp still musters the energy necessary for the role, even if its charm is flagging. Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, and Orlando Bloom all deliver solid performances as well (though the differences in color of Keira Knightley’s roots from scene to scene is disturbing, this is more a hair/makeup problem than an acting one).
The supporting cast is even more colorful here than in the previous installments in the franchise, with Lee Arenberg (Pintel) and Mackenzie Crook (Ragetti) still leading the way. Naomie Harris remains fantastic in her role, and happily she is utilized to a greater degree here than in the last picture. Sadly underused is Jack Davenport as Admiral Norrington, who, though in few scenes, shows a depth of character lacking in others more often on camera in the trilogy.
Article comments
1 - Lisa McKay
Congratulations! This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and Boston.com, which will allow even more readers to enjoy it.
2 - Mary K. Williams
Thanks for the review TV&FG - still looking forward to it
3 - Mythophile
Now, now. You're being overly critical. Pirates is supposed to be a fun franchise, not a philosophical movie. This stuff is common in the fantasy genre. Granted some of the logic is stretched and too many characters take actions based on hunches(actually, I would find this in character for pirates). Several scenes are too long. There are, however, no actual plot holes; there are only gaps where things could have been explained more clearly.
Becket ordered Jones to kill the Kraken as a loyalty test, presumably to see if having Jones' heart would have any effect on Jones.
4 - saucyJack
I think that Jack may have lost his immature charm simply because this is the movie where he grows up after his little 'father-son' talk.
Still, they seemed to like to make him jerk-ish in the past two movies.