*** Official PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Dead Man's Chest Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Pirates 2 DMC looks to be a fun summer movie. I checked Rotten Tomatoes today and was surprised about the bad reviews. Huh?

James Bs review.........
http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/mo...aribbean2.html

Anyone going to check out a Thursday night viewing tonight?

The reviewers are definitly mixed on this one...currently 53% at RT.

So this guy is being heralded as the greatest CGI characterization yet....

Just saw the midnight showing. Great movie, great cliffhanger.
But I just have to comment on that new Walt Disney Pictures opening logo.
It is seriously the best studio opening animation ever. Just wait till you guys check it out. It was beautiful. I can't wait to own this on Blu-Ray so I can repeat those 15 seconds over and over. It really is that good. Haha.

I thought the first one was ok but didnt really understand what all the fuss was about. Johnny Depp was great and it was enjoyable enough though. I think this is definitely a case of if you liked the first one, you will probably enjoy the second one because it is basically more of the same, though from my point of view I think I enjoyed this one more.

Having said that I thought the actions of a particular main character towards the the end of the film was a misguided attempt by the creators to shock the audience in some way. Problem is whilst at the time it is surprising, when you think about it for a minute, what has come before in both films makes the actions of this character completely ridiculous and unbelievable and spoils the film, especially since the consequences are what set up the third film.

I am referring to Elizabeth handcuffing Jack to the boat which effectively is murder. It also doesn't bode well for the third film. The highlight of both has been Depp and if the third is going to be a Search For Jack Sparrow type of film, he is going to be absent for a large portion of it. Or if he isnt and they bring him back pretty quickly then it might come across as a cheap way of killing off the character and bringing him back.

awesome

Well, I now know why there are many negative reviews on RT. This movie was completely underwhelming. I love the first one for the charm, excitement and adventure it took you on. DMC is nowhere near as charming, exciting and the adventure is just not interesting at all. Everything feels forced, like the film makers where trying to force DMC to be as good as the first movie. IMO, Davy Jones is not the “greatest CGI characterization yet” because his character and his crew is rather boring. The movie also felt about 30-40 minutes too long. The whole sequence with Sparrow’s crew and Turner captured by natives on the island could be cut. It is at least 20 minutes that has nothing to do with the plot of the film except to get Turner and Sparrow back together. They could have reunited them in many different ways that could have spared us from many pointless minutes of film time. I don’t like the fact that they brought Barbossa back. I don’t care what reasons anyone comes up with, in the storyline of the first film he was killed and now puff, he’s back.
Sorry for the negative rant but, I was so excited about this movie because I love the first one so much and have been completely let down. DMC is just another sequel that tries way to hard to be as fun and entertaining as the first film. I left the theater with zero interest in seeing how the story ends in Pirates 3. What a let down, and it is a shame that this movie will crush Superman at the BO because it is no where near as good a film. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions to quickly and the film will grow on me in the coming days. Right now though, I just didn’t have fun in this movie. It didn’t receive any applause at the end which is the first time I’ve been to a midnight show and the film didn’t receive some type of applause. Please remember that these are just my opinions and I’m not trying to force anyone to agree with me (this is just how I feel after seeing the film). For what it’s worth, I also prefer the simplicity of the old Disney logo although the new is pretty cool looking.

Simon,

I disagree with Eliazabeth's choice being out of character. To me, it's the realization of her character. In the first film she's obsessed with priates, she romanticizes about them. And she's never cured of it. When she kisses Will at the close of the first film she says, "No, he's a priate." The fact that Will acted like a pirate is a turn on. Everyone tried to tell her they were bad, but she wouldn't be swayed.

But, at the end of the second when she locks Jack to the Pearl, she acts like a pirate for the first time, i.e. selfishly. Jack even calls her on it, calling her, "Pirate." Then she immediately begins to feel pangs of guilt. She's a good person, and is torn up by it, which is why she'll sail to world's end to get him back, to take back that bad choice.

I thought that was the most exciting development in the movie.

I actually thought the Disney logo was highly ironic. They specifically didn't tag the beginning of the first film since it was Disney's first PG-13 film. They were scared that branding it with the official Walt Disney Pictures logo, instead of Touchstone, would tick off parents. Now, the sequel gets a huge, splashy logo at its head. Highly ironic.

Chad,

I just read your review in the other thread and I think you nailed it for why I didn't enjoy it. I will admit that the second half of the movie was more entertaining then the first but for me, when we finally got to that half I had lost interest in the plot.

Well, I'm back and have to agree with the mixed reviews. Slowish beginning, great stunts and effects, lacking some of the cleverness as the original. There wasn't the "neat" moment of the first movie's, "That's gotta be the best pirate I've ever seen." Capt'n Jack didn't have as many funny "out there" lines.

I couldn't understand everything the ?swamp witch said, anyone else have problems? I didn't appreciate how good the sea encrusted pirates were until they came out into the sunlight. And I thought the extra scene at the end of the credits was great. But, as aways, there was only a couple of us that stayed in the theatre to appreciate it.

I am sure it will improve on a second viewing but I will wait till the DVD comes out.

Note: Do not wait around for the post-credits stinger. It was pretty lame after sitting through 10 minutes of credits....

Enjoyable but ultimately underwhelming. Great sequels raise the stakes for the characters and take them in interesting directions. Here, the characters stay exactly the same as they were in the first movie almost until the end. Elizabeth's actions are very interesting and, though a bit out of left field, are the type of stuff I wanted to see more of this time around.

Depp's performance is just fine but I think the writing for his character has regressed. It's been a while since I saw the first film, but my ultimate impression of Sparrow there was that while he was certainly unique in his methods, he was ultimately very competent. In Dead Man's Chest I didn't get that feeling of competance and he feels almost buffoonish. Unfortunately this fails the picture in two ares- first, in Elizabeth's seeming attraction to him- I'm not seeing it here at all. Second, in everyone vowing to go to World's End to get him back. Didn't buy it. Other than his little stand at the end, I don't see how he really did anything in the second film to engender any loyalty from his crew or Will and Elizabeth (though her desire to right her wrong is far more understandable). Indeed, Depp spends most of the film betraying these people.

The direction really needed a much lighter touch. Everything from the running time, the editing, and the production design, to the visual effects and the music (which seemed a direct merge of Baudelt's PotC theme and Zimmer's Rock score) screamed excess to the point that almost bordered on obscene. And I agree with someone else's comment on the rescue from the natives early in the film not belonging- that thing should have been excised at the script stage.

It was still fun but a lesser film than the first and it's disappointing that all of the ambition here seemed to be put into the production values and not into the script.

I thought this movie was the same thing as the first one. That's not a knock, I mean that it's got all the same elements that I liked about the original- Johnny Depp wisecracks, swordfighting, spooky stuff and ship battles. Maybe it helps that I only enjoyed and not loved the first one so I wasn't counting the days to this one. In my mind, if you liked the first one, you'll like the sequel. Apparently not everyone shares that opinion though.

My only problem was that it was overlong (just like the first one) but thanks to Lord Of The Rings nearly all blockbuster movies are now at least 30 minutes longer than they should be.

What was it?

Nothing great but I thought it was a fun bit.

The post credit sequence:

The cannibals are dancing around, celebrating their new chief...the dog who was left behind.

Cute, but not necessary to sit through the credits.

Chad
Still not buying it Im afraid. Yes she is fascinated by pirates but the development of her character over the course of both films does not in any way make her actions believable at the end of the film, regardless of the remorse she feels after. She basically killed him and even Sparrow as the "hero" of the film would not have done what she did to another "good" character in the film.

It just felt to me like the writers were trying to throw in a shock for the sake of it without thinking it through. If there had been development in the film to suggest Elizabeth's change in character, then I could have accepted it but there wasn't.