Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jack Sparrow	Johnny Depp
Will Turner	Orlando Bloom	½
Elizabeth Swann	Keira Knightley	½
Norrington	Jack Davenport
Davy Jones	Bill Nighy
Governor Swann	Jonathan Pryce
Pintel	Lee Arenberg
Ragetti	Mackenzie Crook
Gibbs	Kevin McNally
Lord Cutler Beckett	Tom Hollander	½
Bootstrap Bill	Stellan Skarsgård
Tia Dalma	Naomie Harris

Review

Unfortunately, a sign of the times is not only the increasing number of movie series, but now also movie series with a cliffhanger ending. It's hard to think of a less noble or artistically motivated tendency in the business. Dead Man's Chest has every hallmark of a mass produced, money squeezing, hustle and bustle of a film.

With that said, and even if it is a carbon copy of a good idea, and even if it is an offensively overblown piece of action junk, the film still has Johnny Depp in that role of his. He isn't helped as much by well-written witty dialogue this time around, but he still stands out as the one element that carries this film. Depp brings a handful of details and such a delightful mixture of moral and selfishness to his role that he actually manages to make what should have been a stereotype into someone with delightfully recognizable human flaws. That is a thankful contrast to every other character in this film, all of which are uninteresting and flat, but some of which are partly engaging and/or funny. The latter is, however, not an adjective that frequently pops to mind when thinking about Dead Man's Chest. The writing is nowhere near the level of The Curse of the Black Pearl and the idiotic, over-choreographed action scenes are tedious at their best. As usual with Gore Verbinski, he has no idea of when to stop, and he shows a minimum sense of flair when it comes to action sequences. What was a moderately interesting plot halfway through eventually turns into an undefinable pulp towards the end. Unfortunately, the trilogy (if one can use that word without offending the term) will be completed next year. I'd rather sit and watch Johnny Depp's mimicry for a couple of hours.