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Since the first Pirates sequel became only the third film to cross the $1 billion worldwide gross barrier, the third instalment in the franchise has been looked to as the film to beat in 2007. Dead Man's Chest received mixed reviews from the critics, but, most importantly, it generally went down well with the moviegoing public. It would be a surprise, though, if At World's End manages to top its predecessor, for two main reasons. The first of these is that when back-to-back sequels are released the second is unlikely to make as much money as the first, going on the evidence of the Back to the Future and Matrix trilogies. The other reason is that it's simply not very good. To my great disappointment (but not, it has to be said, complete surprise), it's a bloated and inconsistent mess.
Basically, AWE possesses all of DMC's flaws - of which there were quite a few - and turns them up to eleven, drowning the intermittent good bits in a sea of mediocrity (apologies for the pun). One criticism of DMC was that it was too long; AWE is longer, and feels it. Another was that the plot was too convoluted and stodgy; AWE throws in a few more characters to make it even more confusing. DMC suffered when Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) was off screen; in AWE he doesn't even show up until around the 45 minute mark. And so on.
To be honest, the 'search for Jack' section of the film isn't that bad - it certainly has a greater sense of purpose than the ridiculously muddled middle hour or so. There's also a pretty good early action set-piece in Singapore that gets things off to a promising start. But one question that came to my mind was, "why do so many middle parts of trilogies end with a main character being captured or detained somewhere?" It happened with the original Star Wars trilogy, it happened in The Matrix, and now in Pirates; all it does is end the second movie on a cliffhanger and mean that the start of the third film needs to be devoted to that character's rescue. As with the other mentioned examples, the whole rescue diversion could have been dropped with little effect on the rest of the film.
Unfortunately, even with Jack reintroduced, the problems continue and even mount up. The whole resurrection of Jack is strangely surreal and felt completely out of place to me. While the first two films had taken the real world and given it a twist of the supernatural (similar to the Indiana Jones series), AWE is completely in the realm of fantasy. Not only is it a jarring thematic shift, it also allows the writers to cheat: when they write themselves into a corner (as with the ending of DMC), they just make up some completely illogical and unexplained solution. They have a habit too of abruptly discarding plot elements when they've got nothing else to do with them - for example, the Kraken is unceremoniously ditched with a single line of dialogue, its actual death occurring offscreen between the two films.
There are good points. Keith Richards' cameo is a highlight, even though he doesn't do much. The stone crabs are cool (you'll see). Hans Zimmer's score is very good, with some appealing new themes introduced; he even does a good impression of Ennio Morricone in one scene. The effects are flawless, with one particular exception. The last 45 minutes or so, once all that pesky, cumbersome exposition is out of the way, is entertaining, although the action lacks the inspiration of the three-way waterwheel swordfight. Some bold and unpredictable directions are taken with the characters by the end. Sadly though, any film needs more than just a good third act.
Crucially, I found AWE simply lacking the enjoyment of the earlier two films. It's very dark, pretty violent, and light on comedy, which is a shame. Some character arcs are concluded satisfyingly, while others have little payoff. The writers, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, aimed for an epic scale and seemingly bit off more than they could chew. At least Johnny Depp is still present, and it is left open for a sequel (for those characters that remain at the end) - the precursors for which make it sound more appealing than this film.
The summary
A confusing, convoluted, overly talky jumble of too many elements. The odd high point doesn't sufficiently liven up almost three hours of drudgery. And I generally like long films.
[Reviewer's Note: After looking at my original Dead Man's Chest cinema review, it's clear that I made many of the same points about that film. DMC grew on me on repeat viewing, though, so I'll be interested to see if the same happens with AWE. The difference is that I liked DMC more after the first watch.]