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The highest-grossing film of the year by a wide margin, Dead Man's Chest certainly captured the public's imagination, but at first not mine. On first viewing the film's flaws seemed quite substantial and almost scuppered the film (read my cinema review here). Repeated viewings, however, have brought the film's many positive elements to the fore, to the extent that it now may be my favourite of 2006's summer blockbusters. The film owes a lot to the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, as much of its success derives from the return of that film's hugely entertaining characters, principally Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). DMC sometimes seems to try too hard to be funny - such as the Looney Tunes-esque set-piece on the cannibal island - but the fact remains that the character of Jack Sparrow, mainly thanks to Depp, is a wonderful one.
As now seems obligatory for middle parts of trilogies, the tone is darker this time round, but there are, crucially, still numerous extremely entertaining sequences. The most impressive is a three-way swordfight that traverses a whole island via a runaway waterwheel, which may well be the greatest swordfight in cinema history. The CGI is also absolutely stunning, making Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) perhaps the most convincing computer-generated character ever (2005's King Kong is the only one that compares in terms of effects quality). The flaws of the film, primarily a muddled narrative and convoluted midsection, mean that Dead Man's Chest does not match up to its predecessor, but I now think that it comes pretty close.
The extras
Going by the Making Of documentaries on the second disc, it's a wonder that the film got made at all. The refreshingly honest special features make no attempt to gloss over the film's various production problems brought about by a rushed schedule. Everything seems like it was done in the wrong order, with the script to be one of the last things to be completed in pre-production. The lengths that the filmmakers went to in making the film and the logistics of the operation are staggering. Two documentaries form the bulk of the extras; the 30-minute "Charting the Return", which covers the development process, and the 60-minute "According to Plan", which follows the hectic on-location filming. There are also several shorter featurettes, including two on the CGI creation of Davy Jones and the Kraken, and one about the choreography of the various swordfighting scenes. Disc 1 contains an amusing blooper reel and a commentary from the screenwriters. Overall, the only other thing that could be asked for is some deleted scenes, which I guess may be included with the POTC3 DVD. Or maybe Disney will release a 3-disc edition for this film, like they did with the first one (which would be slightly annoying).
The summary
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is an entertaining crowdpleaser. The 2-disc set is excellent and well worth a purchase.
