Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinksi, 2006) Review

Whenever I ask people which of the Pirates of the Caribbean they like most, they normally always say Curse of the Black Pearl and I think that the only reasons for his are that it's the first film and also has Geoffrey Rush playing easily one of the best characters but...is there really anything else the first one have that the others don't? The only reason people hate the later films is because they have more problems, not that it misses anything out. So are these claims true? Let's find out.

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is reminded of a debt that he must repay to Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), the captain of the Flying Dutchman. Rather than face joining Jones' crew of the damned, Jack hatches a plan to retrieve the heart of Davy Jones with the assistance of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightly). However, Will and Elizabeth face hanging unless they assist Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) by getting his Jack's compass.

Personally, I prefer this film to the first. It returns with it's perfect tone and great acting. Johnny Depp brings back his excellent performance and works well with Bill Nighy who delivers a delightfully hammy performance and has since become my favourite character in the series. Normally I'm not one for CGI but damn has this got some excellent CGI which goes very well with Hans Zimmer's beautifully atmospheric and just downright awesome music. I'm not going to give it away but it's great to see a film with a cliffhanger and excellent twist (I think cliffhangers are dead...).

Something that this film does now is have a stronger focus on supporting characters. All I can remember from the first film is Jack, Will, Elizabeth and Barbossa. With this film, I remember much more such as Davy Jones, Beckett, Norrington (Jack Davenport) and the crew aboard the Black Pearl. It makes the series much more developed and generally a better experience.

I love having controversial opinions but if you want more, join me next time but in the meantime, Dead Man's Chest is a stronger film than the first with more going for it with an expanded cast accompanied by great acting and the use of CGI is excellent. There is much more here than in the first one thanks to a much better story.

Verdict:
8/10
A greater cast, excellent CGI, engaging story and fantastic music proves to be better than he first.