Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest

Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy and Stellan Skarsgard.

Director: Gore Verbinski

Release Date: 2006

Running Time: 2hrs 31 minutes

Genre: Adventure

Rating: PG-13

Format: DVD: 2 Disc Special Edition

Synopsis:

Captain Jack Sparrow must recover the heart of Davey Jones , to avoid his soul being taken, as other friends and people seek the heart for their own agenda as well!

Your favourite pirates are back again for the second installment in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Knightly), have been arrested by Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Co for helping Captain Jack Sparrow, escape from the British Navy. Turner finds out the only way he can release Elizabeth from prison is to find Jack Sparrow, obtain him from his seemingly broken compass and bring it to Beckett. Disney has once again proven that it's fantastic at producing sequels..The best thing you could ever do when making a movie is have the same director/writers/cinematographer follow you on the journey. So many sequels and trilogy's are ruined purely because a different director and writer are involved. Personally the storyline in "Dead Man's Chest" is my favourite in the franchise.

Jack Sparrow makes a grand entrance as usual, this time shooting his way out of a coffin. Johnny Depp reprises his role once again, beautifully. I really love that we see a bit more into his character and who he is as a person. A Captain known by many pirates and woman. Probably one too many. Depp is hilarious. We see into the character of Will Turner a lot more too and find out where his father has been all of these years. It was a nice surprise for me personally. Stellan Skarsgard is excellent as Bootstrap Bill, his character is very mysterious, Skarsgard delivers a great performance. Don't you just love a bit of mystery sometimes?  Characters Pentil and Ragetti played by Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook are fantastic, I really love that we see more of their characters in the second installment. Both very funny in their own right, they bounce off each other perfectly. They really bring the humour out in certain scenes would probably be rather boring without them. This is a real adventure.

The characters that we see on the island where Jack Sparrow finds himself marooned are very interesting, very similar to the Indian tribes living in the Amazon rain forest or on North Sentinel Island, in the Indian Ocean. I love the authenticity of the characters. Tia Dalma is a character that really took me by surprise and upon first viewing initially confused me a little bit. It's clear that Dalma and Sparrow are very familiar with one another. Naomie Harris performance is very authentic and realistic, personally one of the stronger actors in the film. Her characterization is spot on. Bully Nighy is an actor I just love, isn't he fantastic? Nighy plays Davey Jones. He doesn't actually make an appearance until almost an hour into the movie, however I think that adds a real sense of mystery to his character, especially considering how often his name crops up in the first half an hour of the film. Fantastic character actor, his character really is one to look out for in this film. Jones really is the leader of his pact, he's very dominant. Johnny Depp and Bill Nighy work particularly well on screen together. Fantastic chemistry.

One of the most memorable things about this film is the truly incredible production design. The work that has gone into each and every scene to make it look old, authentic and tacky is fantastic. The detail n Davey Jones's ship, the organ that he plays, I love it, it's fun, it's creative, it's different, it looks amazing, especially when Davey Jones is attempting to play it with his tentacles. Who thought of that? You genius. Tia Dalma's cabin, locked away in the jungles of the Caribbean. It adds to the tone of the film brilliantly, as the films progress the more they really do remind me of the ride at Disneyland. I'm afraid it's hard to explain unless you've been there. It really heightens the atmosphere and camera and allows it to look genuine not look like a set. The lighting designers really played a big part too in creating the perfect atmosphere on screen. Brilliant. The incredible make up department that really allowed Bootstrap Bill to come to life.

Set mainly in the Bahamas and St Vincent and the Grenadines, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski has captured both places beautifully allowing for some really beautiful scenes. Beautifully shot, however there are a few moments, a fight sequence on an island that I think was shot rather fast, it  does however fade into a rather humorous long shot Elizabeth Swan pretending to faint in the hope she will grab the attention of Turner and Jack Sparrow. Visually, a very stunning looking movie. The action sequences are most certainly coherently shot though, building up to a couple of very exciting scenes. Hans Zimmer really is a genius when it comes to music, just like the first movie, the score is fantastic. I love how Zimmer has chosen for a fun and inventive score to introduce Jack Sparrow, it works well with the scenes and the character. A fantastic score overall. A highly enjoyable movie!

5/5 stars