Yes, true believers. Jack’s back, the monkey & the Sparrow. The 1st is undead as ever (if you recall the little scene after the end credits of The Curse of the Black Pearl, lil’Jack came back & took 1 of the Aztec gold coin) & spends his time on the Black Pearl as target practice for Cap’n Jack, who incidentally is the 2nd, & he too is back in all his glory. Add to it the majority of the 1st Pirates of the Caribbean cast, new characters & you got the sequel, Dead Man’s Chest.Allow me to digress for a bit. I left FRC at 1315 for the 1330 Dead Man’s Chest screening & I didn’t have a ticket yet. :D Walked bloody fast to Angel & reached VUE cinemas at slightly more than half the normal time I take leisurely (that ended as my brisk walk for the day), with less than 5 minutes to spare. VUE has ticket machines for self purchase tickets & ticket counters. On weekdays, probably due to lesser crowd, the ticket counters are closed & patrons need to buy tickets from the concession stand. I needed to buy my ticket from the stand as I wanted to use a discount coupon. To my horror, both the queues at the concession stand were packed with giggling school girls on a school trip to watch some movie (bless their teachers as I never had that when I was in primarily school). Besides hoping that I can still make it for the movie whose screening starts in like 2 minutes, I made a short prayer that these kids are not watching the same show. I ended up getting my ticket about 1345. Knowing VUE, the movie may just be starting (the only start showing trailers at the advertised movie start time, not 5-10 minutes before) but I took the 2pm show instead since they had more than 1 cinema screening the movie. Killed time at Borders.
Dead Man’s Chest run a whopping 2.5 hours long & it was really fun all the way through. Critics said it dragged a bit, I felt I wanted more at the end of it. If the 1st movie had Jack Sparrow making his intro by arriving to port in style on a sinking boat, this time we see him making his way to the Black Pearl in a… dead man’s chest (go see it, ain’t gonna spoilt it for thee). Jack this time is looking for a little treasure that can help him settle a debt with Davy Jones, a legendary pirate captain of the Flying Dutchman, a ghostly ship. He apparently rules the ocean & is an unnatural being, with a squid for a face & all. The pretty boy & pretty girl from the 1st movie gets thrown into the mix when on their rainy wedding day, they are arrested by some East India Trading Company big shot, who then blackmails Will Turner into retrieving a compass from Jack Sparrow in return for him & Elizabeth Swann’s freedom. The feisty lady eventually escapes from prison & proceeded towards helping her lover procure the artifact in question. Well basically, that’s the plot.
I loved the locations, sets, costumes & the CGI effects. The characters are fun to watch, especially Cap’n Jack who basically carried the movie on his conceited shoulders. The effects of his ‘uniqueness’ has somewhat diminished from the 1st movie – I attribute this towards me already familiar with his character. Will Turner, on the other hand, is your typical likeable swashbuckler who is the moral opposite of Jack Sparrow. Davy Jones & his crew from the ocean depths, with their mutated human/ocean creature looks, reminds me of cartoon characters brought to life, only scarier. If you thought the cursed pirates of the Black Pearl was cool, wait till you see the crew of the Flying Dutchman. The ship itself is a sight to behold.
Mind you, this is a ‘pirate’ movie & hence, 1 can expect some backstabbing, deceit, self-centeredness, lying et al in good humoured fun. Having said that, I really didn’t expect those nice twists in the end, especially the 1 from a character whom you’d not expect to behave like a pirate. What of it? Well, go see for thyself the ‘betrayal’ & more.
As with other movies I watch in London, I won’t spend my quids unless I believe I’d derive some money’s worth enjoyment. Dead Man’s Chest is well worth it. On a closing note, do stay in thy seat until the end of the rather lengthy closing credits as similar to The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest has a brief snippet at the end of it too. To invoke you patience, I say this much: it reveals the fate of a supporting character left on an island by the crew of the Black Pearl. Savvy?
Till later, live long & prosper.
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