5 is about average. 7.5-7.9 is an A-. 8-8.9 is an A. Over 9 is an A+.

it was a fun movie, but like the first it disappointed me a bit.

B

I was surprised by how into it i got. It was a little slow in the first half hour/forty minutes, but once they get off the cannibal island it really picked up. I think that basically as soon as Elizabeth met up with Jack the rest of the movie was completely solid. I thought it was interesting how Jack, Elizabeth, and Will didn't all just meet up in the first 10 minutes. I liked that they came in and out of the picture depending on what their own goals were. I was actually rather surprised at how complicated everything was. There were so many different people who had different goals and objectives, it was really refreshing. I could go on about all the things everyone has already said (Jack and how great he is, Elizabeth kicking ass, Davy Jones, that great shaman lady, etc) but you get the picture. I will be eagerly awaiting part 3 next May.

PS- I have never been to a midnight showing where the fans were so into it. Lots of people were dressed up as pirates, there was cheering when Jack made his first appearance, applause at the end, the whole thing. And i knew that i should have waited until after the end credits, but the people i was with wanted to go. I'm seeing it again tomorrow, so it's not a big deal, but just an irratation.


EDIT: i forgot the grade part. I'd say it was a solid B+. While it was slow in the beginning, it picked up and got me much more involved than the first one.

(sorry about the spelling didn't proofread, will clean up later)

Dead Man's Chest is a little bit Empire Strikes Back, a little bit Two Towers and a little bit Matrix Reloaded.

Let me explain.

Like Two Towers, I loved the themes at play in this movie, especially the idea that industry or in this case the East-India Company is coming along and filling the native's lives with utensils, fine silver and little by little eliminating the culture and the magic in this world. Like Lord of the Rings, Dead Man's Chest is a world filled with supernatural magic that is slowly being tamed by the British Navy. It echos the fact that there is only one Pirate port left and the Black Pearl may be the last actual pirate ship. It was fitting that a small chunk of the film took place on a merchant vessel instead of a battleship or a pirate ship.

Like Empire Strikes Back it has replaced some of the light hearted fun of the original with a much darker story that sometimes doesn't feel as passionate or adventurous as the origional. If the first is an action adventure film with incredibly well defined characters, this is much more of a character piece with some action adventure elements in it.

Like Matrix Reloaded, it feels a bit hollow because... well... it isn't complete. UNLIKE the Matrix, all the characters at the end of the film know what needs to happen and what everybody's position is. In this way it's also a bit like Empire Strikes Back, which, despite it being one of my favorite movies, has on the whole a really weak ending that was heightened by some surprise twists. And while the first of the two is quite interesting, and if I'm right about the third movie, the last twist of the film plays in really well to the theme.

Now, I haven't read one spoiler about the 3rd movie, but it's easy to guess that between Sparrow, Elisabeth and well... the surprise twist at the end... that the third movie will be about redemption. It was something muttered in the first Pirates movie ("Hell is reserved for mutineers") and almost all of these characters have done something that they need to be redeemed for or find some sort of "salvation" for. And it will involve women, the sea, and love, and finding Davy Jones' belle (the voodoo witch lady had the same amulet... hmmmmmmmmmmm).

All in all, while I was slightly let down (the screenplay when it comes to Sparrow isn't as good, but surprisingly is MUCH better for Will, Elisabeth, and some of the others), the more I think about it the more I think it was a pretty solid and pretty good second part to what is turning out to be a tough act to follow. I think time will be very kind to this film and UNLIKE Matrix Reloaded I think that this series is headed towards a truly epic finale.

One thing I would have changed about the beginning is I would have concentrated on Will and Elisabeth and led Will to the island and introduced Jack with the Natives (and then, work the way back into the story of why he is on the island), although the studio would never go for that because it would mean that Jack wasn't shown til 20 minutes into the movie.

As always, the production design on the film is amazing and this one outdoes everything since Kong/Goblet of Fire. Cinematography is great as well. Solid and realistic, but amazing. Davy's crew members were wonderful. You could tell they were CG, but they still sold it and they didn't look too terribly out of place with the environment.

^ I think that whilst Johnny Depp is great, the film actually sacrificed some vital narrative cogs to accomodate him as the central core, changing the dynamic slightly from the original - for better or worse.

By the way the opening shots of Keira Knightly were fantastic - my favourite scene of the movie aside from the fight scene with the waterwheel

Yeah, I agree with that. I kinda felt there was a couple characters that were added in which didn't need to be (like the 2 bumbling Pirate guys and the monkey) just to kind of fufill that "sequel" role, it really could have been played by any random 2 guys. It didn't really detract from it IMHO but it could have been better (again, the first Pirates movie isn't what I would call a lesson in how to properly structure a movie)


I agree. I actually enjoyed the first twenty or so minutes minus the Jack scenes (see my reasons above if ya missed them) and I thought it moved well.

Did anybody else noted that poor Mr. Collins/Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) gets to be in all these scenes with Kira Knightly and she's always mean to him!

I had a good time at Dead Man's Chest. It wallowed in excess for most of its running time (the prison ball and water wheel could definitely have done with a bit of shortening) and perhaps lost a little of the charm the first one had, but it still maintained a great sense of adventure and fun, all while sporting tremendous production values.

I rewatched the first movie last night as a refresher and was pleased to see so many nods, winks and continuations of situations and characters from it. The two bumbling pirates actually had some of the best scenes and lines in Dead Man's Chest and I'm glad they brought them back. I'm especially delighted that Barbosa (one of the main attractions of Curse of the Black Pearl) will be along for the ride in the next installment. That was a real cracker of an ending, for sure. And the post-credit sequence with that mangy mutt got one of the biggest laughs from the remaining audience in my theatre (I hope they go back for him in 3 ). Visual effects were astonishingly good, an early favourite for the academy award in my opinion, as some of the effects on these guys faces seemed more like elaborate practical make-up and not cgi (there still may have been some kind of a blend, the special features will be a good watch). Incredible design work on the creature pirates, their ship and the Kraken, all of which held up to scrutiny under harsh sunlight. Impressive.

I really hope the human villain of this piece, I'll refer to him as the stuffy bureaucratic midget since he was otherwise so unmemorable, will make a greater impression in the next movie, as he now possesses Davy Jones' heart. I really couldn't grasp what the hell he was on about in his scenes, serious documents flying left and right, and it kind of stalled out in those moments.

B+

Hollywood- as per usual, the big writers have sought the low road.. Not more humor, but more dakness... Last time several of the characters were comical.. post-modern Elizabeth, an inept pirate... Now we have a morality play... And could someone turn down the music??
basically, it seemed like a cross between Indian Jones and a Bob Hope 'road movie'............ a poor cross...
C,C,C,C

BJs Grade:

A

100% awesome film, the kraken theme was flat out creepy along with the kraken itself. Jack is once again the man. Fantastic ending I cant wait for Pirates 3

Pretty much everything I could have hoped for in a Pirates sequel.

A

Except it's better than either. I pity the Indy 4 team for having to headbutt this.

A/A-

Loved it. Not quite as good as the first for me, but still extremely solid.

The good: The acting was all great, the action was fantastic, the reintroduction of many of the characters worked, The CGI was brilliant, the cliffhangers both worked, and the movie flew by incredibly fast for me, it almost felt too short.

The bad: It took a little long to get going, the first 30 minutes was a bit lull and useless. I still don't know why Jack was on that island, thanks to these dumb girls talking behind me(more on that later). I also thought that that they didn't exactly... do much? in this movie. The plot was obviously more complex, but it felt like lots of setup to plot points rather than the plot playing out through events. It's really a minor complaint though, really.

Anyways, let's talk about that CGI here for a minute. Was I the only one who thought the Kraken looked absolutley amazing? The underside of it's tentacles were basically real, it was perfect.

...

Now those people talking behind me, I know this is offtopic, but I need somewhere to bitch. These bitches are the absolute worst kind of moviegoers out there. Absolute worst. First of all, they're not even there to see the movie. I heard one of them talking, apparentley she hadn't even seen the first one, she was only there because this was the hotspot of the night. Let alone annoyance, this was a sold out show, that's 6-7 tickets that people desperatley wanted! Ugh. So really, there were only there to talk, and talk, and talk. Basically non stop, blasting their mouths off, with no regard to anyone watching. I told them to shut the fuck up about 10 times during just the first 40 minutes, and some 9 year old kids sitting near me told them that they were mentally retarded, but of course being completley ignorant, they just giggled away. Then one of them put their foot on my chair, just because they think I'm faulty for bitching at them. So naturally I whacked it off with rage, and which point came more giggles and "Oh my god that guy is such a loser!" looks. Thankfully they left for 20 minutes in the middle of the movie, to stand outside and talk(yes, they really weren't there for anything related with Pirates...at all), so at that point I was able to get caught up enough in it that when they came back quieted down a bit, I was able to block themselves off as I was at that point already in my movie watching zone. But fuck, I was so filled with rage tonight. Grr...

You should've cut their fucking heads off.

But that's just me...

Shack went from an A- to an A in 7 minutes?

Awsome movie, almost on par with the first one

A

lol, I don't know what happened there. I cut the whole thing because I was going to make a thread in Cinemania about bad moviegoers, then decided against it and pasted it back here, but pressed the reply button instead of edit I guess? I had no idea how my grade changed though, or why I copied the entire review .

Final grade is A/A-.

Who here thought it was better than the first? Or am I the only one?

By the way, was anybody else completley expecting Davy Jones to go "Noooooooooooo!!!" when he opened the chest at the end. I know I was .

Luke, Vadar, Doc Ock, young Vadar, Voldemort, it would've just been the latest in an already classy lineup. It was the perfect set-up really, and all his actions opening it as well as the camera-work was set up amazing for it. They just gave him the wrong words to say.

"Damn you, Jack Sparrow!!!" is still pretty great though.

I'm with you. For the same reasons as well.

Pirates - Dead Mans Chest grade B

Well my wife wanted to get out this weekend and see the latest installment of Pirates. I knew it was going to be crazy everywhere so I loaded up the family for something a little different. The drive-in double feature!!! This was a bit of a mistake for a movie we all really wanted to see. The movie started at about 9pm and there was still a slight bit of light out. So for the first 15min or so you couldn't really make out what was going on. Secondly they were having audio trouble (which is broadcast to the radio of the car) a loud crackling over the soundtrack. This went on for about 45min and a small portion of the crowd choose to leave. Drive-ins are not the place for DTS soundtracks and a crystal clear picture.
This leaves it hard for me to give a fair rating for DMC. It definitely was a fun movie but the story didn't pull me in like the first. I must say, I didn't see that ending coming. The action was over the top and the effects were great. Seemed like a great summer popcorn flick... Still and all something just seemed missing and I'm blaming my experience on that. For now I'm rating it a 'B'. I plan on seeing it again in a week or two in a real theater sitting in the sweet spot. I'm positive my grade will go up but how high is the question. I have to add, I don't see this movie making these astronomical finals that some are predicting. It wasn't a Spiderman or ROTS, you could just feel that. 300-350mil at best.

I have to add, it was packed at the drive-in. We left later than I had wanted to and there was a line of cars leading in. I couldn't tell you how many car loads of people where there but I'd have to guess over 200. Before the movie started, children were running around playing in the field next to the screen. Most, including myself brought folding chairs and blankets along with radios to sit outside their vehicles to watch the movies (the kids sat outside for both movies, my wife and I spent most of the time in the truck). I cant explain it but going felt like a big party event, the likes of a tailgate party outside a stadium.

The second film was Cars. It seemed like a standard Disney movie. Enjoyable but nothing new. Wasn't up with the likes Nemo. Again, because of the setting its hard to give it a fair grade. I'll also give it a 'B' for now.

I thought it was better as well.

I thought the special effects were better.

But overall I am not too overly concerned about which one is better. To me it's more important that they flow together and the quality isn't too off from one to the other, and I think Pirates 2 matches Pirates enough that I would consider it a very worthy sequel.

I quite liked it, actually. Much better than the original, which I was not a fan of. It still suffers from being a bit too long in the tooth like the first, but it has a brisker clip and a far more interesting story. I also loved, loved, loved the creature effects/design. Almost every member of Davy Jones' crew is a marvel in practical/CGI blending.

So, yeah... it's fun but overly long, has fantastic technical aspects, some good performances (though I was slightly let down by Depp, who I thought was better in the first), and one of the better endings I've seen this year.

I was pleasently surprised.

B+

I gave the original a C, for comparison.

Glad you liked it.

The first third did seriously drag; that whole island sequence seemed gratuitous, though the natives may have more background to them than it looks. We'll have to see.

Story depth is definitely improved, with real drama replacing the juvenile.

PS I cracked up upon seeing that hammerhead shark. :p

I have difficulties when deciding whether to put a + or - on my grades, so I'll just rate this a solid:

A

This movie was AWESOME!!! I can't wait to go see it again!

Joy