This a second movie, I mean after The curse of the black pearl, and you always expect second movies to be at least as good as their first. Unfortunately most of the time you get deluded, but I’d say Dead man’s chest is an exception to the rule. Here things become harder, more complex, more violent.

Underneath exciting action sequences with well used special effects, you can see the good and the bad sentiments compete on each character, often exchanging roles. Life is tough and often we have to pick our poison, the least bad among all bad choices, even if this means we have to do horrible things and become bad as well. Nobody would whip his son, but what if that’s the only way to avoid someone else do it with even more violence?

But hey, this not a drama, this is an action movie where each scene is a new surprise, with fantastic characters, cannibal tribes, fishmen, the horrible kraken monster, the flying dutch and dozens more shocks. It’s so fast you can hardly breathe.

You basically feel the same atmosphere that Stevenson can create in his books (there are even clear quotations), but amplified by spectacular images. Johnny Depp is so great he alone could fill the 150 minutes, but Orlando Bloom and Keira Knigthley are good as well.

The biggest defect: this movie is just a bridge to the third episode (At worlds end), and you will leave the theater disappointed by the huge suspense they put you in.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead man’s chest
USA 2006, by Gore Verbinski, Action
with Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
IMDB 383574