Lightning Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Review #103

Synopsis
The East India Trading Company, led by the relentless Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), along with the immortal Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), are making it difficult to be a pirate on the seven seas. With help from Captain Sao Feng (Yun-Fat Chow), Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) leads an expedition to retrieve Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from Davy Jones’ Locker for the gathering of the pirate lords.

Review
One of the things I liked about the previous Pirates of the Caribbean films was how they dabbled in the supernatural. At World’s End continues that trend but takes it slightly too far. It just becomes too wrapped in it’s absurdity to stand on the same level as The Curse of the Black Pearl. This film is much more action driven than the previous films, which is part of the cause for the crazy story. As the third installment in the trilogy, it has the benefit of being able to top its predecessors in terms of action. The action is the most intense and dramatic of either The Black Pearl or Dead Man’s Chest. The final fight scene, between Davy Jones’ crew and the pirate lords is one of the largest sequences short of a Michael Bay movie. It is well choreographed and the camera does a good job of keeping the action in frame and is not too jarring or shaky. At World’s End embraces its supernatural elements maybe a little too much, but has some of the biggest and exciting set pieces of the series, so it at least has a decent entertainment value.

Rating
3/5

Also check out my reviews for The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, and On Stranger Tides.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Gore Verbinski – Director
Ted Elliott – Writer
Terry Rossio – Writer
Hans Zimmer – Composer

Johnny Depp – Jack Sparrow
Geoffrey Rush – Captain Hector Barbossa
Orlando Bloom – Will Turner
Keira Knightly – Elizabeth Swann
Bill Nighy – Davy Jones
Kevin McNally – Gibbs
Tom Hollander – Cutler Becket
Jack Davenport – Norrington
Lee Arenberg – Pintel
Mackenzie Crook – Ragetti
Stellan Skarsgard – Bootstrap Bill
Naomie Harris – Tia Dalma
Yun-Fat Chow – Captain Sao Feng
Jonathan Pryce – Governor Weatherby Swann
David Bailie – Cotton
Martin Klebba – Marty
Reggie Lee – Tai Huang
Keith Richards – Captain Teague
Ghassan Massoud – Captain Ammand
Hakeem Kae-Kazim – Captain Jocard
Takayo Fischer – Mistress Ching
Capitaine Chevalle
Sergio Calderon – Captain Vallenueva