Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) by Aodhan R — 13 Nov 2014

Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio's screenplay is more misguided than their previous work on 'The Dead Man's Chest.' This time around 'At World's End' is another action-packed pirate adventure movie that's dark tone, like the last sequel, can't even live up to the classic Pirate adventure movie 'Curse of the Black Pearl.' Johnny Depp returns within the first half an hour of the movie, with a strange imagination. I thought it was a great idea to have Jack Sparrow have a weird imagination or hallucination in which the audience see that he's ordering a bunch of crew members, that are strangle and funnily himself.

The movie begins with the characters Will Turner ( Orlando Bloom ), Elizabeth Swann ( Keira Knightley ) and Captain Barbosa ( Geoffrey Rush ), as they attempt to seek a way to find the access to sail to Davy Jones' Locker, in an effort to find and rescue Jack.

Will and Elizabeth are back to their usual romance. Here, it is worse than ever. Yet again they're both madly devoted to one another and aren't too connected with the other characters. It was fine in 'Curse of the Black Pearl' as it fell into the plot well and began the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, when Will set him free from the jail of Port Royal. In 'Dead Man's Chest' it took an odd turn as they got seperated from one another and just couldn't wait to bond again and marry properly. And now in the latest 'At World's End' they're back to their awful unbreakable romance again, and I'm sure the audience would have rather been saved from the boredom.

The five most favourable characters would probably be Jack Sparrow, Barbosa, Gibbs ( Kevin McNally ) and Pintel & Ragetti ( Lee Arenberg & Mackenzie Crook ). Gibbs is back to his usual cleverness as he plays the part of 'commander in chief' when it comes to operations carried out by the crew members on inland missions. That's why I've always been fond of Gibbs. He's just the perfect Allie. And there couldn't be more humourous Captains nor leaders than the competitors of the 'Black Pearl': Sparrow and Barbosa. Most of the fun on the sideline comes from the comic relief characters Pintel and Regetti. I never get tired of listening to their insanely funny jokes and weirdness, constantly, all over again.

The usual villains return: Davy Jones ( Bill Nighy ), Cutler Beckett ( Tom Hollander ) and Mercer ( David Schofield ). With the addition of Governor Swann ( Jonathan Pryce ) Bill Turner ( Stellan Skarsgaard ), Norrington ( Jack Davenport ) and Tia Dalma ( Naomi Harris ). Newcomer in a supporting role is Yun Chow-Fat as São Feng.

It's another massive voyage into the world of misadventure and the protagonists find themselves caught up in more danger than ever and very soon War is to be called upon, if freedom is to be fought for. The stakes are high and sea is widely and endlessly extended to the point where there's no choice, but to fight! Not exciting as it's predecessors, but the dark tone and humour is enough to satisfy with.