I tried to walk into Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End with an open mind. I tried to remember the things I had enjoyed about Dead Man’s Chest (Johnny Depp’s performance, some well-staged action sequences) and forget all the things I hadn’t (pretty much everything else). I wanted to give this movie a fair shake. I wanted to enjoy myself for a couple of hours. But man, was that ever tedious! My summer of disappointing blockbuster sequels continues.
There’s maybe a single scene in World’s End that I thought worked, that was genuinely enjoyable, clever, and well staged. Unfortunatley, that scene comes more than two hours into the movie, and then there’s another forty minutes to go after that. I think Scott Tobias of the AV Club sums it up nicely:
The Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy — and At World’s End especially — stands as a lesson in the perils in blockbuster filmmaking: What started out as a fleet one-off swashbuckler with novel supernatural elements has become loaded and graceless, with each new entry barreling across the goal line like William “The Refrigerator” Perry. The franchise’s two chief assets — the surprise of Depp’s swishy pirate and Gore Verbinski’s dexterity at directing slapstick action sequences — have been eclipsed by expository scenes that confuse even more deeply in their attempt to clear things up. Should the franchise warrant still another sequel, the dialogue might as well be in Esperanto.
And not to give too much away, but the movie definitely does set itself up for a sequel.
I seriously doubt I’ll be going to see it.
