Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

I was a big fan of the first two movies — I think I’m even in the minority who actually liked the second film better than the first… Davy Jones and the giant squid were awesome. And so it is sad to have to report that I was pretty disappointed with this, the third and final film of the trilogy.

The problem with the film is pretty straightforward: too much talking, and not enough swashbuckling. It stopped being fun, somehow. The vast majority of the film consists of the characters standing around on ships trying to explain the convoluted plot to one another. (One of the most annoying aspects of the film was how Captain Jack Sparrow had to constantly explain the plot to himself… literally copies of himself. I guess it was supposed to be funny… but I hated it.) There was little action at all for the first two hours of the film, and none of it was as memorable as even the least action sequences from the first two films.

Granted, the final sword fight between Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones was fairly spectacular — but even that seemed too little, too late. And it’s a shame, because some of the plot twists and ideas in the last third of the film were quite good. If those plot points and ideas could have been expanded with more action, and the first boring two hours of the film chopped off, this could have been a great film.

3 and a half stars (out of 5)