Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Review

Much like the first sequel in the trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a film with great effects, but otherwise should never have been made. What's even sadder is that even the charm of Johnny Depp and the sex appeal of Keira Knightley couldn't save this sinking vessel.

I find it very difficult to review this film's plot, as there really isn't one, and what there is is rather pointless and confusing. After about 40 minutes I leaned over to my friend and asked him if he knew what the heck was going on, to which he replied "no." And it just... didn't... end... Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, sitting through Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End feels like you're at the end of the world (and yes, this lame joke is funner than most of the humour in the film).

Now let's see, as I recall from the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and the Black Pearl were consumed by the giant Kraken, which is the pet of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) who captain's the near invincible vessel, the Flying Dutchman. Some snooty British officer, Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander), wants the chest of Davy Jones to gain control of him and the Dutchman to further Britain's hold over the seas, and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) wants to rescue his father (Stellan Skarsgard) while at the same time being heartbroken over the belief that his beloved Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) has the hots for Jack when she actually set Jack up to die. And in the very end, some crazy voodoo lady (Naomie Harris) is hanging out with Capt. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) whom we saw die at the end of the first film.

All sad fare unto itself, but Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End goes off on a completely different tangent and really just hurts my head thinking about it. It seems that these pirates have a nasty and uncanny knowledge of life and death, and to a point how to come back from it, as well as having some vast organized society and council in which they have the power to trap ancient gods in mortal form. Yeah. Oh, and don't expect to be terrorized by that Kraken, such a major plot piece of the second film, who is conveniently taken care of this time around.

Oh, and it seems that the producer's were able to get Chow Yun-fat onto the cast, and decided to come up with his forgettable character after the fact.

The film does boast some excellent battle sequences, though I must admit those wooden ships can take quite a pounding and somehow manage to stay afloat.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mixed humour and adventure with a great plot, and it was this simple charm that made that film such a huge success. The sequels, however, have been a clutter of junk thrown together to simply milk the franchise. The humour is re-hashed and half-baked, the characters bland and oft outright ridiculous, and even the sound track, something I loved in the first film, fails to inspire.

In short, Jack and crew should sail to the edge of the world and then off it, as you'll forget most of the film in a few days anyway.