Dead Mans Chest Review (Part 1)

GET READY TO BE BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER!!!

*****Be warned!!!! SPOILERS GALORE!!!!*****

by Bootstrap Beck (aka Rebecca Russell), June 29, 2006

First, I must extend my warmest thanks to Disney Imagineer, Jason Surrell, the author of Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies. I attended tonight's advanced press screening as Jason's special guest. So thank you Jason for making a devoted POTC fan's dream come true!

Dead Man's Chest is every bit as spellbinding and entertaining as Curse of the Black Pearl. In fact, I think its' better in many ways because the characters that we have come to know and love are just beginning to discover their own true natures.

Imagine that! An action-adventure movie that actually pays attention to character development! We have Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio to thank for that. These two screenwriters have truly delivered the goods, beat for beat, in Dead Man's Chest.

The movie immediately begins with our main characters having to face the consequences of past decisions.

Will and Elizabeth

The opening scene of Elizabeth, sitting in her wedding gown, amidst a sea of empty chairs, is truly haunting. Nobody wants the happiest day of their life turned into this kind of nightmare! The discord of this scene immediately sets off emotional alarms -- this isn't what's supposed to happen! Everyone was expecting a wedding! Instead ,we're faced with that same foreboding feeling we had at the start of The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Will and Elizabeth's wedding day is disrupted by the arrival of Lord Beckett, a representative of the East India Trading Company. Beckett is determined to secure his company's monopoly on world trade by exterminating the dreaded Davy Jones and his pirate minions. So Beckett immediately arrests Will and Elizabeth for helping Jack Sparrow escape. But what Beckett really wants is Jack's compass.

The chemistry between Will and Elizabeth in the jail scene is still as palpable as ever. Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom have that certain onscreen chemistry that is so lacking in most other action adventure films. They are beautiful to look at and you honestly believe that they truly love each other. Ah, but what will become of that love?

Captain Jack is Back

After the opening drama between Will and Elizabeth, we are primed for Jack's sly brand of humor. Once again, Ted and Terry deliver another twisted and surprising entrance for Johnny Depp, as our wily Captain Jack Sparrow.

These next few scenes are critical for fans -- we finally get to see what kind of captain Jack is aboard his beloved Black Pearl! But, once again, things are not as we expect. Jack is driven to distraction by a visit from his old pal, Bootstrap Bill.

Bootstrap's Bootstraps

There was much speculation about the whereabouts of Bootstrap Bill after the first film. We spent endless hours discussing how Bill might have fared at the bottom of the ocean. I always believed that good ole Bootstrap survived and that he would be pivotal to the outcome of any sequel (thus my chosen moniker).

Shish kabob anyone?

"And then they made me their chief."

Most POTC fans know these seven words by heart. We've said them over and over again because they are part of the fascinating back story of Captain Jack Sparrow. We often wondered who "they" were. When news of the casting calls for swamp people and cannibals leaked out, we knew that Ted and Terry were taking our rascal Jack to a place few pirates dare tread. Some of the most comic moments come on the cannibal island. Jack's escape as a human shish kabob is absolutely hilarious and would make Houdini proud!

(To be continued shortly!)