The sequel to the first PIRATES OF THE CARRIBBEAN movie arrives after three years, ready to reap the profits due from the original.  DEAD MAN’S CHEST actually contains two plots.  One concerns Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) running away from his blood debt to Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), Captain of the Flying Dutchman.  The other is the separation and uniting of wedding couple Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightley).

Excess is the order of the day for Verbinski’s DEAD MAN’S CHEST.  Running at an overlong 150 minutes, it has more than two climatic endings besides the two plots – 3-way swordfight, the monster Kraken’s attack on the ship and more.  Depp was funny and sharp in the first but annoying with his repeated smug attitude in this.  Set-pieces are used to the limit.  The rolling waterwheel sequence goes on and on till it gets boring.  Even Kraken’s attack occurs twice and displayed in its full goriness in two separate attacks.

The actors fill their roles exuberantly enough.  The accents are at times difficult to comprehend as are many of the actors’ faces recognizable due to make-up.  The film contains a good solid British cast from Knightley and Nighy to Tom Hollander to Jonathan Pryce.  For a film with little emphasis on plot, it ends with a character from the original flashed on the screen with no explanation.

DEAD MAN’S CHEST proves once again that more is not necessarily better.  PIRATES’ main rival at the box-office this summer is the highly different SUPERMAN RETURNS.  PIRATES is light on story while SUPERMAN is all story.  Both are special/CGI effects mega-flicks with the former concentrating its prowess on action while the latter on atmosphere and scope.  It is interesting to see which option will pay off at the box-office.