The Movie:

Picking up pretty much immediately where Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest left off, we meet up with Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), and the recently resurrected Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) who have decided to rescue Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Many assume Sparrow to be deceased though unbeknownst to them he is currently locked up in Davey Jones' locker.

Their travels, with Jack now in tow, find them in hot water with Davey Jones (Bill Nighy) and then Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) and unfortunately for our heroes, the two have formed an alliance with one another in hopes of saving the high seas from the scourge of piracy in the name of the East India Trading company. In order to stop Beckett and Jones from wiping everyone out, Sparrow and company must gather together the pirate lords and form an allegiance - but will they be powerful enough to stand up to Jones' mighty fleet? Probably not, so they lords decide that the best course of action would be to gather up the mystical pieces that hold the goddess Calypso captive so that they can free her and enlist her aid in their fight. It all leads up to a massive showdown in which the pirates must fight with everything they have against the East India Trading company or risk becoming extinct once and for all.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End is a bit of a mess in the plot department and at over three hours in length, it's much too long - there could have easily been a half hour or more chopped out of this film to quicken the pace and improve the flow. As it stands, this cut of the picture feels bloated and the messy storyline doesn't help matters much. This film is much weaker than the two that came before it and not nearly as much fun because of it. That said, the film isn't a total write-off, and in fact, there are aspects of the picture that work quite well and make the movie worth a watch.

On the surface level alone, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End looks fantastic. The battle scenes are fantastic, the effects are excellent, the make up and costume design is top notch and the attention to detail that is evident in the set design is quite remarkable. This is, visually, a very impressive picture and quite a feat in terms of technology and cinematography and the film works perfectly as eye-candy. A few of the performances are also enjoyable. Depp is his usual charismatic self and by this point is obviously very comfortable playing Jack Sparrow and enjoyable supporting rolls from Chow Yun-Fat (who steals the show as Taiwanese pirate lord Captain Seo Fang) and Keith Richards as Captain Teague were a nice touch. Keira Knightly still can't act all that well but she's fun to look at and casting her alongside Orlando Bloom makes her appear to be a better actress than she really is.

There are also some interesting elements in the plot that deserve some mention, as it is a considerably more layered work than the two films that came first. By this, the third film in the series, the world of the pirates has been pretty much established and so with that out of the way the story does go in a different direction than a lot of people probably thought it would. This is a darker, and noticeably more violent film - we see children hanged, and opponents skewered on the edge of a blade. This points in the direction of a more adult oriented picture and in many ways, At World's End is a more grown up film. The picture, intentionally or not, makes some interesting political comparisons by essentially labeling the pirates as freedom fighters, opposing the government that is trying to control them. The romantic sub-plot between Knightly and Bloom doesn't turn out the way we expect it to, and instead it too takes a darker turn than we expect. That said, even with those intelligent bits in the script and the interesting train of thought that the political comparisons can take us down, is a movie based on a theme park ride really the right place for that type of thing? Opinions can and will vary on this, obviously, and maybe it's because the film needed to hit a specific demographic that parts of the script don't work. It almost feels, at times, the movie is trying to be something different and trying to grow but that these growth spurts are hampered by the fact that the audience requires a certain amount of swordplay and a certain number of ship battles to be entertained. It could be that this is the reason for the confusion that is rampant throughout the film - it's almost as if the picture is trying to go in two different direction at once.

Lofty interpretations aside, however, even with the obvious pacing problems and the messy parts of the script, the film does contain some interesting and fun characters, some great action scenes and some amusing bits of comedy. There's certainly plenty of room left for improvement but the movie is not the disaster some would say it is. The visuals are remarkable, the story does have its moments and the premise is interesting. This alone makes it worth a watch and if it doesn't necessarily go anywhere once it's all said and done, at least more often than not it is fun entertainment.

Video:

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End arrives on DVD in a 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that is quite good even if it isn't perfect. Some fine detail gets lost and a few of the darker scenes are a little on the soft and murky side. That said, color reproduction is good and skin tones are lifelike and natural despite a few scenes that have been intentionally given a blueish tint. Edge enhancement is never problematic and there aren't any mpeg compression artifacts to notice. For the most part, detail levels are strong and the image stays crisp and detailed throughout. There's a little bit of grain here and there but it's never overbearing - things look pretty good here.