Drop Knowledge...Not Bombs

So the (hopefully) final installment of this trilogy has appeared before salivating audiences acrosss the globe. Featuring an ensemble cast including Johnny Depp, Kiera Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Rush, Chow Yun-Fat and in a cameo appearance Keith "I snorted my father's ashes" Richards. Directed by Gore Verbinski, the film could have been amazing. Instead, it cashes in on the name of the previous two.

But, you cry, what did you expect? It was always going to be a limited in the plot department! And I accept that, but they could have dug deeper into the pot of creativity and written something that would have broken from the mold. But it does not. The visual effects, whilst good, do not whet my appetite. With the release of visual effects-rich films such as Spiderman 3, the current audience expects more. However, all this is even before I start on the acting.

With the addition of Chow Yun-Fat, the cast seemed, on paper at least, to have more depth. Alas! The acting skills are lacking. Although Johnny Depp is his usual, dependable and hilarious-self, with some brilliant one liners and an incredibly convincing performance, the entire film is let down by the woodeness of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley. Bloom seems to have an emotional range of a brick, and is either distraught or angry, with little else inbetween. He is a true letdown, but, in all fairness, he never lives up to his hype, and it bothers me that he is in two of the highest-grossing films of all time, as opposed to a more talented actor.

Knightley is another story entirely. She is worse, if possible. Again, like Bloom, she is either angry, screaming, or sad. Thats it. This from an actress with an Academy Award nomination. The chemistry between the two is a re-hash of Knightley's performance in Pride & Prejudice-absolutely none at all. How are these two in love at all? It never shows. It seems that she is only in the film due to her looks.

Chow Yun-Fat plays a stereotypical Chinese pirate, who gets very little play. He is a brilliant actor, probably the best Chinese leading man. Here, he failed to shine.

The most disappointing film of 2007 thus far? I guess so. In fact, anything else will have to try pretty hard to beat it. The whole thing was just a massive dose of deja vu, and had nothing new to offer. Although it moves at breakneck speed, it is too difficult to follow the convaluted storyline, and the action sequences appear exactly the same of any in the first two films. From a promising start, in the first scene of the first film in which Depp steps off the mast and onto the dock, the series has just fizzled out.