Susan Granger’s review of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Disney)
Call it the curse of great expectations. So much is anticipated about the continuing adventures of free-spirited Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) that some disappointment is inevitable – but, fortunately, not much.
Beginning where “Dead Man’s Chest” left off, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and undead Capt. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) must rescue Jack from Davy Jones Locker. East India Trading Company’s Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) has gained control of heartless Davy Jones’ (Bill Nighy) ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman, and formed an Armada to eliminate piracy.
“There was a time when a pirate was free to make his own way in the world,” recalls Capt. Barbossa. “But our time is comin’ to an end. The Nine Pirate Lords from the four corners of the Earth must stand together.”
So the buccaneers are off to exotic Singapore to confront Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) to get charts, and a ship, to sail to World’s End to free Jack from a desert island where he’s been trapped with dozens of clones of himself – along with thousands of rock crabs – since his encounter with the monstrous kraken.
Deception, betrayal, duplicity and upside-down, supernatural confusion abound, culminating in a spectacular sequence in which rain-soaked Sparrow and Davy Jones battle high in the rigging as their ships swirl in a giant whirlpool created by the sea goddess, Calypso.
Directed by Gore Verbinski, it’s not about living forever – it’s about living with yourself – at least according to a cameo by Rolling Stone Keith Richards. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” is an exciting, entertaining 9. Be patient through the long credits for a revealing epilogue as the salty seafarers sail on.
