Gwarrr!

Well, I'm just back from the screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

What can I say?... Um...

Awesome, crazy, fun, hilarious, over-the-top, action-packed, emotional (just a smidge), rip-roaring adventure that captured everything I love about the cinema.

Some of the action scenes were a little crazy, but I loved them more for that. At times, the writers just seemed to let loose and do a completely over-blown actioner, throwing sense, logic, reason and reality to the four winds. And they were awesome.

The one thing I did find a little heavy-handed was the continuous reference to events from the first movie. Almost every fun action piece, odd "Jack-ism", unbelievable story or cool moment from the first was either mentioned again or just redone. Most, if not all of them were great by themselves, adding a sense of real-world anecdote recalling to the whole thing, but all of them together just seemed a few too many. I'd imagine that most people going to see this movie had seen the first, so reminding us of events from the first at such a regular pace was unneccessary. Meh. A minor quibble.

If you loved the first one, you'll love this one. If you enjoyed the first, you'll enjoy this one. If, through some sort of misfunctioning brain abnormality you hated the first one, then avoid this. It will not change your view of the franchise.

Oh, and a word of warning. This does indeed pull an "Empire Strikes Back", a "Two Towers", a "The ending is just the begining" style closing. But what an ending it is. And stay for after the credits! It's worth it. Sorta.