Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Mans Chest (Blu-ray) (2006)

"...a cornucopia of action and dazzling effects...  Claudia Puig, USA Today
"A collection of swashbuckling set pieces with the hustle of a vaudeville show.  David Edelstein, New York Magazine
"...the purest popcorn entertainment of the summer.  Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
"Depp is the comic gel that holds the whole enterprise together. The performance is a total delight...  Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

Editor's Note The second part of a trilogy, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST is a fantastic tale of pirates, love, and the supernatural. Blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and his upper-class love Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are preparing to wed when they are confronted with a warrant for their arrests because they helped the notorious pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) escape the authorities. Their only choice for a pardon is to find Jack and return to Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) with the flamboyant captain's compass. Will's attempt to track Jack down, however, becomes an adventure unto itself: Jack is being held captive on an island where the natives think he is a god. To make matters worse, the infamous Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and his Flying Dutchman crew are after Jack, seeking his soul to repay a debt. With his beard of tentacles and a lobster claw for a hand, heartless Jones is no mere mortal. He and his men are slowly evolving, taking on the attributes of various sea creatures, and with the help of a giant sea monster, the Kraken, they rule the waters. Seeking respite from his fate with Davy Jones, Jack enlists the aid of Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), a practitioner of the supernatural, in an effort to locate the Dead Man's Chest that supposedly contains Jones's still-beating heart. Whoever possesses the heart controls Jones, and thereby controls the seas. And so the adventure continues as Jack, Will, and the Black Pearl crew track down the Flying Dutchman in search of redemption. This rollicking summer adventure, directed by Gore Verbinski (THE WEATHER MAN, THE RING), features multiple intersecting storylines, unique stunts, and a pithy script that lets each main character shine, while the costumes and makeup for Jones and his sea creature crew are nothing short of spectacular.

	Bill Nighy
	Martin Klebba
	Orlando Bloom
	Mackenzie Crook
	Lee Arenberg
	Kevin McNally
	Keira Knightley
	David Schofield
	Tom Hollander
	Jonathan Pryce
	Johnny Depp
	David Bailie
	Stellan Skarsgaard
	Naomie Harris
	Jack Davenport
	Eric McLeod - Producer
	Bruce Hendricks - Producer
	Chad Oman - Producer
	Dariusz Wolski - Director of Photography
	Hans Zimmer - Composer
	Terry Rossio - Screenwriter
	Rick Heinrichs - Production Designer
	Penny Rose - Costume Designer
	Jerry Bruckheimer - Producer
	Ted Elliott - Screenwriter
	Craig Wood - Editor
	Mike Stenson - Producer
	Stephen E. Rivkin - Editor
	Gore Verbinski - Director

New York Times
"Gore Verbinski, the director, has an appropriate sense of mischief, as well as a gift, nearly equaling those of Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg, for integrating CGI seamlessly into his cinematic compositions." 07/07/2006 p.E8

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[Depp's] Sparrow is even more engaging than he was three years ago..." 08/01/2006 p.39

Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 4 -- "Johnny Depp is back in prime form as Capt. Jack Sparrow, the most subversive hero ever in a Disney movie....You can't take your eyes off him." 08/10/2006 p.112

Sight and Sound
"Depp is mostly great here, too, playing for laughs, which he easily gets, but also hinting more than previously at a sinister, less whimsical side to Jack." 09/01/2006 p.122

Ultimate DVD
"[An] unstoppable sequel....As Jones returns from the deep to claim his deadly debt, our plucky heroes try to avoid being sent to a watery grave." 08/01/2006 p.62

Premiere
"[The] two-and-a-half-hour extravaganza entangles the three protagonists' lives again and offers everything from a grand bar brawl to a three-way sword fight on a spinning wheel to the attack of a ship-swallowing Kraken." 12/01/2006 p.131

ReelViews 8 of 10
Depp is in peak form again, burying himself in the part and making the Captain the most dashing rogue this side of Han Solo...In essence, Dead Man's Chest gives us an opportunity to join old friends on a new adventure that isn't substantially different from the old one. Many of the same elements are here - ghost ships, the walking dead, hidden treasure - and that's all right because it's part of what we might now refer to as the "Pirates of the Caribbean formula." The slow, uneven beginning is more than compensated for by the rousing climax, and the last scene promises more of the same the next time around, with possibly greater things to come. - James Berardinelli