“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” Establishes Franchise Property

Last summer, the movie studios whined that they were not making any money from their releases. Just so, last year’s summer movies were uniformly dull affairs. This year, they are singing a different tune, thanks in large part to “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which has established itself as a franchise property every bit as much as James Bond, Lethal Weapon and Star Wars.

Financially, the movie has brought in $258.2 million in the ten days since its release in the US. Outside America, it has pulled in an additional $125 million. With a third installment scheduled for release in May of 2007, just as school is letting out in most parts of the US, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” is no longer a ride at Disneyland. It is a cinema event.

The pirate movie has a long and noble lineage, up there with cowboy films and the Knights of the Round Table. What makes “Dead Man’s Chest” different is a combination of fine writing, an excellent cinematography team, and a cast lead by one of the finest actors of his generation, Johnny Depp. He doesn’t play the pirate in any conventional way, and the rest of the cast are more than talented enough that some could be called actors rather than movie stars, e.g., Jonathan Pryce and Bill Nighy. Comic relief provided by Lee Arenberg as Pintel and Mackenzie Crook as Rageti is unnecessary, but played brilliantly.

Part of the fun is the irreverence that the Errol Flynn era of swashbucklers lacked; the 21st century is a more irreverent time in most respects. At one stage, Jack Sparrow (Depp) is given a black spot on the palm of his hand to mark him as Davy Jones’ next target, a hairy spot and not altogether attractive. Sparrow announces at the top of his voice, “But my eyesight’s fine.” Elsewhere, Captain Jack asks, “Why is the rum always gone?” He then staggers across the deck and answers himself, “Ah, yes, that's why.” Throw in a water wheel gone amok, which Buster Keaton couldn’t have done better, and it isn’t a pirate movie so much as an homage to the genre with overtones of Bugs Bunny.

There are a few flaws, not least of which is Orlando Bloom who is, sadly, a movie star and not an actor. Keira Knightley and Mr. Depp constantly leave him looking like a washout from RADA. And Ms. Knightley’s post-feminist “girls can buckle swash, too” character seems to have been written to keep her from becoming a cloying non-character. She’s good, but maybe something better could have come of her talents.

The coattails that “Dead Man’s Chest” has built for itself in under two weeks virtually guarantee that the third film will rake in the pieces of eight hand over fist. The spin-off video games, T-shirts and the rest will keep the House of the Mouse rolling in dough a while longer. And so long as Johnny Depp plays Jack Sparrow, the franchise will thrive. But a cautionary note for the Disney folk, remember George Lazenby? Precisely.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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