Lindsey and I just got back from the midnight showing of Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead Man's Chest. Let me just say do not go expecting to see a remake of the first film. Pirates 2 is very different. It has an entirely different feel. Whereas the first film was a high-seas adventure flick with a fantastical backstory, this film has more of a mythological feel as it incorporates the legend of The Flying Dutchman. (Yeah. I was sorely disappointed the musical score did not incorporate any Wagnarian themes  ).
In addition, the storyline in the 2nd film is a lot weaker than that in the first one, and I never thought Pirates 1's storyline was extremely strong. This film just did not have a consistent flow to the storyline. The plot was choppy, and most times the exposition that made the characters' actions significant came too late. I only began to feel that the plot had progression during the last hour or so of the film.
This sequel also lacked in development of the characters. The characters did not have any "telling moments" until the last hour of the film. Even then, these moments only confirmed what we already knew about the characters from watching the first film. Before you knew it, the characters' choices deviated from what they would have done if placed in the same situation in the first film, and the motivating factors were way too small to produce such drastic changes in the characters.
I don't mean to discourage anyone from seeing the movie. If you were a big fan of Curse of the Black Pearl, chances are you will enjoy watching Dead Man's Chest. However, the film is not much aside from being a fan movie and a visual spectacular. There is no story of sacrifice or redemption in the film. Perhaps there will be such a storyline in the third film though.
On the other hand, I do think the film had an intriguing religious overtone. When one of the Flying Dutchman's crew members was explaining his reasoning for spending eternity on the ghostship, he said that he got what he wanted. This made me think of C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, in which Lewis suggests that people do not want to go to heaven because they themselves do not want heaven. They would rather do things their own way.
In conclusion, if you can wait until this film comes out on video, you may want to save some money and not see it at the theater. If, however, you are a diehard fan of the first film and want a diversion from your boring summer job, take some a friend or a family member to the film. Overall, I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
By the way, I am not listening to the soundtrack. I just wanted to list the picture on my blog. However, I do think the soundtrack will be better than the first one even though I have not heard it yet. There was some great music in this film. | 
