Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago back with you today.

Normally, the idea of a sequel to a film no one on the planet expected to be both excellent and successful in the first place would be met with a great deal of skepticism. But a follow-up to the film that finally made Johnny Depp the mega-salaried movie star most people knew he should have been for years is much welcome in a summer that has yet to find a movie that everyone seems to agree kicks ass

Dead Man’s Chest is the kick-ass, balls-out actioner we have all been crying for. Bigger is better, and this film has more spectacular stunts, some of the most incredible CGI effects ever created, and an actual complex, multi-storied plot that picks up right where we left off with the last film three years ago.

Several months after Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) set the pirate Jack Sparrow (Depp) free from his captors/executioners at the end of the Curse of the Black Pearl, the pair are arrested and imprisoned for their misdeeds. But holding them turns out to be a means for Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander) to blackmail Will into tracking down the long-departed Capt. Sparrow and acquiring his magic compass.

If Will refuses, he is told by Beckett, he and Elizabeth will be executed above the protests of Lizzie’s father, Gov. Swann (Jonathan Pryce, who sadly is given very little to do in this film but fret). The first of much good news about Dead Man’s Chest is that Will and Elizabeth are actually given interesting storylines this time around and are not simply used as props to act around and react to Depp’s wildly loopy Sparrow. In fact, the three main characters each get their own storyline to commandeer, but ultimately each is after the same thing.

Sparrow discovers (or more to the point, he remembers) that he owes a blood debt to the seemingly immortal Davey Jones (the unrecognizable Bill Nighy), who captains the often-submerged but still very dangerous ship, The Flying Dutchman. Jack has no desire to spend the rest of his life and the afterlife in the service of Jones and his crew, so he barters a deal with Jones to trade 100 souls for his own. Among Jones’ crew is Will’s father Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgard), who was only mentioned in the first film. Elizabeth manages to escape her captors, pose as a man, and get aboard a ship run by the East India Trading Company (history buffs take note). Although they may not always know it, all three main characters as well as Lord Beckett are after a key in Jones’ possession which opens his locker (aka Dave Jones’ Locker) containing his still-beating heart. Whomever controls the heart, controls Jones and his formidable crew.

And let’s talk about the amazing special effects extravaganza that is Jones’ crew. Apparently not able to die and because they spend so much of their time under the water, ready to pop out and plunder ships on the surface, each member of the Dutchman’s crew has taken on characteristics of different sea creatures. The head of Jones himself is almost entirely squid with moving and fully functional tentacles. Bootstrap Bill has a starfish covering one side of his face. Others have pieces of the ship embedded in their bodies. I could watch this entire film again just to stare at the craftsmanship and detail given to the look of these characters. Most times you can’t tell where the makeup ends and where the CGI begins; that’s assuming there is an makeup. It’s that good. It’s also really gross. Hee hee.

Another addition to the proceedings that I really dug was Naomie Harris (28 Days Later and the upcoming Miami Vice) as the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma, who advises the good guys on various aspects of their quest for Jones’ locker. I suspect her role will be enhanced in next year’s Pirates sequel World’s End (they shot 2 and 3 back to back). One of the better returning characters is Elizabeth’s ex-fiancée James Norrington (Jack Davenport), who has fallen on hard times since he allowed Sparrow to escape in the last film. He proves to be far more effective and devious as an unemployed former commodore than he did with the title.

As with Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest lets the action do most of its talking. There are some unbelievably elaborate stunt events here that defy description or logic. The sequence involving some of the characters fighting in a water wheel rolling through the jungle is particularly spectacular and damn hilarious.

But it remains Johnny Depp who acts as our focal point as always. When he is on screen, the film is as good as it gets. What I liked about his portrayal this go-round is that he hasn’t softened; if anything, he’s gotten more ruthless. At one point, he willingly plots the death of Will Turner because it keeps him out of trouble. He lies without regard for consequence and, when he’s caught in a lie, he doesn’t even bother to lie about why he lied in the first place. Returning director Gore Verbinski refuses to let this series get stale and goes out of his way at times to keep things moving and kinetic, despite the film’s two-and-a-half-hour running time.

Dead Man’s Chest is not only better than the first film, it’s better than any action film I’ve seen this season or this year. Character development isn’t at the center of this endeavor (as it is in, say, Superman Returns), but it’s not entirely disregarded either. Let’s face it folks: this is one you’ve been crying for this summer. And for once, we get a sequel worthy of the original and another to get excited about. By the way, Dead Man’s Chest has one of the great cliffhanger endings of all times, and make sure to stay through the end credits for a little surprise. Gentlemen, your women will be unable to resist both Depp and Bloom in one movie, so you might as well go with it.

Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com