Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Director: Gore Verbinski

Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley

Yes people, Captain Jack Sparrow is back! The third and final (really!?) installment is here of Verbinski’s pirateering pièce de résistance and it definitely is (swashbucklingly!) spectacular!

Lord Cutler Beckett (Hollander) is in control of the Flying Dutchmen after capturing Davy Jones’ (Nighy) heart, meaning the East India Trading Company has complete control and a stranglehold on the free seas with the intention of ending piracy.

Oh no indeed…

But…Elizabeth Swan (Knightley), Will Turner (Bloom) and Captain Barbossa (Rush) are on a mission to rescue Jack (Depp) from his entrapment in Davey Jones’s Locker (having been caught in its clutches after his encounter with the Kraken in Dead Man’s Chest). To find him, they must travel to Singapore to enlist the aid of the vicious Chinese Pirate, Captain Sao Feng, and gain a map which will lead them to world’s end. From this point our heroes must bring together the Brethren Court of the nine Pirate Lords to unite and stand against Beckett and his armada. But, there are fears that the pirates will still be outnumbered…!

Depp is, as always, eccentrically stunning, grimy and dangerously quirky, whimsically drunk and amusing, on the verge of insanity at every moment and desperately handsome but oh so bad… and the chin plaits are still intact! Knightley provides some fighting- girl action, noticeably with perfect hair and makeup – continually! She delivers some shivery speeches for all the war-cry fans, and Bloom is as angsty and unpredictable as ever. Also of course, Mackenzie Crook and his wooden eye star with that popping sound which accompanies its extrication- lovely!

Despite the length of the film, it is not overly sunk in special effects. Narrative is balanced with dramatic action sequences but humour is used throughout, lightening the fighting and providing some entertaining humanity. It is hugely spectacular and makes you desperately desire to own a spinning compass, an eye patch and a single bullet pistol, oh, and a bottle of rum.

See you at the end of the world…

Ella Walker