Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones' locker, while the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones, under the control of the East India Trading Company, wreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final, titanic battle, as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way, hangs in the balance.

I am little stymied by how a number of people haven’t not enjoyed the sequels to the Pirates franchise when the professed their love for the original. So that got me to thinking what is so different from Curse of the Black Pearl to At World’s End that has them so disappointed. Because for me At World’s End was the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie of the three, it completely and totally eclipsed the first two and even exposed the first one to not be as fine of a Pirate’s film as it could have been. The first film was a great standalone film, it had a story that was contained and could have been left as is, it developed it’s characters and it resolved it’s conflict. It was fun, it was action packed and it was a great swashbuckling film. Now At World’s End used both the story from the first film and the set up from the second film and just gave us more of everything: more humor, more action, more characters, more myth, more story, and more mouth dropping CGI sequences. The film was everything that a Pirate’s film can and should be.

So why are there complaints that the story is to confusing and there is too many things going on. I blame that on the dumbed down attention span of most average movie goers and even most critics. We are used to this confined ninety minute to two hour story line, this nice neat package like the first Pirates movie and when anyone has the guts and the balls to try and do something different, try to make something grander more than just your typical run of the mill Hollywood film people just complain. It was infeasible to make the same movie three times which is what it looks like most people wanted, they needed to do something different, they needed to expand and that’s just what they did.

They turned the Pirates movies into a trilogy, a three part play using the first movie which when produced and released wasn’t supposed to be part of trilogy as the character development and first act of the play. The second part which also got bashed by many critics was the second act, where everything goes wrong and there is no real beginning nor conclusion to the film as is rightfully so as a second act of three part play. The third film is the one that wraps it all up we get explanations of everything that happened in the first two films like who Jack really is, where Davey Jones came from, how is Barbossa back and all the other loose ends mixed into some fantastic action sequences and plenty of legend and myth. I think a lot of people will be more kind to the second act after seeing the conclusion as everything makes more sense and even the Empire Strikes Back didn’t get the stellar reviews it receives now days as the second act of the original trilogy.

I for one was glad that the story finally veered away from Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann which I feel was pretty well wrapped up in the first film and then just tangled up so we could keep talking about them in the second film. Both Will and Elizabeth are the least interesting characters of the film for me and way too much time had already been spent on them. I was glad to explore the depths of Jack Sparrow and Davey Jones far more interesting characters and ones that had not been truly delved into until this final chapter. Sure Will and Elizabeth are still around and still there relationship is like a bad soap opera but they steal less of the movie this time and are placed where they rightfully belong as supporting characters and not the main characters. It makes for a better film, a more interesting story and plot as well.

I am not a fan of Orlando Bloom, I have yet to see a movie he has been in that he has actually shown any level of acting talent. He is a pretty boy that gets by just using his pretty boy looks, he is the next tom Cruise (don’t forget it took Tom nearly 20 years before he did anything that required any true acting talent and even then he mixes those roles with the MI’s and War of the Worlds). The same goes for Keira Knightley, sure she is a pleasure to look on but she really adds nothing to the movie acting wise. This is and has always been Johnny Depp’s movie and movies as he really steals the show but this time around he gets massive amounts of help from both Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy who both do fantastic jobs as Barbossa and Jones. At Words end is the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie and very likely the best Pirates movie ever.

Grade: A