Film

As they did in Dead Man’s Chest, the makers of At World’s End operate on the theory that nothing succeeds like excess. Every scene is crowded and overly busy, every fight involves dozens of people, and the plot twists and shifts of allegiances come so often you’ll wish the players had color-coded hats to indicate whose side they are on at any given moment.

In case you need a refresher, this film starts thusly: Jack Sparrow (Depp) has been banished to Davy Jones’s Locker; Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) is allied with Barbossa (Rush); and Will Turner (Bloom) still displays alarmingly gorgeous cheekbones. Swann and Barbossa set off on a daring rescue mission to the afterlife (which looks like a bad acid trip) because they need Sparrow to, well, um…who cares? Davy Jones (Nighy) cruises the seas under the control of the evil Lord Beckett (Hollander), who holds his heart hostage (literally). Everybody races around the globe chasing each other, battles ensue and digital-effects technicians are given enough work to earn them all extended vacations.

If you felt, as many people bafflingly did, that Dead Man’s Chest was an improvement on the original Pirates because it was even more like an amusement-park ride, you’re likely to be satisfied. If you expect more from a movie, this will feel like a lot of sound and fury.