The renewed sense of thematic purpose also helps the performances. The spotlight is now back on the core romance between Will and Elizabeth, so once again we have a story that is at least one of consequence (even if it is a bit of a remake of the first film). By contrast, 'At World's End' doesn't even bother to introduce Sparrow for over a half an hour, and it's a brave choice that pays great narrative dividends.
The comedic foil doesn't work without the straight man to play off of, and the supposed leads of 'Black Pearl' (Orlando Bloom's Will Turner and Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swann) were so pushed into the background in 'Dead Man's Chest' that the film had absolutely zero emotional weight. Although only a supporting character in 'Black Pearl,' he proved such a hit with audiences that he was promoted to star of 'Dead Man's Chest.' But like a 'Star Wars' movie starring C-3P0 but without Luke Skywalker, What's best about 'At World's End' is that it finally puts Depp back in his place as Captain Jack Sparrow. It's truly a relief that the filmmakers resisted the urge to torque up the action even further, and instead refocused their energies on the core characters we loved in the first movie.
Now that I've had a chance to see the film on Blu-ray, I can say that while 'At World's End' doesn't come anywhere near matching the good-natured charm of 'Black Pearl,' it's a great improvement over 'Dead Man's Chest,' and it finally steers the storyline back on track. Such a weak second chapter didn't exactly inspire confidence in a third, so by the time 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' rolled into theaters last summer, I didn't even bother to buy a ticket. Noisy and chaotic, it was overstuffed with unnecessary subplots to the point of being virtually incomprehensible, failing to even resolve itself with any satisfaction, trading a clear-cut resolution for a lame cliffhanger ending right out of a Z-grade After the freshness and sheer exuberance of ' Curse of the Black Pearl,' there was no place for a sequel to go but down, which is exactly where ' Dead Man's Chest' went.