Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

When Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl arrived in 2003, the idea of a theme park ride spinning off into a serious blockbuster franchise seemed, to put it charitably, optimistic. It worked, rather brilliantly, and so Walt Disney Pictures and producer Jerry Bruckheimer moved quickly on a sequel. Dead Man's Chest arrived in the summer of 2006, shot back-to-back with its follow-up At World's End, and the two productions together represented one of the more ambitious logistical undertakings in mainstream Hollywood filmmaking of that decade. The film drops Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) back into trouble almost immediately, with the roguish Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) at the centre of it all, now facing a very personal and very supernatural problem: a blood debt owed to Davy Jones, lord of the ocean depths, whose ghostly crew haunt the Flying Dutchman. The mythology draws loosely on seafaring folklore, and the film leans into the supernatural side of the Caribbean world considerably more than its predecessor did.

Gore Verbinski, who had already directed the first film as well as the horror picture The Ring (2002), handles the expanded scope here with a confidence that keeps the film's 151-minute runtime from feeling entirely unwieldy (well, almost). The action sequences are elaborate and, at times, genuinely inventive, and Verbinski clearly had the clout after the first film's success to push the production design and visual effects teams to their limits. The centrepiece creation of the whole film is Davy Jones himself, played by Bill Nighy entirely through performance capture and CGI. The result, a writhing mass of tentacles and barnacled menace, was considered a landmark in digital character work at the time of release and attracted considerable attention in the visual effects community. Nighy's physical performance underneath all that digital work gives the character a weight and malevolence that a purely animated creation might have lacked. Alongside the returning trio, Jack Davenport reprises his role as the conflicted Commodore Norrington, adding a layer of moral grey to proceedings that the film uses fairly well.

Depp had, by this point, made the Jack Sparrow persona entirely his own. The character had already become a cultural touchstone, and there was obvious pressure to deliver more of what audiences loved while pushing the story somewhere new. Whether the film finds that balance is very much a matter of taste (and patience, given the runtime). What is not really in dispute is that the film was a colossal commercial success on release, and that it sits at a curious crossroads in the franchise's history: a sequel confident enough to end on a cliffhanger, trusting that audiences would come back for more. Those with a fondness for big, messy, sea-soaked adventure films will find plenty to enjoy here. Those hoping for something lean and tightly constructed may find it tests them somewhat. Johnny Depp fans with an appetite for his wider work from this era might also find it worth comparing notes with his performance in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, or indeed the rather different register he brought to Corpse Bride the year before this one.

Part of the ship, part of the crew For me, this is the best film in the whole Pirates series. The first movie was brilliant in its own right, but Dead Man’s Chest really took everything up a level, bigger stakes, better visuals, and a genuinely gripping story. Davy Jones is one of the best CGI creations ever put on screen, even today he looks incredible. The darker, more mystical vibe works really well, and it still keeps that fun, adventurous spirit that made the first so enjoyable. The sword fights, the Kraken attacks, the triple-threat beach duel, it’s all brilliant, pure blockbuster magic. It’s maybe a little bloated in parts, but overall it’s such a visually stunning and exciting film. Easily the high point of the franchise before it all got a bit too messy.

That point about Davy Jones is one I keep coming back to. There is something genuinely impressive about a CGI creation from nearly twenty years ago that still holds up under scrutiny, and Nighy deserves enormous credit for making sure there is a real performance buried inside all those tentacles. For me, the beach duel sequence is the moment the film earns its place at the top of the franchise: three-way sword fights are hard to choreograph without becoming confusing, and this one manages to be both funny and genuinely tense at the same time. Yes, it overstays its welcome in a few places, and you can feel the weight of setting up a third film pressing on the story here and there. But a polished, ambitious blockbuster that gets more right than it gets wrong is not something to be taken for granted. Sometimes the Kraken is worth the wait.

Rating: ★★★★  | Year: 2006  | Watched: 2025-04-27

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · Freeform
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Gore Verbinski: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) · Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
More with Johnny Depp: Corpse Bride (2005) · Black Mass (2015) · Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) · Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More fantasy: Viy (1967) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)