The East India Company has begun hanging hundreds of pirates, including children, because the company now possesses the heart of Davy Jones, and so Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) falls under the company’s control and is forced to destroy the kraken (the opening scene is almost directly lifted from Les Miserables).
The following is my brief attempt at a plot analysis of this unmitigated disaster. At the time of its production At World’s End was the most expensive film to date. I suppose it is a tall order to request that a movie simply make sense in order for it to be enjoyable these days, but then again Disney does have its shareholders to consider, and sadly frenzied pandemonium sells in our day and age. The pacing is explosive, the characters are ancillary, and the plot is complete bedlam. Indeed the plot of At World’s End is willingly sacrificed in order to ram through endless special effects and every cinematic trope and cliche imaginable. It shovels so much nonsensical drivel into the plot that it has become notorious for being completely incoherent. At nearly three hours long, At World’s End is a droning, painful attempt to rival a massive modern epic like Lord of the Rings, but it fails in spectacular fashion. As incomprehensible a mess the second Pirates movie was, At World’s End somehow manages to top it.
