Current 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie in need of a sequel

The second “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie has been released, but “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” is in need of a sequel.

The first movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl,” was a stand-alone movie which didn’t require a sequel. It was successful enough to cause production of the second — and, fortunately, the third — movies. However, the “Dead Man’s Chest” segment is more of a setup than a movie matching the first film in the series.

In “Dead Man’s Chest,” Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, Orlando Bloom once again plays Will Turner, and Keira Knightley resumes her role as Elizabeth Swann. As the movie begins, Will and Elizabeth are supposed to be married. But the East India Trading Company sees the couple as the vehicle to pry a desired treasure from Captain Jack. Will and Elizabeth are charged with their crimes from the first movie by sources higher than the territorial governor, who is also Elizabeth’s father. Their called-for hanging will be avoided if Will can bring back Captain Jack’s compass.

Captain Jack is in search of his own treasure. It seems that he sold — or actually rented for 100 years — his soul to Davy Jones in order to captain the Black Pearl. Now Davy Jones wants the debt repaid, and Captain Jack seeks the key to Davy Jones’ locker for the appropriate leverage.

There’s a bit of a problem with Davy Jones, and it’s not the acting ability of Bill Nighy. The tentacles hanging from Davy Jones’ face aren’t scary enough to give children nightmares, but adults familiar with H.P. Lovecraft are likely to think immediately of Cthulhu when they see Davy Jones. It’s one of those diversions that can be detrimental to a movie.

The acting of Naomie Harris should also be praised, but that in itself creates a problem. Harris was born and raised in England but puts on a fine Caribbean accent as voodoo priestess Tia Dalma. A combination of English and colonial accents would have been acceptable, but too many Caribbean and Dutch accents throughout the movie make much of the dialogue hard to understand.

Stellan Skarsgard, who was born in Sweden, does better at understandable English in his role as Will Turner’s father. Bootstrap Bill Turner is now on the crew of the Flying Dutchman. When Captain Jack sends Will as partial payment for the debt to Davy Jones, Will has the opportunity to meet the ex-pirate father he never knew. More importantly for the plot of the movie, Will also has a contact aboard the Flying Dutchman who can help him get the key to Davy Jones’ locker.

There’s some action, some humor, and some philosophy about loyalty in “Dead Man’s Chest.” But the movie ends with Will and his father both owing their souls to Davy Jones for eternity, Captain Jack missing at sea, and the locker’s desired item in the hands of the East India Trading Company.

These problems will likely be solved in the sequel. To be truthful, it’s better to split a four-hour movie into two parts than to have the entire plot and climax run for so long a time. But for the time being “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” is not complete.