Where I live, Roanoke VA, there's one big theater, and they were showing it on 2 screens at midnight. By noon yesterday both were sold out (and the ticket office opens at 1130am) and by a couple hours later they opened a third theater and it sold out quickly too. The 730 showing for tonight was sold out by 1pm yesterday. That doesn't happen often here.

Can anyone tell me if Stellan Skarsgard (Bootstrap Bill, Will's dad) plays a small, medium, or large part in the movie?

He plays a pretty big role in the film and has a good amount of screen time.

I remember watching hte first movie. I got bored and fell asleep while they were fighting the ghost pirates...i figured, why the hell are they losing all these crewmen fighting a bunch of undead warriors that can't be defeated? I woke up 40 minutes later and they were STILL fighting zombie pirates. I finished the movie and I didn't miss anything plot wise.

The second was pretty much the same. It had some great action/humor moments, but they're overshadowed by too long of a movie that doesn't even try to develop it's characters. I can understand that it's a fun, lighthearted movie, but it lacked the proper pacing that action movies need.

Uhhh. You lost me. Just because a movies kinda dull doesn't mean the viewer has ADD. . The movie will do phenomenally this weekend (there were 5 sold out shows last night at midnight), but judging by audience reaction as compared with the first, I don't think it'll have the legs the original did (nor make as much), but then, it really doesn't need to.

There was a reasonable amount of clapping, but also a ton of people that looked like undead monkeys walking out of the theater with lots of chatter of how it just wouldn't end. Mixed, I believe, is the word I'm looking for.

And my main problem with the cliff-hanger is that by that point, I simply didn't care anymore.

Fun movie but I doubt I'd watch it again. I also didn't sit through the end credits. Can someone post what happened in spoilers? Thanks!

Uh oh, looks like I broke the time-space continuum.

Hey, no need to get to specific, but this is the best summer film of '06 hands down, if not (so far) the best film of '06 (till Oscar season).

Nothing short of fun, exciting, and at times breathtaking.

Everyone was great, the FX were superb, Harris, nighy, and Skarsgard were great additions, while many will complain about the length (150 mins) and the ending, I can't wait for At World's End.

What a great franchise.

Grade: A-

I suppose, I have made up my mind to put up with the annoying people and go see it tonight.

If I do, I'll post some of my thoughts in here when I get back.

POTC was incredibly fun. All the negativity I've seen is stick-in-the-mud posturing. The movie is very much like ESB in regards to being a "middle" chapter and just being a fun action movie overall. It stands well on its own and the cliffhanger ending is fantastic and only left me wanting more. The scenes at the end were both damn near iconic.

For me, if it felt like there wasn't enough Jack (which it didn't) it was only because the other characters were so good or much better than they were in the first movie. For Will Turner, the Bootstrap subplot and the dropping of him being an uptight pirate hater from the first movie made his character much better. For Elizabeth, putting her more in the action and having here struggle between Will and Jack made her much more likeable. The whole love triangle come off much better than I thought it would.

If I didn't have previous set obligations to attend to I'd definitely see it again this weekend. The crowd at the the theater I went to absolutely ate it up. This movie will with out a doubt have legs.

Well if we are using anecdotal evidence to judge the legs of the film, my evidence proves the film will never die. I heard many people say they couldn't wait to see it again, and the crowd reaction was absurd during the film. I heard more laughing then at any comedy I've seen at a theatre (it became obnoxious actually). Also my theatre had 6 showings at midnight. Two were sold out by noon. By the time I got there at 1130, three were left, but the lines were packed. When I entered the actual auditorium (@ 1135), it was packed. We had to sit in the bottom, non-stadium seats (which I actually prefer). And people were still coming in.

Anyway I loved the film, easily as good as the first if not better. I'm glad they did not overuse Sparrow, in fact I wanted more of him, which is exactly how he should be treated.

Davy Jones was a great addition, incredible to look at and interesting to watch.

Turner and Elizabeth were much better in this film as well. In some ways the film hung on their characters, and succedded. Skarsgård was pretty good as Bootstrap (although he'll always be Raoul Wallenberg to me).

The cliffhanger did exactly what it set out to do: make me want to immeadiately see the next film.

My 15 year old really wanted to see the midnight show last night so we went (summer and all). The theater showed it on 2 screens at 12:01am and both were pretty full. We got there a little early and got good seats. A few folks dressed for the part.

Overall I liked the movie. Agree it was a little long, even some of the action shots could of been a little shorter IMHO. But overall, liked it....

My 15 year old gave it a thumbs up...so there you go...

I saw it at 12 last night... loved it. There were 3 shows and they were all sold out. Filled with anxious fans dressed in pirate outfits.

I grade it C+ or 5.5 out of 10

poc2 is not very good. lots of annoying children in the audience, be warned POC2 has many scary parts for children under say 12. Movie lacks the charm of the original. depp in this one is okay, sword fight towards the end is good but that's about it. even kiera didn't look as good in this one, she's dressed in men's clothes through most of the movie. I'm not a big fan of bloom but he was the only one in the movie that i thought was as good in this one, poc2. Long, boring despite dumb action. Not very good. I'm sure it will be a huge hit but not good at all.

My reccomendation check out Superman Returns instead of poc2, superman has it's problems, kid and lack of action, ending, lack of action, but it looks like a work of genius compared to poc2 imho

Movie of the summer? Hardly. Another slight disappointment in quite a long line this season (only Superman and M:i-III have left me dying to see them again). The pacing was definitely off. I felt they should have streamlined the beginning (start it on Cannibal Island, let us catch up from there), shortened a few of the repetitive Krakken scenes and also trim some of the three way sword fight.

I think most of the stuff that happened on LAND was pretty damn good, when they got creative with the action scene staging etc. but a lot of the sea scenes, and much of the Bootstrap Bill stuff just felt long and too expository. Sure the special effects for Davy Jones and Co. were great, but it was like they kept trying to find new and slimier ways to gross out the audience instead of advancing any sort of character or plot...and the plot actually was extremely simplistic but presented in such a way as to make it SEEM complex, which was not necessary.

I had fun, but felt the running time getting to me. After having rewatched COTBP last night, this one just didn't hold a candle to it...bigger isn't always better. A few great moments here and there, and maybe after POTC3, the parts I felt dragged may play a more important role, but as they are now, it's not that satisfying. A fun diversion, but I was fully counting on this to be THE movie of the summer.

I was supposed to see it again tonight, but not sure now if I care to put myself through that again. I'll probably just wait for video.

MATT

Oh and the last shot is excellent...although a review that claimed no spoilers ruined it for me by mentioning portion of the review.

While it may not be the "movie of the summer" for you mdc3000, it seems to be for many. So far it's mine.

If I may digress slightly, I find it so interesting how different opinions can be. I mean I really liked DMC, and I had none of the problems others had. I actually felt after the first 20 minutes or so it was perfectly paced. The action was superb, it was funny everywhere it needed to be, and it had even more charm and quirkiness than the first. I truly feel it was better than the first, and a great film.

Caught the midnight show at the most appropriate location I could think of... the AMC at Downtown Disney (after a loooong day at the park). Great crowd to see it with, they were all fans or cast members. Tons of cheering, yelling, etc. The last scene brought down the house. Anyway, great movie, I'll catch it again this weekend to catch any plot points I missed (was a little tired...).

It is interesting what a divergence of opinions there are, I thought it was lousy. A lot of action and special effects and a lot of pretty scenery, but ultimately i found it exhausting and even boring. Very much like the Matrix sequels in that sense. To Mdc3000's point, it really would have been helped by a lot of editing, though the script is just awful in places, not sure how much editing could have fixed that.

I think the rotten tomatoes score(now 53%, lol) actually captured it perfectly. Not a total disaster, but ultimately imo, not a very good movie.

BTW, if you liked Bill Nighy in the movie, you should see Love Actually if you haven't seen it, where he doesn't have any tentacles on his face, but does give a really great comic performance as an aging rock star. That role probably got him the job in POTC...

Nevrmind

I loved it, and it will live on my DVD shelf next to Part 1. The surprise appearance at the end took me off guard, and guaranteed I would be back for Part III.

We saw it today at noon in a packed theater (the largest AMC screen in Virginia Beach), and the lobby was packed for the next showing when we left. Our AMC is doing 16 showings a day!

I decided to catch the matinee show after reading MaryAnn Johanson's review. I didn't notice the passage of time, the film was well paced. I missed the skeleton pirates from the first film, Davy Jones' sparse crew didn't quite measure up to my expectations. I sat through all the credits and was rewarded with AmStar Stadium 16 (Macon, GA) kept the lights off during the final credits. One industrious clean up guy was sweeping between the seats in the dark. I'm really looking forward to seeing the conclusion of this trilogy next year.

I didn't go in expecting Citizen Kane, just a fun summer popcorn movie, and loved it. My daughter is 7 (granted, a fairly mature 7-year old) and she loved it as well. (FWIW, I liked Superman Returns, but if you made me choose I'd definitely see POTC2 a second time before I'd spend money again on SR.)

And yup, I didn't know about the big reveal at the end, and liked the surprise.

Okay can someone 'spoiler tag' the big reveal at the end? Thanks!

Saw it this afternoon with my mom and we both loved it. A worthy sequel and I can't wait for the 3rd one.

4.5/5 for me.