Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Review

Johnny Depp arrived at the first read-through playing Jack Sparrow as a swaying, kohl-eyed rock star modelled on Keith Richards, and Michael Eisner reportedly complained that he was ruining the film. He saved it. Sparrow is a coward, a con man and a better swordsman than he lets on, and Depp plays every scene as if he has wandered in from a slightly different and funnier movie; Roger Ebert called the performance original in its every atom, and the Academy nominated him. Geoffrey Rush matches him as Barbossa with a relish for rotten vowels, while Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are pleasant and a little stiff.

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio added the curse to tie the story to the ride, and it gives Gore Verbinski his best images: the crew turning to skeletons as they cross into moonlight, an effect that still looks tactile. The script is quick and funny, full of parleys and pirate codes. At 143 minutes it also runs well past its last good idea, with a surplus of double crosses and a final duel that leans on the same effect again. Mark Kermode called it turgid theme-park hackery. Audiences paid $654 million to disagree, and for once they were closer.