Captain Jack is backagain, with Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley battling it out with a plank to find out who is the most wooden, though to be fair they were much improved in the last Pirate's outing. Here lots of British character actors do what they do best, play their hearts out as villains or the comedy supporting roles.

Geoffrey Rush's character is alive, despite being killed in the first film when he was technically already dead - confused? Many are, so you are in good company. There is an added bonus this time of cameos from two famous people, Chow Yun Fat and Keith "Keef" Richards.

As Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) is now in charge of the vengeful Captain Davy Jones's (Bill Nighy) heart and thus Davy's dangerous ghost ship the Flying Dutchman, he has put Admiral Norrington (Jack Davenport) in its command. The ship is wreaking havoc wherever it roams and is unstoppable. Embarking on a perilous journey to defeat Beckett and the Flying Dutchman, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) need to gather together the Nine Lords of the Brethren Court. But the one lord they know, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), is missing so they go on a terrifying journey to Singapore to ask the Chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) for charts and a ship that will get them to World's end where they hope to rescue Jack. But it soon becomes clear that even among the good guys there is no one who can be trusted, and everyone has his own agenda.

The running time is two hours 40 minutes long and it unfortunately takes until the last 40 minutes to become compelling viewing. That not to say there aren't some enjoyable moments, like when Jack and Barbossa both insist on being the Captain commanding the same ship. But though I realise for many it is sacrilege to say so, Depp's drunken sailor interpretation of Jack has become irritating. There are various scenes where Jack is hallucinating, one in particular when he thinks he is the Captain in charge of a ship where all its crew are replicas of himself.

I don't know whether Depp had any input into that scene, but if he did it comes across as terribly self-promoting. As in the last film the story is so convoluted it is very difficult to follow who is fighting whom in most of the battles. That said the appearance of Keith Richards is a real treat and the ending is spot on. As in the other two films the special effects are brilliant and it has the usual numerous ways of escaping death, with lots of running around shouting, fighting and general pirate mayhem. I loved the first film, but found the second gilded the lily in a big way. Considering here there is so much going on it is strange to say that the first two hours drag, however it then does go some way to redeeming itself by the end. The only major worry is it has been left wide open for another Pirates foray, and frankly enough is enough. 5/10