Clocking in during its Hollywood premiere Monday night at 2 hours and 45 minutes Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End concludes with one of those we-can't-bear-to-bring this-trilogy-to-a-close multiple endings familiar to viewers of the Lord of the Rings finale.
The film's more-is-better aesthetic may teeter toward the over-stuffed at times, but ultimately Pirates' last hurrah wraps up all the loose ends with satisfying oomph.
As lovers Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, kick-ass Keira Knightley dressed in a modified kimono gets tender with Orlando Bloom, who shows a little more edge than previous pictures. Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow enters tripping over his own clones and it only gets weirder from there.
In a cameo, Keith Richards effectively plays, uh, Keith Richards. Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy expertly chew the scenery as blustering pirate chiefs, with Hong Kong action hero Chow Yun-Fat as a scarred and scary buccaneer from Singapore cramming themselves into a boat load jammed with sub plots and double crosses.
But it's director Gore Verbinski's visual flair that distinguish this Pirates. the massive waterfall in the middle of the ocean, the ship-swallowing vortex and the dozen Jack Sparrows trying to drag a immovable frigate across the sand all excel as memorable spectacle.
