Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

Film and Plot Synopsis

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” is the second installment in the swashbuckling adventure film series directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Released in 2006, the film continues the saga of Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) as he embarks on another thrilling and perilous journey in search of hidden treasure and encounters mythical creatures and cursed beings.

‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ Movie Summary

The story picks up where the first film, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” left off. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) finds himself in trouble once again when he learns that Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), the feared captain of the Flying Dutchman, is coming to claim his soul as payment for a debt. Jack made a deal with Jones years ago to raise the Black Pearl from the depths of the ocean, but now he must pay the ultimate price. Jack is informed of Jones’ pending collection by the cursed Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgård), the father of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).

Meanwhile, Will and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are set to be married, but their plans are interrupted when they are arrested for helping Jack escape. However, their sentences are commuted when Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) of the East India Trading Company offers them a deal: if Will can retrieve Jack Sparrow’s magical compass, which points to whatever the holder wants most, Beckett will pardon them and restore their freedom.

Will sets out to find Jack and locates Captain Sparrow, his crew, and the Black Pearl on an island inhabited by cannibals. Will helps all of them escape the island. Afterwards, Jack visits the voodoo priestess, Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), who sets them off on a quest to find the Dead Man’s Chest, a mysterious chest that contains the still beating heart of Davy Jones. Legend states the possessor of the heart will control Jones. Jack seeks the Chest to free himself from the debt, but still needs a key to open the chest which is in the sole possession of Davy Jones. Jack makes a deal with Will to exchange the compass for the key. However, Jack betrays Will and has him placed into servitude with Jones’ crew in his stead. Jones agrees to free Jack from servitude if he can provide 99 more souls for the Dutchman. On Jones’ ghost ship, Will reunites with his father and ultimately steals the key from Jones before escaping the Dutchman.

You know, these clothes do not flatter you at all. It should be a dress or nothing. I happen to have no dress in my cabin. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp)

Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s father Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce) frees Elizabeth from captivity in Port Royal. Governor Swann is captured in the process, but Elizabeth escapes with Letters of Marque for her and Will. Elizabeth makes her way to the island of Tortuga, where she finds Jack and a drunk Commodore James Norrington (Jack Davenport), who has fallen on hard times since his ship, the HMS Dauntless, sank during a hurricane while pursing Jack after the first film. Jack’s compass fails to work properly for Jack; however, he tricks Elizabeth into using the compass to locate the Chest.

The compass takes the Black Pearl with Elizabeth, Jack, and Norrington to Isla Cruces. Once there, they encounter Will who has arrived with the key. Will, Jack, and Norrington battle in a sword fight for possession of the key and ultimately of the Chest. Each man has their own agenda – Jack wants to call off the Kraken and negate his debt to Jones; Will wants to release his father from the Dutchman; and Norrington wants to regain his life as a Navy officer. At the same time, Jones’ cursed crewmembers from the Dutchman arrive and also attempt to grab the Chest. In the confusion, Norrington steals the heart and the Letters of Marque while leaving the Chest itself to be captured by the Dutchman’s crew.

Jack, Will, and Elizabeth escape back to the Black Pearl. Jones attacks the Black Pearl with the Kraken, a large mythical sea creature that Jones’ controls. The Pearl’s crew initially fights off the beast, but most of the crew is killed and all but one of the Pearl’s lifeboats are destroyed. Jack uses the sole lifeboat to escape by himself, but he returns to help his friends and crewmates by wounding the Kraken with a net full of gunpowder and rum.

Jack orders the Pearl’s survivors to abandon ship in the one lifeboat. Elizabeth realizes that the Kraken only wants Jack and tricks Captain Sparrow into handcuffs by kissing him. The kiss is seen by Will. Chained to the mast, Jack is left behind to fight the Kraken while everyone gets to safety. The Kraken crushes the Black Pearl and Jack and takes them both to the bottom of the sea. Satisfied with Jack’s death, Jones opens his Chest to find the heart missing. Sometime later, Norrington delivers the heart and the Letters to Beckett who reinstates Norrington back into Navy.

The survivors of the Pearl make their way back to Tia Dalma’s place in the swamp. Each of them expresses their remorse for the passing of Jack, including Elizabeth, the person responsible for his death. Tia asks what they would do to bring Jack back, and each of them indicate they would do anything to bring Jack back. Tia Dalma informs them that they will need to travel to the World’s End to save Jack from his fate and introduces them to their guide to world beyond, the previously deceased Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).