Well, gamers, Blu-ray technology is headed in your direction.
Video:
"Dead Man's Chest" was transferred to disc using AVC compression from the original digital source files, and presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The 1080p picture looks great, although there are more soft-focus and deliberately hazy scenes than in the first film. But when the camera focuses on its stars, the detail on their faces is astounding. I've said it before, but it bears saying again: every wisp of hair, every pore, every imaginable texture comes into clear and prominent focus with Blu-ray. It looks gorgeous!
Audio:
Once again, the English PCM 5.1 uncompressed (48kHz/24-bit) sound is impressive. The thing about PCM is that in addition to producing a cleaner, crisper sound, it distributes the sound better across the speakers so that it fills the room. The alternate tracks (English, French, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1) are decent, but you just don't get the same brightness of sound or the sense of saturation that comes from the PCM.
Extras:
Though there aren't as many extras as on the first "Pirates," there's plenty to savor here. The 50GB Disc One features the film and an audio commentary with writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. They're interesting enough, but they lose steam as the film goes on. Every now and then they toss off something that makes you think, and there are occasional surprises, as when they reveal that it was Knightley who suggested the scene where she handcuffs Jack to the ship--a scene in which she gets to kiss Depp? Hmmmm. Also on Disc One is the Liar's Dice game, which is set up like a scene from the movie, with the player/viewer sitting in on a game of dice with Pintel (Lee Arenberg) and Marty (Martin Klebba). You wager or you call "liar," and if you lose you lose one die at a time until you're left with nothing . . . which quickly happened to me. Jolly Roger makes an appearance again as the main-menu animated tour guide.
The 25GB Disc Two features a pre-production documentary, "Charting the Return," and a long main feature on "According to Plan: The Harrowing and True Story of Dead Man's Chest." The latter incorporates lots of casual footage as well as behind-the-scenes filming and on-set interviews. There's plenty more. Shorter features cover "Captain Jack: From Head to Toe," "Mastering the Blade: Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport," "Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend" (one of my favorites), "Creating the Kraken," "Dead Men Tell No Tales: Re-Imagineering the Attraction" (and showing how the Disney ride will be reshaped by the film), "Fly on the Set: The Bone Cage," Bruckheimer's photo diary, a feature on the premiere, "Pirates on Location," "Inside Dead Man's Chest," and a selection of theatrical trailers from around the world and stills from the set. As with the first two-disc Blu-ray release there are also Easter Eggs, which are a bit harder to find.
Bottom Line:
You have to watch the bonus features to really start to appreciate this film. Bruckheimer & Co. believe in good old-fashioned movie-making, not the kind that takes place inside a computer war-room. These folks went on location for more than a year to film under difficult conditions. Depp really was nailed inside a coffin and dumped into rough seas at night, and the oldest pirate (at age 67) really did swim in 40-degree water into a cave. Ships and roads were built, and lives were transformed. Hollywood has come a long way from the old pirate movies shot on studio sound stages, but from what we hear on these bonus features, this type of filming is so costly and so risky that it may also become a thing of the past. To give us a rousing adventure story, the cast and crew gave up more than a year of their lives. It's not as strong as the first installment, but "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" is still entertaining . . . in a big, high-concept way.
"Dead Man's Chest" was transferred to disc using AVC compression from the original digital source files, and presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The 1080p picture looks great, although there are more soft-focus and deliberately hazy scenes than in the first film. But when the camera focuses on its stars, the detail on their faces is astounding. I've said it before, but it bears saying again: every wisp of hair, every pore, every imaginable texture comes into clear and prominent focus with Blu-ray. It looks gorgeous!
Audio:
Once again, the English PCM 5.1 uncompressed (48kHz/24-bit) sound is impressive. The thing about PCM is that in addition to producing a cleaner, crisper sound, it distributes the sound better across the speakers so that it fills the room. The alternate tracks (English, French, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1) are decent, but you just don't get the same brightness of sound or the sense of saturation that comes from the PCM.
Extras:
Though there aren't as many extras as on the first "Pirates," there's plenty to savor here. The 50GB Disc One features the film and an audio commentary with writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. They're interesting enough, but they lose steam as the film goes on. Every now and then they toss off something that makes you think, and there are occasional surprises, as when they reveal that it was Knightley who suggested the scene where she handcuffs Jack to the ship--a scene in which she gets to kiss Depp? Hmmmm. Also on Disc One is the Liar's Dice game, which is set up like a scene from the movie, with the player/viewer sitting in on a game of dice with Pintel (Lee Arenberg) and Marty (Martin Klebba). You wager or you call "liar," and if you lose you lose one die at a time until you're left with nothing . . . which quickly happened to me. Jolly Roger makes an appearance again as the main-menu animated tour guide.
The 25GB Disc Two features a pre-production documentary, "Charting the Return," and a long main feature on "According to Plan: The Harrowing and True Story of Dead Man's Chest." The latter incorporates lots of casual footage as well as behind-the-scenes filming and on-set interviews. There's plenty more. Shorter features cover "Captain Jack: From Head to Toe," "Mastering the Blade: Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport," "Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend" (one of my favorites), "Creating the Kraken," "Dead Men Tell No Tales: Re-Imagineering the Attraction" (and showing how the Disney ride will be reshaped by the film), "Fly on the Set: The Bone Cage," Bruckheimer's photo diary, a feature on the premiere, "Pirates on Location," "Inside Dead Man's Chest," and a selection of theatrical trailers from around the world and stills from the set. As with the first two-disc Blu-ray release there are also Easter Eggs, which are a bit harder to find.
Bottom Line:
You have to watch the bonus features to really start to appreciate this film. Bruckheimer & Co. believe in good old-fashioned movie-making, not the kind that takes place inside a computer war-room. These folks went on location for more than a year to film under difficult conditions. Depp really was nailed inside a coffin and dumped into rough seas at night, and the oldest pirate (at age 67) really did swim in 40-degree water into a cave. Ships and roads were built, and lives were transformed. Hollywood has come a long way from the old pirate movies shot on studio sound stages, but from what we hear on these bonus features, this type of filming is so costly and so risky that it may also become a thing of the past. To give us a rousing adventure story, the cast and crew gave up more than a year of their lives. It's not as strong as the first installment, but "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" is still entertaining . . . in a big, high-concept way.
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