It's hard to believe but the latest Disney action adventure 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' is actually the third 'Pirates' adventure to hit our screens in so many years.
As most of you should know by now 'Pirates' features Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, a loveable rogue with a heart of gold who always seems to get himself into the most precarious situations and make enemies with the worst kind of people.
I suppose with all franchise's nowadays the first thing we ask ourselves is how many more films will they milk this for, and (with reference to this particular franchise) is this to be the final voyage for Captain Sparrow?
I think the only guaranteed answer is that the 'Pirates' franchise will come to an end when either it stops making the studio serious money, or when the main protagonists (i.e. Depp, Bloom and Knightley) no longer wish to be involved in the project.
'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' opens with an incredible action sequence, which is followed up by many, many more incredible action sequences.
In fact, with a running time of close to three hours, there are many fantastic and spectacular action set pieces to marvel at during the course of this movie.
At the start of the film Jack Sparrow is trapped in the Davy Jones locker - a 'world beyond this world' - and has gone quite mad having hallucinations including sailing on his ship (Black Pearl) with a crew made up entirely of Jack Sparrow's.
Elsewhere, lovebirds Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) along with Captain Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush) are on their way to Singapore to see Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat), a powerful sea captain who, they believe, has a map to 'the end of the world' which they intend to use to rescue Captain Sparrow.
Trying to stop their mission is evil Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander) and his fleet who have formed a dangerous alliance with Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and the mutant sailors aboard the 'Flying Dutchman'.
As the film goes on the plot gets more and more complicated to a point where the best advice is to watch and enjoy the action and the characters and let the story - as it goes - wash over you.
What is clear is that Liz and Will are not as in love as they used to be, and the writing may well be on the wall for their relationship. And, it also seems that, Beckett is using Davy Jones' heart to stamp out piracy and rule the seas - something potentially catastrophic for all our favourite characters here (and for the Disney Corp.).
'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies have always been about good versus evil, even though sometimes there seems to be a fine line between the two. Lets remember that, however cuddly and funny Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow is, pirates used to be ruthless criminals who roamed the seven seas robbing, killing and generally terrorising other seafarer's.
But Sparrow, Liz, Will and even Barbossa are the good guys here and you will find yourself rooting for them in the epic battles that book-end (and are included throughout) this movie blockbuster.
When he is given sufficient screentime Depp is a joy once again hamming it up for all he's worth. Nighy and Rush are also very entertaining while Knightley's charms are waning and I don't think anyone would notice if Bloom forgot to turn up next time around - if there is a next time around.
Disney, who made the movie, should know that they'll get crowds through the doors to see this one, and that less is sometimes more when it comes to content, and particularly length.
