This entry will contain SPOILERS for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Since I think I may have been the last person on the planet among those planning to see the movie to actually see it, that may or may not be a problem.

But be warned, all ye who enter here…spoilage awaits ye!

So I’ve now seen it twice in two days, and my overall feeling is…:thumb: Not quite as awesome as the first, but still more entertaining than most everything else out there. A few points:

* Every time Elizabeth Swan was on screen, I was overwhelmed by wishing they’d blackmailed/bribed/coerced Natalie Portman into taking over the role. Keira Knightly seems to grow squintier and pointier with every passing hour and with her sharp little teeth she’s beginning to resemble some feral predator, and I found her much more frightening than Davy Jones.

* Speaking of Davy Jones, I found the squid faces and hammerheads and crab claws stupid and distracting. I wish they’d simply used scary-looking dead people.

* I thought the movie was hilarious. I did notice, however, that most of the humor came from Jack and a great deal of that was call-back humor to PotC1. My husband, who’s only really sat down and watched PotC1 once, laughed at a few. The tall kid, who’s seen it several times, laughed at more. And then there was me. I won’t admit to how many times I’ve watched the first one, but I laughed A LOT during the second. We all laughed at Jack seeing Elizabeth and telling Gibbs to hide the rum, but I was the only one who laughed when Will was hunting for Jack and was told he might be in Singapore.

* They need to squash the love triangle thing NOW. Will and Elizabeth got HEA’d in PotC1. Now, stuff comes up, like being arrested and missing one’s wedding, but don’t mess with the HEA.

* The betrayals bordered on making me uncomfortable with this one. Jack, Will and Elizabeth weren’t exactly a happy, trusting threesome, but there were some damn cold moments in this one.

* Fortunately, this movie was far more interesting than Matrix 2, so I don’t mind it’s simply being a bridge from 1 to 3 as much as I did with the Matrix trilogy, but still…they could have resolved at least one of the plot lines.

* Despite the slew of continuity errors and somewhat mediocre editing, I laughed my ass off all the way through the wheel scene.

* Scene that most took me by surprise and would have made me spit coffee if I’d had a mouthful: “Undead Monkey” in the bayou.

* Best scene in the movie: When Jack realizes the Kraken has him, and he cowboys up, draws his sword, and strikes a pirate pose of Errol Flynn proportions. It was a glimpse of the bad-ass pirate behind the goofball mask, and it made the whole movie for me.

* Fears for PotC3: Journeying to the world’s end offers the opportunity for much cheesiness of the squid-face variety.

* Hope for PotC3: I want to see more bad-ass Jack, without losing the quirkiness that makes him so awesome. I want Will to find true happiness with Elizabeth and with his dad. And I hope Keira doesn’t contract rabies and start shredding her castmates like a demented Tasmanian devil.