We may not have made the midnight showing but we were there front and center for the 7 PM showing on the opening night of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST. The theater was packed and all but vibrating with the sort of excitement usually reserved for INDIANA JONES and LORD OF THE RINGS movies. While not quite as good as the first movie, it was still great summer fun.Without going into major spoilers, I will tell you that the new movie sports a number of delicious developments including a deepening of the romantic triangle between Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner and Captain Jack and an ending that makes you wish May 2007 was next month
instead of a year away.
My most thrilling discovery during the movie came when I asked myself that eternal question: Captain Jack or Will Turner??? And discovered that my answer (surprisingly enough) was: Commodore Norrington! I must confess that I barely noticed Commodore Norrington (played by Jack Davenport) in the first movie (although judging by several fanlistings on the internet, some of the more astute female viewers did). I just remember him as the handsome, clean shaven, somewhat stuffy fiance of Elizabeth Swann who nobly gave Captain Jack a head start when he was escaping from the gallows and let Elizabeth go into Will Turner's arms at the end of that movie.
But in the new movie, the former commodore is unshaven, dirty, drunk, desperate, brawling and out for revenge. And of course (being a romance writer)--suddenly I find him utterly irresistible! He needs to be redeemed! He needs love! He needs the perfect woman! He needs MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! 
