Keira Knightley: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Elizabeth Swann - Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 & 3 (2006/ 2007)

Anyone who has read my articles on overly long films and terrible sequels will know by now that I don't much care for the Pirates sequels. While I do have a certain soft spot for the first Pirates film, as a piece of no-nonsense, often funny popcorn cinema, the sequels are bloated, self-important, poorly acted and horribly directed by Gore Verbinski. I'm including them together on this list since they were filmed back-to-back, and because Knightley is pretty terrible in both of them. Dead Man's Chest begins with Swann's marriage to Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) being interrupted by Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Company; he arrests them for helping Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) to escape and sends Will off to find the Dead Man's Chest. What follows over this and At World's End is an extremely convoluted plot involving a love triangle with Sparrow, The Flying Dutchman and her character becoming king of the pirates. If it sounds like I'm making it up as I go along, that's a good indication of how the films feel. Knightley's performance in the first film was by no means great, but it was decent considering the material she was given and she ended up being a lot of fun. Here, however, she's brittle, wooden and very irritating for the vast majority of her screen time. Her tryst with Depp is unbelievable, she looks completely lost during the action scenes, and her attempts at being a fearsome leader in the third film are about as intimidating as a sixth form netball captain. Her performances may not be the worst thing about these films, but they sure as hell don't help things go any faster.