Depp, cast shine in third 'Pirates of the Caribbean'

There is a moment late in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" when Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Keira Knightley stride three abreast to a summit meeting of sorts. Adorned in their elaborate getups, from boots to cloaks to unique hats, they personify pirate cool.Watching three generations of terrific actors who have poured so much talent and energy into their roles over three films, I had to acknowledge that even though I haven't been the biggest fan of the "Pirates" franchise, these characters have earned their iconic status. They are part of pirate-movie lore.The sets, costumes, stunts and special effects are beyond what anyone could have dreamed during the Golden Age of the pirate movie.Not that there's much in the way of actual pirating going on in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Everyone's too busy restoring life to dead creatures, cracking jokes, debating pirate law (who knew?), lifting curses, switching allegiances and coping with hallucinations, among other problems, to engage in anything so mundane as storming a ship and making off with the loot.There's even a temporary rum shortage, for shiver-me-timber's sake. Clocking in at 170 minutes, this is one long, convoluted and intermittently inexplicable pirate epic - but it's worth seeing for the jaw-dropping action, the doses of irreverent humor and of course the star power of Depp, Knightley, Rush, Orlando Bloom, Bill Nighy, Chow Yun-Fat and a host of other talented actors who utter their lines with Shakespearean gusto, even if they're dripping wet and pretending to do battle with CG creatures.Many swashbuckling flicks are heavy on the swordplay and light on the plot machinations, but all of the "Pirates" movies are dense with storylines that sometimes careen off the course of logic altogether. But does it matter? We're here for the explosions and the swordplay and the crackling one-liners. We're here to watch Depp's increasingly fey Captain Jack Sparrow sashay his way in and out of trouble. We're here to see if Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann will find everlasting love, or be torn apart by evil forces. We're also here for the over-hyped cameo by Keith Richards, perhaps the only human alive who would need minimal makeup and little wardrobe help to play a craggy-faced pirate of the early 19th century. (The good news is: Richards is great fun in a tiny role.)On those counts, "At World's End" delivers. Director Gore Verbinski and the stunt and special effects crews have created one of the most impressive blends of live-action work and CGI wizardry ever put on film. "At World's End" rarely drags and is almost always entertaining. Everyone gets their moment of truth and/or triumph, with Knightley's Elizabeth attaining a particularly spectacular level of empowerment. Even when the story frustrates, the acting and the visuals never disappoint.