Release Date – 5/20/11
Captain Jack Sparrow is up to his usual antics. He is being chased by the Queen’s Navy and narrowly evading capture. What he really wants to do is get a ship and a crew and finish his search for the Fountain of Youth. When he finds out a Jack Sparrow imposter is doing the same thing, he sets out to interrupt their plans and hijack their ship. What he doesn’t realize is a woman from his past and the most feared pirate of all time are also searching for the Fountain. So while fearing for his life, Jack must turn the tides and be the one to find this mysterious place that holds the desired Fountain of Youth. This film is the lowpoint in the series and was kind of boring. The action scenes were there but most of them were just rehashed scenes from the previous movies. And they desperately wanted a love story but couldn’t quite work it in.
Johnny Depp does his usual Jack Sparrow shtick. Its nothing new, he’s done it four times now so he’s a pro. He still brings a little comedy here and there and hardcore Depp fans will love him once again. But its becoming a tired routine. Penelope Cruz is Angelica, a former lover of Captain Jack. Although we hear about all these women he’s been with, there’s never any on screen chemistry with a woman. Angelica is supposed to be in love with Sparrow but angry at him for leaving her. And we’re supposed to believe they were once close to marriage, which is never backed up with any real chemistry. Geoffrey Rush returns in a completely unnecessary role. He left his pirate days and now is Captain Barbosa, a part of the Queen’s Navy. So once again he’s partially a villain. Making his Pirates debut is Ian McShane as Blackbeard. All pirates fear this man because he has the unique ability to control his ship with his special sword. But I would barely call him a villain as Jack is working with him through most of the movie. Some of the best comedy came from Stephen Graham (Al Capone from Boardwalk Empire), he played the silly pirate named Scrum who was also working on Blackbeard’s ship.
On Stranger Tides suffers greatly from the loss of Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom. They lost the love story that kept some fans (females mostly) involved. They tried to base this one all on Jack Sparrow but he’s not really a character that has a lot of range. He’s supposed to be a comedic character who stumbles and bumbles his way to victory. Sometimes even villainous in his antics. But they tried too hard to wrap all the main characters from the previous movie into his. I know I have bashed this a lot but its not a terrible movie. The action scenes are still very well choreographed and there is still some comedy from several characters. It just got a bit boring and was a little too long. I would have to put the blame on new director Rob Marshall. He’s mostly well known for doing musicals (Chicago, Nine) and him taking over a big budget action film from Gore Verbinski just didn’t work. I really liked the trilogy of films before this one, so this really puts a damper on the series. Hopefully they call it quits for real this time. With Thor and Pirates 4 not really blowing me away, summer movie season is still wide open for a true champion.
IMDB – 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 34%
Movie Wiseguys – 6.5/10