Grade: B+Captain Jack Sparrow is back for another adventure. In London, Jack runs into Hector Barbossa, who is now working for the King’s Royal Navy, and an old friend, Angelica, and discovers that they are all on a quest to find the same thing, the mythical fountain of youth. However, he is double-crossed by Angelica and he ends up on the Queen Ann’s Revenge, the ship of the formidable and evil Blackbeard. Blackbeard forces Sparrow to help him find the fountain. At the same time, Mr. Gibbs gets picked up by Barbossa and, since he is the only other person who knows the way to the fountain, is forced to help Barbossa find the fountain. As the two crews battle to find the fountain first, they encounter mermaids, zombies and more strange and bizarre things on the seas.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a fun new addition to the series. I am glad to see that the writers of this movie decided to get back to the basics. The third movie in the series was huge and had way too much going on in it. This one corrects that by focusing mostly on Jack and a select few characters. Another huge bonus to this movie is that they drop the characters of Elizabeth and Will, played by Kira Knightly and Orlando Bloom respectively, who really brought down the second and third movies. The characters are all great and are all very intriguing and fun to watch, especially the character of Blackbeard. However, there is one thing about the movie I still don’t know exactly how I feel about. The first movie seemed very real and the second and third felt relatively real even with Davey Jones and all that came with that. In Stranger Tides there is a lot of mythology type stuff and a fair amount of magic. There are mermaids, which they have an interesting take on these creatures, and people that are supposed to be zombies as well as the fact that Blackbeard seems to have magical powers and his ship does as well. I liked some of it but some of it also seemed to go too far in my opinion.
The movie stars Johnny Depp (Public Enemies, The Tourist) in the lead role as Captain Jack Sparrow. Depp is a great actor and is always fun to watch but he really seems to exceed in this role. His portrayal of Sparrow is always fun to watch, with the characters bizarre mannerisms and wry sense of humor, it’s just a great character that he has managed to create. Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech, Munich) returns as Hector Barbossa, who is another great character. Rush does an amazing job every time with this character and really makes it interesting to watch. Especially his interactions with Jack. Penelope Cruz (Vicky Christina Barcelona, Volver) plays the role of Angelica, Jack’s former lover who also has a secret. Cruz is okay in this movie, she has her moments where she is fun but overall I wasn’t overly impressed with her or her character. Ian McShane (44 Inch Chest, TVs Deadwood) plays the role of the devious Blackbeard. I was very excited about this character being in this movie and Ian McShane was absolutely perfect for the role. He added a certain amount of intimidation to the role and was really fun to watch. The movie also features Kevin McNally, Sam Claflin, Astris Berges-Frisbey, Keith Richards and more.
On Stranger Tides is a fun addition to the Pirates of the Caribbean series of movies. The story is pretty interesting and entertaining and the characters are great. In my opinion, this movie is better than the third but not quite as good as the first two. I like it and if you are a fan of the Pirates movies, then go see this as soon as you can.
I would however like to add that I watched this movie in 2D and it’s movies like this that really make me hate 3D. There are several shots where the actors will stick their swords or whatever right in the camera, and in such a way that the actor might as well be saying “Hey! Check this out! It’s coming right at you! Isn’t that crazy? Woah, watch out!” really annoying.
Great quote: “Does this face look like it’s been to the fountain of youth?”
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