All week, I have been talking about whether the fourth Pirates movie would be any good. I was thinking it would hopefully be the Return of the Jedi of the great Pirates of the Caribbean movies; others told me it would be one of the god awful prequels, ya know, the one with Jar Jar? Finally, when the 3D glasses went on and the lights came down, I instantly realized we were all wrong.
The fourth Pirates movie has a change of directors from the previous three, from Gore Verbinski to Rob Marshall, and yet, the movie didn't have the feeling of being a leftover, in fact, it was quite the opposite; shed of the greater story arc in the previous three, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides stands solid on it's own and is the New Hope for the series.
The fourth movie begins with another grand entrance of the great Jack...uhh, excuse me, Captain Jack Sparrow. He's up to his usual; getting in trouble and smarting his way out. This time, he meets a sexy female pirate, one of whom he has met before, and get's entangled with Captain Barbosa, Blackbeard the Pirate, The British and Spanish Navies, all of whom are looking for the fountain of youth.
First off, I heard one comment that stuck with me, "depth? I hope you weren't looking for depth in this movie." The person was right; this movie didn't have the massive depth and many story lines the previous had. I actually thought simplifying it, more than the third movie, helped the movie embrace what it is, and greatly helped the pacing and characters of the movie, but you won't be finding multiple layers here. While you have characters after different things, and their motives may not be clear, we know the end is the fountain of youth.
That being said, each character was thoroughly enjoyable. Depp has never been better as the pirate who is always in the middle of these feuding factions. Penelope Cruz's Angelica was great, and a solid match for Captain Jack in both sword play and wit. You also have Captain Barbosa, played brilliantly by Geoffrey Rush. He's my favorite throughout the series, and the characters progression from beginning to end is excellent. This film also introduces a new villain in Edward Teach aka Blackbeard. Ian McShane plays the cruel pirate with a swaggering ease. He is a great villain, but an even better pirate. We also have a mermaid, who was hardly Disney's Little Mermaid, played by Astrid Berges-Frisbey, who sort of added a small, and totally satisfying love story. All these characters were solid in their writing and interpretation, but were all there to give a grand arena for Depp to play in, and play he did.
The movie kept the comedy the predecessors had, and perhaps executed it better (there's one remark about a missionary that had me in tears). The film was plenty dark, pushing the limits of the PG-13 rating, with plenty of sexual tension between Cruz and Depp, and the mermaids, along with some great action, and some elaborate sword fights; oh and there were zombies. This movie, like the others, isn't for little kids, but it's something adults and teenagers will love. The film never tries to be too serious, or dramatic, in fact, quite the opposite, the film uses these dramatic scenes to do the opposite of what you would think to great comedic effect.
I have to say, I loved this film. It's somewhere between the first outing and the second, in terms of quality. It remembers it's a film based off a theme park ride, and has tons of fun with the amazing characters and settings it puts on screen. If you are looking for that fun popcorn flick, then look no further, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will keep you fully entertained for the full 2 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment