Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Rockin' the boat, like always.

The original Pirates of the Caribbean was an enjoyable hit. Johnny Depp's portrayal of the drunk and charming Jack Sparrow was lots of fun. It was an exciting and fresh story and seemed to be the beginning of what could be a pretty great series. Sadly enough, the following sequels got a little over their heads. They were silly, incoherent, and far too over the top. At World's End left me as frustrated as about any movie ever has. I absolutely hated it. On Stranger Tides seems to be trying to make amends for the last couple entries as most of the back story from the other movies is irrelevant. While it does learn from past mistakes of the series, it makes too many of its own mistakes to actually make it a good movie.

P4 finds Captain Jack on a quest to find the Fountain of Youth (I have no idea why this movie isn't called Pirates of the Caribbean: The Fountain of Youth, because On Stranger Tides has nothing to do with anything that happens). Johnny Depp doesn't do anything new with the Jack character; any laughs that he gives you feel old and outdated. He boards the ship of Black Beard (Ian McShane), who may possibly be the most sinister villain in the Pirates series yet. Penelope Cruz plays the supposed daughter of Black Beard and Jack's love interest. Both Cruz and McShane bring some much needed energy to the film.

The story line is much more straight forward then the complex incoherence of the prior 2 entries. It's refreshing to understand what's going on (for the most part, I still don't get why Black Beard has magic powers). The problem is that the story never gets too exciting, a lot of the movie is actually pretty boring.  Action scenes feel far too set up and more gimmicky than ever. I think director Rob Marshall doesn't really have a grasp on how to film an action scene as they never turn into anything exciting. They feel like action scenes you would see on a stage play.

Apart from a pretty enjoyable opening to the movie and an exciting mermaids scene, there's not a whole lot to love from this Pirates installment. But being bored is a step up from being infuriated, right?

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