Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Cast: Johnny Depp as "Captain" Jack Sparrow
Penelope Cruz as Angelica Malon
Geoffery Rush as Hector Barbossa
Ian McShane as Edward "Blackbeard" Teech
Rated PG-13
*The following may contain spoilers*
Ah, nostalgia. You've been quite the frequent visitor this year and here you are again, bringing with you a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

The Pirates of the Caribbean (PotC) franchise holds a dear place in my heart being that it was the first franchise I really fell in love with. I was Jack Sparrow for at least three Halloweens and dreamed of being a pirate as my friends and I recreated battle scenes, swinging yellow plastic baseball bats instead of swords. Life was grand when Pirates was released and even Dead Mans Chest (Pirates 2) was enjoyable. Then, there came At Worlds End...

It was terrible for those of you lucky enough to not have seen it. The writers apparently thought it was a good idea to combine 4 different plots and hide the irregularity with CGI. It was such a jumbled, catastrophic mess of a movie that it successfully made me hate the franchise. Needless to say, I was a little tentative about On Stranger Tides and the lack of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley did little to ease my fears. However, Jack once again won me back.

Overview:
Now that you know my history with the franchise, let's break down it's newest installment.

On Stranger Tides starts probably a few months to a year after At Worlds End, though the timeline is never made clear. After a very impressive and classic entrance, we learn that Jack is still possession of the chinese map with directions to the fountain of youth. After quickly reintroducing  Barbossa (now a member of the King's navy) and meeting Angelica (a former flame of Jacks...go figure), Jack quickly sets out for the fountain with Barbossa, the English and Spanish navies and Blackbeard close behind.

What I Liked:
Immediately out of the gate, it's made clear that this will not be like any other Pirates movie. *SPOILER* In the first ten minutes, we learn that Jacks beloved ship, the Black Pearl, which served as the primary plot point of the first three movies, has been sunk. Right there, it's evident that this script will be new and original. It's about time. In the next ten minutes, Gibbs (Jacks first mate) has burned the Chinese map and by the 20 minute mark, we've pretty much lost all ties to every other movie.

From there, the film really starts to come together. What fans have known for a long time has apparently occurred to the directors: Jack Sparrow is the only reason to see these movies. The directors embraced that, focusing on Jack and keeping the plot centralized on one point, instead of spiraling away into four new ones and ending up with a crab lady.

"I make no sense as a character."

Speaking of crab ladies, the directors also seemed to catch on that one of the problems with At Worlds End was the fact that they explained everything away. As such, they avoided any outright explanations at all, choosing instead to drop subtle hints through dialogue. This created a better feel for the whole thing and gave me a sense of awesomeness when I was able to piece together a plot point.

As it turns out, On Stranger Tides was actually suggested from a book of the same title, written by  Jay Wolpert, who also wrote for the first three Pirates movies. Taking that to heart, the directors played the whole thing out like it was a fanfiction. The end result provi several "fanboy moments" appearing that previously only existed in our secret dreams such as combining zombies, mermaids, Penelope Cruz and classic Jack moments like when he climbs a palm tree backwards. we all knew he was capable of creatively getting out of a jam, we just never expected it to be THAT creative.
While on the subject of "fanboy moments", I think it's worth mentioning some of the others that made the film memorable. Besides the multiple Jack moments, such as starting a mutiny and escaping from a palace, there were two that really stood apart. It was really great to see Jack and Barbossa work together, a final collaboration of Captain and First Mate from a time before the movies. The other great "fanboy moment" came from the end when *SPOILER* Barbossa finally gets his own ship and crew, leaving him satisfied and any future vessel of Jacks safe.

To top it all off, Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane are exactly what the film needed to keep it fresh. Blackbeard provides the mysterious yet well known common enemy, while Cruz brings Jack his oh-so-deserved attractive and single love interest with some pretty great chemistry on screen.

And the best part? The distinct lack of octo-men and Krakkens.

What I Didn't Like:
There wasn't a whole lot I didn't like about this one, probably due to my hard-to-squash loyalty to the franchise. However, a couple things got to me.

There was a new spiritual battle type thing going on, with a cleric on Blackbeards ship continually telling the pirates to repent while they run around killing people. Meanwhile, Angelica battles for her fathers soul while Jack is working on a "as needed" basis. Overall, Im all for salvation, but it felt kind of out of place, forced and unessecary in the movie.

Speaking of forced and unnecessary, they threw in a romance.

NOT AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN!

As I said, the mermaids are kind of a crucial element in the plot and *SPOILER* the pirates have to kidnap a mermaid and get a tear from her. That's all fine and good, but throwing in a romance between the cleric and mermaid was just stupid and felt a little too similar to the first three. On top of being super random and idiotic, it made the ending a little unbelievable (for a pirates movie, that is), especially when they didn't resolve it...at all.
 
Summary:
Obviously, I'm a little biased as a critic, considering that this particular franchise practically defines my childhood. However, I'm pretty sure it was awesome in most everyone's mind. While there were a couple dragging moments in the plot and quite a bit less action than the previous two, the end result was impressive. With an original storyline that avoided most of the problems of the previous films, I think Stranger Tides far surpasses 2 and 3 and probably ties with Black Pearl in quality, making it my favorite in the series. If you love Jack Sparrow, you'll probably love this movie.

When Should You See It? All Pirates fans should go right now and be sure to stick around after the credits...
If you haven't seen the first three, you shouldn't really care. 
Personal Rating: 9 of 10
Plot: 8.5 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 2 of 10
Spiritual Aspects: 6 of 10
Drugs/Alcohol: 1 of 10