MOVIE REVIEW: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Hello everyone! Sorry for my prolonged absence from blogging, but a lot has been going on lately between work, finalizing my law school admission, getting a lease on an apartment, and getting abused by my allergies. Since life in general has been taking such a toll on my spare time, I've decided to reduce my postings to more current events. I'll still write about something if I feel like it, or if I have the time, but since my leisure-writing time has become scant nowadays, I regret that so will my blogging frequency. No matter, though. I'm going to keep writing until compelling circumstances state otherwise. In the meantime though...

What came seemingly out of nowhere, and with less hyped fanfare than what I remember is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth entry in the Disney/Bruckheimer cash cow, helmed by the great Johnny Depp. This is a much different, more tightly focused entry in the series. From what I understand, the purpose was to open a new chapter in the adventures of wily protagonist Jack Sparrow a la "Indiana Jones" and other serials. Gone now is the tired, overblown love story between Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan. Instead, the audience gets what they may have secretly wanted in the first place: a story owned and encompassed by Jack Sparrow, as opposed to the Will/Elizabeth/Jack trifecta that dominated the original trilogy. While it's a fun film, it lacks the epic scope that made the original three more far-out and entertaining.

Some time after the events of At World's End, Jack Sparrow finds himself in front of the King of England and Barbossa, his old nemesis, now Captain of the British Navy. They are comissioned to venture back to the Caribbean to beat the Spanish in search of the Fountain of Youth. But Sparrow is also in search of an imposter of his, who turns out to be Angelica, the feisty daughter of the rogue pirate Blackbeard, and Sparrow's jilted lover. The three reluctantly join forces in the quest to find the Fountain, and must endure a series of trials in order to unlock the Fountain's secrets. As is expected in these films, the typical cartoonish madness also ensues.

As I said before, the lack of featherweight subplots that I felt bogged down the last two films is refreshingly absent for Tides. In return, we get a few old faces, but mostly some new, interesting characters. What I felt was sorely missed from this entry though, was the lack of spectacle and over-the-top action sequences that made the series unique. Apparently, the budget for this series was slashed in half, from the $300 million special-effects-behemoth of At World's End. $150 mil isn't chump-change for a film, but it shows in the lack of epic action money-shots and more emphasis on (admittedly) some very good swordplay and stuntwork. Actually, some may appreciate the return to practicality, but I just felt the series set such a high bar for fantasy and spectacle that Tides didn't really meet it in that department. In fact, I'd argue it's even less epic than the first film, but don't consider that a deal-killer when deciding to see the film.

What Tides does have to offer is Johnny Depp returning in full form, anyone who missed his antics as Jack Sparrow will be very pleased to see him gobble scenery like a kid in a candy store. Also fun to watch is newcomer Penelope Cruz, who brings identically caustic chemistry between her and Depp that they both shared in Blow, ten years earlier. Angelica is pretty much the "Princess Leia" of the new series, and I found her very engaging as a female lead. Also, at a few minutes shy of two hours and forty minutes, it's the shortest, and most tightly-paced of all the Pirates films in my opinion.

Fans should generally enjoy Tides, and everyone else may find themselves in for a fun, harmless ride. It's a different Pirates, but a very solid standalone adventure tale. I didn't see the film in 3D, but by all accounts, I was told by many it was terrible and inconsistent. The effects only surfaced in several sequences, and the process made the film dark and grainy. 3D is becoming sadly overrated in mainstream films nowadays, anyway. But I'm sure hardcore Pirates fans won't care, either way.

7/10

Peace,
- Jon