When “At World’s End” finished the first thing I said to myself was “I hope they make a Pirates 4 where Jack looks for the fountain of youth.” I thought Jack hanging out on the dingy ready for another adventure was a great conclusion because it could double as a new beginning. Well I got my wish, I should thrown in something there about a personal book deal… People have had a lot of criticisms about the Pirates franchaise. The second and third instalments got overly complicated, and the romantic plot lines went from true love, to betrayal, to love again. On Stranger Tides was a chance to start over without too much baggage (namely Will and Elizabeth) The result is enjoyable, but not mind blowing. The race to find the fountain of youth is on between Captain Blackbeard of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the English lead by Captain Barbossa now a privateer, and the Spanish. Conscripted into Blackbeard’s crew by his former lover Angelica, Jack has no choice but to lead Blackbeard on the trail of Ponce De Leon.
The best part of this movie as with every other Pirates movie is Jack Sparrow. Johny Depp has created a cultural icon with his portrayal. Just like Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones, Jonhy Depp IS Capt. Jack. Sparrow is just as bumblingly cunning as he always is and pulls off some awesome feats. As long as he’s willing to play the character, he’ll make the role entertaining. What was nice about Jack in this movie is his continued subtle character development. It’s easy to write off his arguably good deed in the previous movies as primarily self motivated but on stranger tides shows Jack in more of a heroic light. The movie opens with him saving Mr Gibbs from the gallows, he tries to take the blame for a sailor Blackbeard was about to kill, is genuinely guilty over “corrupting” Angelica, and is horrified by Blackbeard’s cruelty. Granted Jack might just look good in comparison to everyone else, but I’d like to believe he’s made a turn for the better. If nothing else Capt. Jack has at least come to terms with his mortality, and place in the wold.
Penelope Cruz’s Angelica was a nice addition to the cast. An interesting theme explored in Stanger Tides was the possibility for redemption of sinners. Angelica was almost a nun before Jack corrupted her. She still maintains some faith. She objects to killing a missionary and wants to save her father (Blackbeard’s) soul. This made her more that the cliche femme fatale who has a dangerous love/hate relationship with the hero.
Blackbeard however wasn’t as strong of a character as his progeny. Dont get me wrong Ian McShane did a fair job playing an evil pirate, but as the villain of the movie he had some major shoes to fill. Barbossa as an undead pirate, squid faced Davy Jones, and even Cutler Becket with his Machiavellian schemes made such an impact that Blackbeard really couldn’t measure up. Sure he had some cool gimmicks, like keeping captured ships in bottles, raising the dead, and using the Sword of Triton to command the ship to come life were cool, but it was was still not enough. How are we supposed to believe that this is the “pirate that all other pirates fear” when we’ve see the cursed Black Pearl, and the Flying Dutchman? Maybe if we saw him actually use black magic to create a zombie, or mercilessly cut down scores of men it would have been different. If they showed a few one on one scenes between him and Angelica establishing a father daughter relationship it would have given the character more depth. Maybe the only person he could have be capable of showing compassion to would have been his daughter creating a nice kindness cruelty dynamic. Davy Jones and Barbossa were both monsters but we still felt for them. Barbossa wanted to be human, Jones was heart broken. Blackbeard was just greedy. Meh.
The weakest element of this movie was without a doubt the relationship between the mermaid Syrena, and the missionary Philip Swift. Philip wasn’t a bad idea for a character, he was a man of faith amongst the faithless. He was unafraid to confront the characters for their evil despite the highly likely chances they’d just kill him. A man of conviction amongst scoundrels always makes for good drama and could have played off of Angelica’s mission well. Then he got distracted by a doe-eyed mermaid. In the Pirates universe, mermaids are closer to sirens, than Ariel. They pull sailors overboard to rape, drown, and eat them. A mermaids tear is needed to make the fountain of youth work so the crew captures one when Philip accidental hurts her. Because he’s the only one nice to her they fall in love. Syrena is beyond one dimentional. The only reason Philip gives for caring for her is that she is beautiful, and sorry for her injury. We’re meant to feel bad for her cause she is a pretty prisoner who’s suffering but I can’t get over the fact that she’s a cannibalistic rapist. She never gives an account or an explanation for why mermaids kills sailors. If she would have called Phillip out on his kidness, he responded with something like “The good book says love thy enemies, forgiveness is good, or do onto others blah blah.” he could have gotten through to her. It would have brought their relationship full circle if she repented her evil ways by professing her love for him. Conversely if the mermaids were truly innocent and not sea monsters, Blackbeard’s actions would have been even more evil, and the romance would have been a little more logical. The resolution of their romance in the end is very vague and doesn’t satisfy the plot line.
All in all this movie wasn’t bad. The visuals and designs were great. The action and comedy hit all the right points. It was a fun popcorn movie. Sure they could have made it better but I it doesn’t matter. It was worth my ticket price. So now that this film is over I find myself in the same position I was in At Worlds End. Will they make a Pirates 5? As long as these films make money there are plenty of cheesy fun adventures they could throw at Jack Sparrow. How about Jack with Captain Ahab go after the white whale? Or Jack Sparrow washes up in Atlantis? Jack steals the Nautilus and meets Nemo? Maybe even Finding Nemo!
I got it Jack and Nemo team up to protect Atlantis from Moby Dick! I’d watch that. Why not?
On a scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10) On Stranger Tides gets a 6.9.