Funny thing about amusement park rides: no matter how much you love them, there comes a point when you’ve ridden too much, and they just don’t deliver the same thrill. Push past that point, and eventually you’ll actually want to get off. Pirates of the Caribbean, the movie franchise based on an amusement park ride, is now skirting that line pretty closely.
The latest film, subtitled On Stranger Tides, finds our hero Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in search of the legendary Fountain of Youth. Or maybe he’s shanghaied into finding it – it’s hard to tell. The opening scenes kind of flow together in a jumble, as if the story has come from Jack’s own addled brain. One minute he has a map to the Fountain and is looking for a ship and crew, the next he’s rejecting the idea when the King of England offers him the mission in exchange for his freedom, and then suddenly, after meeting old flame Angelica (Penélope Cruz), he’s knocked out and wakes up a prisoner aboard the ship of the legendary Blackbeard (Ian McShane), “the pirate all pirates fear.”
Once at sea, the movie’s furious plotting slows down, but then the wind goes out of its sails. Typically of a sequel, there are a lot of characters here, and most of them are new. This causes the action to bounce around between different subplots, leaving Captain Jack off the screen too many times. This is a fatal flaw, because we know by now that Jack is the reason people watch the Pirates movies. Depp’s inspired Keith-Richards-meets-Pepe-Le-Pew portrayal is what made the first film into a hit, and what brought people back since.
And even when Jack is on screen, he’s not given a great deal to do. Instead, the story pits Blackbeard against the returning Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who’s now working for the King and wanting revenge for Blackbeard’s theft of his ship, and his leg. Jack spends most of his time under capture or being pushed around. He’s still fun to watch, but there are times when it doesn’t feel like he’s the main character.
These are all fine actors, working as hard as they can, and in all other respects it’s a film of quality, but On Stranger Tides is ultimately sunk by a bad script and story.
Tags: movie review
About the author: David Raitt
David Raitt is a writer and lover of pop culture. He lives in Oakville. He has also worked as an actor for The Second City, and has written, produced and performed his own sketch comedy, including the Canadian Comedy Award-nominated ALL THE RAGE. Semi-retired from performing, he still teaches improv and communications skills to students and corporate groups through his association with The Second City. Check out Dave's website at http://davidraitt.com
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Saw the movie last night and as they say, OMG!!! It was horrible. Did not make much sense and I felt from the previews, Penelope Cruz was a mistake for this movie! She does not fit in. What is with all the religious overtones, not anti-religion, but they did not make sense here. The mermaids were excellent as well as Blackbear’s boat! They only reason I am writing is please if someone knows anyone in this business, PLEASE get the original writers back if they make anymore!!!!! Oh and something else, it was NOT ANYTHING like the book “On Stranger Tides” by Tim Powers, excellent book. If it had been more based on the book it may have been much better! This is just my opinion. Thank you
Interestingly, Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, writers of the previous three films, did return to write this installment as well, though director Rob Marshall has taken over from Gore Verbinski. I haven’t read Powers’ novel, but perhaps the problem with the movie is that they tried to adapt a non-Pirates story to these characters.