Actual grade: 7/10
(For a full explanation of my grading system, check out this post.)
For someone who claims to not take much stock in reviews, I must admit I was concerned going into this film. Based on the reviews I'd read, I was prepared to be disappointed. I expected to see a tired but beloved franchise try desperately to churn out more story lines. I also expected to still have a good time, because Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush are amazing in their roles, but I didn't expect it to be anything above average. I was therefore pleasantly surprised by this fourth Pirates movie. I had a blast. While of course not matching the genius of the first film, it easily surpassed either of the underwhelming sequels.
For the fourth entry in the franchise, this film wisely scaled back. Both of the sequels attempted to top the previous entry, and both fell short. Aiming for smaller was a risk, but one that, in my opinion, paid off. Only three characters return from the previous films: Jack, Barbossa, and Gibbs. Literally every other old character is not only unseen, but completely unmentioned. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, in particular, are not missed. Also, the plot itself has been streamlined. This film abandons complicated, intertwining motives, subplots, and twists in favor of a straight-forward quest for one object and the two (occasionally three) parties competing for it. Gone are the tedious scenes of pirate politics that bogged the previous two sequels down. This film, with its tighter plot, fewer characters, and shorter running time, breezes by.
This film also has a more serious tone than Dead Man's Chest or At World's End. Whereas those two films were campy and over-the-top, this film does not have villains with tentacles for beards or bumbling one-eyed sidekicks or sword fights on wheels rolling down a hill. The action is still exciting and well-choreographed, but the sword fights have a decidedly different feel to them -- they have morphed from showy and demonstrative to fast and precise, lending a more urgent and realistic feel to the action. The definite stand-out effects and action sequence takes place about halfway through the film -- I won't say anything else except that it involves mermaids. Ian McShane and Penelope Cruz are both good additions to the cast as Blackbeard and his daughter(?). McShane is definitely given the meatier role of the two and makes a great villain, but Cruz is sufficiently puzzling to keep us questioning her motives. My biggest gripe with this film was that it put Jack and Barbossa in opposing camps competing for the Fountain of Youth -- Depp and Rush play off each other so well, I wanted them to share more screen time.
At times I did miss the ridiculous fun of haunted ships, skeleton crew members and large-scale sea battles (an unprecedented amount of this film takes place on land). But overall, the tightening of the film and the shedding of everything that was holding it down pays off well. I would love to see more series' take this approach to sequels. The biggest problem series' have these days is continually trying to top themselves and getting mired in the continuity of endless plot threads requiring endless exposition. This film has more in common with a James Bond film -- a few familiar characters in a new, self-contained adventure -- and the series will therefore will be able to sustain itself longer and remain fresher. For a time, trilogies were all the rage (Spider-Man, X-Men, Bourne, Matrix, etc), but now studios are wanting to make more and more movies as long as they bring in money. I hope they will begin to follow the Bond and Pirates formula if they wish to achieve longevity while maintaining quality.
On Stranger Tides is an ironic title, given that this is decidedly the least strange of the Pirates films. But it did exceed my expectations, and if you enjoyed the rest of the films in this series, there's no reason you wouldn't enjoy this one. It's fast, light-hearted fun, and doesn't try to be any more than that.
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