Pirates 4 - a movie review

While on vacation in Colorado, we decided to see the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Mike had already seen it and was not exactly raving about it, but being a big fan of the previous movies (my favorite will probably forever be the first one), I had a strong desire to see this one too. And in the end, I would sum up my opinion as mixed. I liked the movie, but I did not love it. Note: I saw it in 2D. So, I'm not going to comment on anything 3D.

So, with due respect to the filmmakers - the cast and crew of this film - I'll start with the things I liked:

1. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush will forever be high in my esteem...two actors who, if I ever make it into the filmmaking world that they are a part of, I would love to work with. Making a character one has played before seem fresh and new without losing what endeared the audiences to them in the first place is not an easy task. Penelope Cruz did nothing for me, so I was happy that the focus was not totally on her.

2. Ditto to the music. I've loved all the soundtracks to these movies, and bringing Rodrigo Y Gabriela on board was one of the smartest decisions they made. I love interesting guitar music (it brings back memories of going to sleep listening to my dad practice guitar when I was younger), and I'm very interested to hear more from this pair.

3. Locations, locations, and beautiful cinematography. Yes, the world is a gorgeous place, and it should be featured more in huge cinematic movies. Even watching the trailer reminds me of that. Capturing vibrancy, beauty and the spectacular which we humans did not create is not an easy task, but makes seeing a movie in the theater worth it!

4. Concept. This can be really tough, particularly in the Hollywood blockbuster world that is our entertainment industry now. I trusted Rossio and Elliott to deliver and on some level they did. The hook here was Blackbeard and his quest for the fountain of youth. Concept: good, execution: less than impressive.

And now for the things needing improvement:

1. They totally went wrong with Blackbeard. He was not at all scary. In the stories told to Jack about Blackbeard, he appears weak because he listens to his daughter and chooses not to kill the preacher-boy. What? A cold-hearted villain, I think not! The characters kept telling us that he is the most feared pirate and all that, but we just didn't see it. Sure, he torched the other guy, but that hardly seemed retribution for mutiny... it just didn't work. I'm going to come back to how I think they could've done that, but for now, I'll move on.

2. The opener did not grab me. Quite frankly, I can't even remember it. Sorry guys, if I'm not hooked at the beginning, it takes a lot of work for me to stay interested. Oh wait, now I think I remember...

3. There were Spaniards in this movie, right? I barely remember them. What was the point? Have I mentioned that I like stories that are driven by character not plot? Well, it's true. You want to hook me into a story, give it a great character - "good" or "bad" - and a compelling reason for this journey they are about to go on. Then shape the plot around that character's journey, not the other way around. Jack didn't really have a great reason for going on this journey. For most of the story, Barbossa didn't either. And I didn't buy into the "Great Blackbeard" thing, so I didn't care about his or his daughter's reason. Remind me again, what was the deal with the Spaniards that we saw infrequently and without purpose except to further the plot? Oh and while we're on the subject, if their whole intent was to destroy the fountain of youth, or at least it's powers, why didn't they destroy the chalices when they initially had them? Supposedly they knew where the fountain was, they could have destroyed that later.

4. We've established that I like Geoffrey Rush. I was intrigued by Barbossa's choice at the beginning of the movie, but for most of the movie thought that his loyalty to the crown was simply a ploy to plot him and Jack Sparrow against each other. But then, there was this really compelling point in the movie when Jack and Barbossa are tied to palm trees and Barbossa tells us his story. For me, that's when the movie has a purpose and I finally get interested in the story - at least two-thirds to the end! But then, they do this really freaky nonsensical jumping from palmtree to palmtree and using it as a catapult that no longer toes the edge of reality/non-reality, but leaps to the side of disbelief. It did not work for me on so many levels.

Ok, so I can't just rip apart a movie that frankly I kind-of liked, I have to see what I think would make it better. I wanted to see it for it's possibilities. And here's how I think they could've solved a bunch of these problems: Open the movie with a depiction of what happened to the Pearl (Barbossa's story from the palm tree scene): eerie, middle-of-the-night ship goes down, perhaps in a way that we only see flashes of faces - Blackbeard's and Barbossa's among others. Then write the rest of the story in such a way that Jack ties Barbossa's story to Blackbeard's more strongly, as they start to do at the end. Take some of the focus off Blackbeard, but show him as this ruthless beast of a pirate that we're told he is. In order to do that, start with something ruthless - what he did to Barbossa and the Pearl! Then, why not go so far as to make it so Jack gets on Blackbeard's boat because he knows Blackbeard has the Pearl...it's a far more compelling reason than Jack's "stirrings" for Angelica.

Well that's my two cents - or most of it anyway.

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