One of the best things about having a birthday on Memorial Day Weekend is that I almost always get a big blockbuster movie for my own personal holiday. This year, one of the ones I got was Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Being a geek, I firmly believe that any birthday involving pirates is a good birthday.
The movie, however, didn't quite live up to the hype. Close, but not unequivocal.
This far into a series, it's almost impossible to review a movie without comparing it to it's predecessors. This one is shorter than World's End (movie 3) and less dark as well as less unnecessarily convoluted. But it wasn't as fun as the original movie, or as pure, though there was something of the feeling that they might be trying to recapture a little of that essence. It was definitely entertaining, but not mind-alteringly-awesome like a first viewing of the first one.
It would have been nice to have a little more sly reference to the fact that three stories have gone beforehand and two of the characters spent some time dead, and really, how that affected them. Other than Barbosa looking really rough throughout the movie without anyone even commenting on it, that is.
And it lacked the heart that Orlando Bloom / Wil and Kiera Knightley / Elizabeth brought to the first three (when they weren't being annoying or confusingly-motivated), and I think a big part of that was that the preacher was introduced so heavy-handedly: he came across as unpleasantly Bible-thumpy without much reason other than being religious, and he was there for pretty much unexplained reasons. At first, it seemed like he was to be Angelica's love interest, but that fizzled out without any development, and his romance with Sirena was so classic and sincere that it really could have benefited from a little snarking and complication. Maybe some delving into exactly what it means to be in love with something not human. Some stakes other than 'maybe she won't like me back'.
On the other hand, it was great seeing Jack up against a woman who was his equal enough to impersonate him. Their attraction didn't quite sell itself, but the dynamic was interesting enough to overlook that part a little. Sincere-Jack is strange: it's hard to know what to think of him, and it came just short of dulling the slimy charm of the character, but that was fixed by the resolutely non-sappy ending.
As for the structure, there were far too many elaborate chase scenes, and the villains were not as interesting or as commanding of attention of Norrington. It would have been better to cut the chases down just enough to get a little character development on Barbosa's men and the Spaniards. But you know what? All of these quibbles / failed requirements of a truly good movie are basically after-the-fact. While watching it, it's as entertaining as it should be, and there was just enough growth for Jack that it will be interesting to see where he goes next. He's being pursued by the only woman who almost won him over, and we're pretty clear on the fact that his personality requires an audience and companions to take on his adventures, so anything that comes after this should be more solid, now that the status quo has been reset.
Should be, because if it isn't, us fans will have something to say about it.
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