On Stranger Tides
So I went to see Pirates IV and wanted to discuss it, but then I went to see X-Men First Class quite soon after and got distracted. It's entertaining enough, I mostly knew what everyone's motivations were at any given point and wasn't that confused. All the action scenes are fun and it's a continuation of the live-action Loony Tunes that is Captain Jack Sparrow seeking the Black Pearl (with the tension that he's a really bad captain for all that he insists on the title, given that he keeps losing the Pearl). But my feeling is that I'll think of the first three as a trilogy and this as a continuation, and one that matters less, in a way. (For one thing, I kept thinking 'Shouldn't Elizabeth, the Pirate King' know about this?' Blackbeard was attacking all these pirate ships. And the film kept going on about kings.)
Mary-Ann Johnson gets to why in her review at The Flickphilosopher. To summarise, Jack is a trickster-hero, and he needs balance, people to say 'no, that's wrong', which he doesn't get in this film. Missionary Phillip (who in some ways harks back to Will in that he gets hurt when he's shirtless and is very pretty and noble) isn't an important enough character - and when I think back on it, he gets very little interaction with Jack. The four main characters are Jack, Angelica, Blackbeard and Barbossa. Um. They're all pirates. Angelica is more of an Annamaria than an Elizabeth (and while I liked her performance, I felt a bit distanced from the character. It wasn't really sweet that she as so determined to save her EVIL father that she didn't stand up to him when he was being EVIL. It didn't make her seem big-hearted, just surprisingly naive (like, hello love, he was always going to pick the cup) and sort of ruthless in pursuit of a delusional goal. Plus I didn't buy that she's Jack's one true love, because that's the Pearl. However, I also think that they might have cut some scenes that would have developed her a bit more, and surely a scene where Phillip tells Syrena what his name was.
If there is a sequel, they need ballast among the main characters.
THEY KILLED HOT GROVES. But...great Judi Dench cameo.
Entertaining enough, and it coasted on goodwill towards the franchise and interest in the Further Adventures of One Jack Sparrow well enough, ooh, and handled the callbaks to earlier films better than the 'But where has all the rum gone' flogging of DMC (I think it was).
Mary-Ann Johnson gets to why in her review at The Flickphilosopher. To summarise, Jack is a trickster-hero, and he needs balance, people to say 'no, that's wrong', which he doesn't get in this film. Missionary Phillip (who in some ways harks back to Will in that he gets hurt when he's shirtless and is very pretty and noble) isn't an important enough character - and when I think back on it, he gets very little interaction with Jack. The four main characters are Jack, Angelica, Blackbeard and Barbossa. Um. They're all pirates. Angelica is more of an Annamaria than an Elizabeth (and while I liked her performance, I felt a bit distanced from the character. It wasn't really sweet that she as so determined to save her EVIL father that she didn't stand up to him when he was being EVIL. It didn't make her seem big-hearted, just surprisingly naive (like, hello love, he was always going to pick the cup) and sort of ruthless in pursuit of a delusional goal. Plus I didn't buy that she's Jack's one true love, because that's the Pearl. However, I also think that they might have cut some scenes that would have developed her a bit more, and surely a scene where Phillip tells Syrena what his name was.
If there is a sequel, they need ballast among the main characters.
THEY KILLED HOT GROVES. But...great Judi Dench cameo.
Entertaining enough, and it coasted on goodwill towards the franchise and interest in the Further Adventures of One Jack Sparrow well enough, ooh, and handled the callbaks to earlier films better than the 'But where has all the rum gone' flogging of DMC (I think it was).