Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Review

Jack is back! but sadly not with much of a bang.

With the emergence of the character of Jack Sparrow as the somewhat unlikely star of the first film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the second and third film in the oddly mangled ‘trilogy’ saw Orlando Bloom somewhat sidelined, with Jack taking a more central role as Disney affected the slogan ‘Jack Is Back’. Now 8 years after the original and 4 years after the previous film, Disney have taken this to its fullest, removing those previously central characters entirely and turning the pirates of the Caribbean franchise into one solely dominated by the be-loved Jack Sparrow in a hope to save the now floundering series; Sadly though, it is clear that even the Jack Sparrow cannot alone save this sinking ship alone.

Strangers Tides is a much simpler tale than the one put forward in the previous two films (especially the latter), seeing only Jack Sparrow, played by Jonny Depp, and Captain Barbossa, played by Geoffrey Rush, as the only two returning substantial cast members. It follows Jack in his attempt to find the fountain of Youth alongside a lost love, Angelica (played by Penelope Cruz). Meanwhile Barbossa, now in the service of the British Navy, the Spanish and Blackbeard (because you might as well throw him in right?), are also after the long lost wonder. Obviously it’s not all as simple as that, and along the way they have to fight off the British in London, Mermaids, and each other, on numerous occasions over a somewhat pain-inducing running time of nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Clearly the film did not need to be this long, especially for such a simple story, and though the action is packed in to the introduction, it seems to slowly fizzle out across the films length and the ending is actually rather anti-climatic in an action sense as well as a story sense. To fill up this time there are many seemingly unnecessary side-plots, such as the relation between a captured Mermaid and an almost totally unimportant cleric (whose name I don’t think was ever mentioned). For me this did almost nothing to affect the main plot, and I felt little sympathy for the relationship which felt almost totally contrived (especially as the mermaids were meant to be aggressive and evil –actually it was nice to see mermaids as they were intended and not loveable and annoying!!) and ultimately pointless. The Plot at times also felt rather messy and just silly; people appear for little reason or for reasons that seem a little contrived, for example Jack Sparrow’s father, played by Keith Richards, who is on screen just long enough to explain, more to the viewer than to jack himself, what is needed to find the fountain, and is gone in a flash.

Now I know that the previous films were never bedded in reality, nor shied away from silliness, especially on the part of Jack Sparrow, but I felt that, at least the first film, took itself seriously enough to temper the joyfully silliness of the strange captain; such things are not present in Stranger Tides. Jonny Depp’s crazy pirates Shtick is in full force throughout the film, and there is just nothing to counter balance it like there has been previously such as in the form of Orlando Bloom’s character. Hence the viewer is exposed to such Shtick for the entirety of the film which does tend to get a little tiresome and it has definitely lost most of its charm from previously films, a charm which made the first film truly great. I think it would be wrong to assume though that the first film was good only because of this, and plainly Stranger tides demonstrates that one good character cannot make up for a poor plot and poor supporting actors. Geoffrey Rush returning as Barbossa in the service of the British, whatever his later reasoning’s, just felt rather contrived and his character, which was delightfully menacing in the Curse of the Black Pearl, is nothing of the sort here, replaced as the main antagonist by Blackbeard, played by Ian Mcshane, who plays his part as the evil pirate fine, but with little real spark. Penelope Cruz also brings little to the table.

The 3D is ever present, and it does as intended, but as with many new action blockbusters I ask myself, was it really necessary? Present seemingly more to offer the cinema the option to charge more than to bring something better to the audience.

In the end, Stranger Tides is an alright action romp, but is little more than that. Diehard fans of Jonny Depp and Jack Sparrow will not be disappointed but others may feel the film a little lacking in terms of quality, though probably no worse than the second and third film. The first film was probably one of my favourites from the early 2000’s,and its sad that the series has lost the charm and brilliance that made the first film great, something that cannot be entirely attributed to this most recent attempt. Despite my feelings, I’m sure this new film will make enough money for those behind the Pirates of the Caribbean series to make another, and I hear that there are already plans for a 5^th and a 6^th film; but for me, the ship has long since sailed.