Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides

by Steve Kochems

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides embodies so much of what is wrong with Hollywood in the last 15 years. I know, bold statement for a movie I can’t entirely trash because it’s ending begs for the audience to just accept this as a rough transition into a new set of films- but seriously, mermaids that look like vampires? C’mon Bruckheimer, you're killing me!

See, once upon a time Disney released a film about a young blacksmith who set off on a magical journey with a swarthy pirate in hopes of winning the hand of a governor’s daughter (i.e. a princess) by defeating a band of invincible and menacing pirates. It was a classic tale, not unlike The Princess Bride or the Star Wars saga before it.

However, like so many iconic characters to emerge from simplistic stories like those just mentioned, people aren’t satisfied with the taste they have been given, even if the story completes the character to a degree. I’m not judging anyone because I often feel the same way, however it can often completely ruin a character with a poorly written story or completely erode what lasting effect they previously had by over exposing us to them. The shark in Jaws is more terrifying before you see the shark- mysterious and the unknown are things we naturally fear.

With this, I get to Pirates 4, a new beginning to the series that is falling faster than Jon Edwards political career. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the series continues its steady slide here. Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, a character he seems to have brought to every role he’s played in the last decade, and his search for the Fountain of Youth. However, Jack seems less concerned with this quest and more with who seems to be impersonating him in London for a third of the film.

Also returning to the film is Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who is now employed by his majesty’s royal navy to seek out the Fountain before the Spanish, and Jack’s right-hand man Mr. Gibbs, who seems dragged along more so this time than in previous adventures. Two new additions are Penelope Cruz’s Angelica, the female version of Jack, and Ian MacShane’s Black Beard, a malicious pirate who’s reputation precedes him.

Unfortunately, that reputation is supposed to carry our fear of Black Beard throughout the film. Granted, his daughter often intervenes in her pursuit to save his soul and we do see the extent of his power when he is first revealed, but he never is as cunning as Barbossa was in Curse of the Black Pearl, nor as ruthless as Davey Jones in the second or third film. Bad guys don’t back down because their daughter says so, not the ones we fear at least (Note by Mike: Steve has obviously never heard of Willow Smith...).

As for Angelica, the tone seems to want to live and die with her. When she’s happy, we should be happy. When she’s angry, we should be angry, or sad, etc. But we never get there fully because her character is so similar to Jack. When Jack is marooned in the first film, we feel his sorrow and abandonment because until that point he had been always two steps ahead of everyone. It’s also in that moment we find out his miracle escape was a fraud. He begins to question himself and we, in turn, feel that with him. Angelica is never as likable because her true intentions are kept secret and the audience is already accustom to following one character who walks the moral line. Trying to add a second doesn’t always work.

But for all my complaints, I will say that the film does try to plead itself to the viewer at the end. After the credits rolled, my first thought was that Disney shoehorned in another arc in for Jack just to move on with the series. And while it had initially angered me, I considered that maybe they knew On Stranger Tides was going to have a rough transition regardless. Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End seemed to tire the audience out and any fresh start was still going to have to escape that shadow first.

So with that, I believe the already green-lit Pirates 5 has a lot to be optimistic about, even though On Stranger Tides is a much less than solid film.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5