Thursday, July 07, 2011

Movie review - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

After not having seen a movie in the cinema since JANUARY (shock horror!) I decided to hit the 10:15 session of POTC4 mit Ruben y Eva because I'm hardcore. Also, it was the only session that was in English on a Sunday night. *cough*


Following the events of the original trilogy, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is in London to rescue his former first mate Gibbs from being hanged for piracy, who promptly informs Sparrow that the only reason he got caught is because an imposter is going around London advertising for people to join Jack Sparrow on a voyage. Jack is then arrested and taken to King George II who informs him that the Spanish have discovered the location of the Fountain of Youth and request that he join up with old foe Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, now in the employ of the King) to stop the Spanish from claiming it. The request is gracefully declined, and Jack goes on to discover that the imposter is in fact old flame, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), who turns out to be the daughter of Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and they too are after the Fountain of Youth. Cue the adventure!


First of all, this movie is not a rehash of the other three and exchanging Keira Knightly for Penelope Cruz was the best decision they ever made! She actually had a real reason for wanting to be at sea and the tension between her and Jack was believable rather than vomit-inducing. And while the story is a bit sillier than usual, featuring not only the fountain of youth but zombie sailors, fire-breathing ships (trust me on this), and mermaids (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) who fall in love with strangely studley missionaries (Sam Clafin - seriously, when he took off his shirt, I was thinking *gratuitous hip dips!*), I did find it actually entertaining. 


My main criticism is that by wringing out as much of Capt'n Jack Sparrow's idiosyncrasies as possible, the movie is incredibly long. There were several points where I thought to myself *Okay, here's the bit where Jack stages an incredible getaway* *Here's where he runs around like a gay pirate*, *Here's we he makes/asks a convoluted statement about the events that are occuring*, and *here's yet another incredible getaway*. Or maybe I'm just getting tired of the entire schtick - I get what he does, it doesn't need to be constantly reinforced. The movie ended at 12:30am and I think a good 20 minutes could have been cut by not doing all those little thingies. On the other hand, fans of the movie might prefer that so much time was spent concentrating on Jack's thing. *shrug*. 


Actually, I will also say that I didn't like the mermaid/missionary plot point. That was really boring and the shirtlessness was totally gratuitous. 


Anyway, the movie was in my opinon bit too long but better than the last one. I'm aware that's not really a recommendation but it is. Sorta. I walked out on Monday morning pleasantly entertained and that's my feeling reflecting back on it.
6/10 

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