Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Review

So ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ , the fourth in the series is finally here. This time around it was directed by Rob Marshall and stars Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, and Geoffrey  Rush. The story picks up just about were the last one left off, with Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) looking for the Fountain of Youth. It is also to be noted that this time around the main character is Sparrow, no more Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom. Which going in, I thought would be a good thing, well the no Orlando Bloom part. I never wanted Knightley to leave.

Now as for the acting in this movie, I thought it was fantastic. Of course Depp did his usual, which is always great. The additions of Cruz and McShane were great choices as well, both did a really good job. McShane was just so evil as Blackbeard, you never doubt for a second that he’ll kill anyone who gets in way, although he doesn’t always. As for Cruz, just wow. She was a bit weird but so conniving the whole time. Every time she’s on the screen you always want to watch her, because you’re always expecting her to turn on somebody or just do something unexpected. Come to think of it, she was almost like a female Jack. Now onto the guy who stole the show here, Geoffrey Rush. His portrayal of Barbossa this time around was so refreshing. It really seemed like he was just having a blast as the character this time around. The only problem I had with this was that, until the end, you never get to see that badass Barbossa that everyone loves. Though when he does show up, you realize how worth it the wait was.

Something I found a bit interesting about this movie, but that I think I liked, was that there didn’t seem to be as much going on that involved the ships. Sure they were present and talked about a lot, but you don’t see much happening on them. In fact I don’t think there’s even any battles that take place between any of the ships in the film. Most of the time it’s scenes on land, be it the jungle, beaches, or the city. It didn’t bother me that much, but I just feel that a movie about pirates should have a bit more to do with there ships.

The movie, though not great, was still a solid addition to the series. If there is another one however I hope they don’t stick with this formula. This time around, with the story focusing on Jack, it was kind of like getting all desert and no dinner. In the first three films it was always great looking forward to seeing more of Sparrow, but now with a film full of him and not much else, it feels like there was just something missing. Definitely go check it out though, it’s worth the money and you’ll get a good laugh for sure.