Absolute Redemption for those still open to the series

Rating: 10/10 (22 June 2017)

Sometimes initial reviews, especially those of the critics can shape the psyche of a movie goer. I would even go as far to say that some movies have been severely limited on the economical upside due to these preliminary reviews. The best example of this I can think of is a movie called 47 Ronin. I believe it came out at 9% on Rotten tomatoes and absolutely panned by overseas critics. I make no claim that 47 Ronin was a fantastic movie, but after being destroyed at the box office, and failing miserably (financially), the IMDb score eventually started to climb to a much more suitable value in time. A lot of effort went into that movie, but it never stood a chance.
A rotten tomatoes rating somewhere in the 20's for this Pirates instalment is absolutely asinine. It has already influenced those ready to smash the 1/10 button to find reasons to do so.
We did not see this movie immediately due to the initial reviews, and the defensive nature of the positive reviews (of which there were several). Many positive reviewers would defend their position as "simply fans of the series". Not a fantastic endorsement to say the least.
I am not a fan of the series. I was a fan of the first movie. It was a clean, linear story line with fantastic character acting, hilarious engaging dialogue and some great action. The best part was the element of surprise. Nobody saw it coming and even large skeptics left the theatres with big smiles. After that Jack Sparrow turned into Homer Simpson. Far less effort in his schemes and dialogue sets. Mainly just random situations with a whole lot of babbling and flailing. The writers assumed the mere sights and sounds of Jack were enough. Although the graphics and action remained quite good, the content was just so much weaker. The story lines became bizarre, and not in a good way. There was constant filler, with emphasis on weaker characters trying to act out stronger roles. And I could go on.
This movie needed not attempt to recreate the first story, as the element of surprise was gone. What it desperately needed was an overhaul in content. The desire to make the writing, visuals and acting make us enjoy the movie, not the expectation established characters will do it regardless of content. At first it may have seemed like another random story thrown together so Homer Simpson (Jack) can bumble around for another 2 hours. This seemed particularly apparent during the first phase of the movie. I even found myself assuming that the reviews were likely to be more accurate. A tiny bit of patience and an open mind prevailed as the movie immediately took off after one particular scene. I would say this scene was a perfect representation of where this movie fits within the context of the series. There have been TONS of scenes of exactly this nature, but it was just done better. I went from being put off, to starting to chuckle, and it did not stop there. The smile stayed on the face through the entirety as they added bit after bit of hilarity fuelled by attention to detail. I'd not felt as positive about a scene since the first movie. From there the movie alternated contextual scene, to action scene (similar to the first), where the scenes for context were absolutely hilarious and the action scenes were consistently effective. The sheer effort placed into the dialogue of this movie was exactly what I was looking for. The volume of comedy (often fuelled simply by the dialogue) far outweighed scenes of suspense or drama. Even with that said, when called upon, the power house actors of this movie really made you feel what they wanted.
Was this the first Pirates all over again? Of course not! But it was an absolute redemption of something I did not think they could pull off. As it stacks up, I feel this movie and the first pirates instalment are a little bit different. Character development and story were paramount in making the first Pirates so successful. I wouldn't describe the first as a single genre, but a blend of so many. No doubt this instalment is also a blend, but I could much more comfortably describe this as a comedy. That is not to say that it didn't have fantastic scenes full of action, suspense, and even drama as well.
Those with an open mind will find this to be a wildly entertaining movie and score it highly. A handful may even see this as rival to the first. After all, it is much harder to write the extra content for a movie where all the characters are developed.
If you are mentally checked out, or rolling your eyes at the thought of more Jack Sparrow, I highly doubt you will feel the way I feel about this flick.
I simply wish there had been more of this kind of review a few weeks ago to balance the ratings and perhaps get more people out to the theatres. After all, I have suddenly found myself hoping they make another Pirates!