Not a disaster: not brilliant

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2011)

Well, the good news is that Pirates 4 is better than Pirates 3. The bad news is that it is no better than Pirates 2, and probably not as good.
Let's look at the good and bad. It is entertaining and undemanding, excepting only a need for stamina - it is overlong. The story hangs together reasonably well (as long as you are prepared to overlook "How did he know that was there?" all the way through - Ponce de Leon's ship on top of a remote cliff, for a start off)). Depp's Sparrow is always entertaining company, and Blackbeard is also a welcome villain (although McShane's accent is a bit indecisive). Penelope Cruz never really catches fire, however, and Geoffrey Rush seems to be just going through the motions.
With the exception of a chase in London and a nocturnal mermaid-baiting expedition, there are no set pieces on the scale of the cavern swordfight in the first one, the waterwheel fight in the second, and the whirlpool battle in 3. That doesn't really matter, because the rest of what goes on is sufficiently entertaining - I particularly enjoyed the interplay, sketchy though it was, between the cleric and the conflicted mermaid. There are a couple of massed battles, but they don't achieve much - they are simply well-choreographed mêlées of a lot of blokes clashing swords about.
I will say that the film is very dark (my father complains about modern films being predisposed to darkness and muted colours, and I see what he means here). When things are light, the colours are vivid, but a lot of this film takes place at night, and the 3D specs darken things down still further. The 3D is at least live, not post-production, and is effective at times (especially underwater), but it is far from essential.
I'm glad to be spared Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, but I missed the comedy relief pirates and soldiers.
And, while I enjoyed this one well enough, my memories of how excellent the first one was are still strong enough for me to say, "I'm glad you recovered from number 3, but no more now, please."