Look out for Richard Griffiths' and Judi Dench's cameos, and stay til the end of the credits!

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2011)

With this fourth addition to the magnificent Pirates of the Caribbean series, passionate fans have seen a feeble rumour become a fully-fledged exhilarating reality. Whilst it may lack the solid and purposeful storytelling bravado of the earlier sequels, it is nevertheless a satisfying fourth helping of the irresistible Pirates spirit. What's more, the film succeeds in being a faithful continuation of this spirit without merely rehashing its successful predecessors. Plenty of new characters and plot lines are introduced, so much so that it greatly outweighs the old material, yet in the grand scheme of things this approach seems to work, taking this sequel as far away from redundancy as it could possibly go.
The story apparently picks up some time after the comical ending of the breathtaking At World's End (2007) at which time "Captain" Jack Sparrow (the brilliant Johnny Depp) has been travelling freely and solitarily for quite some time, and has now crossed paths once again with his old friend Gibbs (winsomely played by Kevin McNally) who finds himself in a very desperate situation. Jack's very erratically conducted rescue delivers some highly entertaining scenes of wacky dialogue and involving action sequences, displaying the filmmakers' expert utilisation of the winning technique used by many such comedy-adventure films, like Indiana Jones, in which a high-speed early subplot paves the way for the main events. After the incident, the two friends are divided by the intervention of some old acquaintances and the growing interest in chasing the myth of the legendary Fountain of Youth mentioned recurringly in the third instalment. Gibbs, in order to avoid the gallows, is forced into joining Captain Barbossa, (a sublime Geoffrey Rush is the only other returning member of the old cast) who has now humorously become an agent of his master's navy and since the sinking of the Black Pearl has been hobbling around with a peg leg. As for Jack, beautiful plucky Angelica (a sensational Penélope Cruz), one of the many hateful dames from his past, has gotten the better of him. He has been kidnapped and dragged aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, captained by the infamous Blackbeard (a deliciously wicked Ian McShane) who as it turns out is Anjelica's long lost father. Both captains are headed for the Fountain of Youth with different yet undeniably intermingled motives. To reveal them here, prematurely, would rob future audiences of their enjoyment.
However, it would not be too harmful to say that, as with Jack's enigmatic intentions in the earlier films, these mysteries are deeply embroiled in the supernatural. Indeed, On Stranger Tides is just as excited about displaying new specimens of eerily psychedelic mysticism as Dead Man's Chest was five years earlier. Blackbeard is a semi-undead being with the satanic powers of magically manipulating a ship as though it were a living, breathing monster, making the ropes and the boards trap and strangle those on board, as well as forcing a raging burst of flames to erupt from the keel. He has many other instruments of sorcery at hid fingertips, but even he appears to be shaken by the viciously seductive, murderous mermaids that the crew must confront in order to reach the fountain. Another force that seems to be intimidating the fiendish brute is the Spanish, who have also joined the hunt, but whose aim appears to be the eradication of such heretical entities as the fountain and Blackbeard. In fact, we soon realise that Blackbeard is no fearsome, formidable tyrant, but a lazy characterless coward who would be nothing without his box of magic tricks. In this way, he is very similar to Lord Beckett from the second and third films, only without the sense of class and the sheer smugness.
Reflecting on the series as a whole, one does notice that much of the dramatic weight has been dropped by the time this most recent instalment is reached. However, it is doubtful that any more genuine pathos could have been mustered for the fourth chapter, and the new director, Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) has wisely not been too heavy- handed with the obvious cinematic strategies employed. The sweet blossoming of young love between a faithful Christian (Sam Claflin) and a more sympathetic mermaid (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) can be seen a mile away before it is finally acknowledged, but nevertheless it manages to win over the audience, and is quite reminiscent of the initial romantic sparks that flew between Will and Elizabeth throughout The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) before that chemistry lost its flavour. The purely lighthearted line of attack works perfectly, and this allows the splendid fantastical action sequences, as well as the other characteristic aspects, to be executed perfectly. This film is what it is and never pretends to be anything else. Fans will no doubt find it thrilling and refreshing, and as for those who don't share in the Pirates fever, one does wonder why they have still been following the series after eight years.