We're devils and black sheep, we're really bad eggs.

Rating: 4/10 (8 June 2017)

A waste of a movie that solely exists to make money, On Stranger Tides may not be as bad as its reputation would suggest, but nonetheless does a poor job at validating its existence.
Johnny Depp is as good as ever as Captain Jack, and returning actors Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa and Kevin McNally as Gibbs are fun to see alongside Jack yet again. Some of the action sequences are decent, but lack the impressive scale or inventiveness of its predecessors.
For the most part its well paced, wisely clocking in at a shorter runtime than the previous films. The costume design is still impressive and the script still manages to generate a few laughs.
Unfortunately, the story is nowhere near as interesting as the original films. The middle act of the movie tends to drag at times. Though there were some implausible action scenes in the original trilogy, this one goes a bit far, turning Jack into a literal superhero. The stakes don't feel as high either, as Rob Marshall's direction is quite poor.
Though I praised the returning characters, the new ones just aren't up to the mark. Penelope Cruz plays Jack's love interest, and she is honestly a very boring and rather annoying character. Ian McShane's Blackbeard comes as a huge disappointment, as he receives quite a build up but ends up being anything but intimidating. There is a forced and unnecessary romance between a priest and a mermaid that just wastes time.
Following a very predictable path and never rising above being a mediocre film, On Stranger Tides isn't terrible but does not justify its existence. Marshall has no real style, and the grandeur of Gore Verbinski's original trilogy is sorely lacking, along with many of the lovable characters from the originals. In short, it's entirely watchable but extremely forgettable.