I heart Pirates

Rating: 8/10 (25 May 2011)

I've been keeping up with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise since the beginning in 2003 with POTC:Curse of the Black Pearl. I loved Curse of the Black Pearl absolutely loved it.Soon after that Dead Mans Chest was released and I thought meh okay not as good as the last one but still a decent watch. Then came the bomb that was POTC: At Worlds End. At Worlds End was a big mess. There was too much going on and the plot was just all over the place.It got to a point where I didn't care about the plot anymore Im strictly watching for the effects now.
As for Stranger Tides I was impressed. This film reminded me why I fell in love with Curse of the Black Pearl. I wouldn't even call this movie a sequel it feels like a whole new beginning. Will and Elizabeth's story is over and now we get Jack and Angelica.Did I miss Will and Elizabeth? NOT AT ALL. I stopped caring for those two a long time ago. Im glad their story is over and IT IS OVER FOLKS. For a time their story was interesting and then I gradually started to get bored to tears with them. So yeah good riddance moving along.
The plot of this installment circles around the fountain of youth. Jack Sparrow(Johnny Depp)runs into Angelica(Penelope Cruz)a woman from his past. Its not entirely certain if its love and she wants to follow him to the fountain of youth, but then her intentions become clear when she forces him aboard the Queen Ann's Revenge, Black Beard's ship. Ian McShane's portrayal of black beard was pretty convincing I have no complaints about that. However my complaint lies within how the writers were trying to shove down the audience's throat the fact that Blackbeard was evil. For example there was a scene where Blackbeard, Jack, Angelica, and the crew are all standing over the edge of a cliff and Blackbeard orders Jack to jump. Jack refuses and Black beard says that if he doesn't he'll kill his own daughter, who just so happens to be Angelica by the way. It then cuts to an unnecessary scene of Black beard and Jack playing a game of "pick a gun any gun" Two of the guns contain a bullet whatever gun Jack picks Black beard will shoot Angelica with it just to prove a point.Why was this needed. At this point the audience pretty much knows that Black beard is a bad guy. Im sure it wouldn't surprise us if Blackbeard threatened to kill his own daughter.This wasn't necessary, it did nothing for the plot.Another complaint I have is that nothing is really explained about Blackbeard making people into zombies or the magic of his ship or why he has an interest voodoo.
The movie really picked up when the mermaids came. This was one of my favorite parts of the movie because it has a calm before the storm feel to it. You meet these beautiful captivating creatures that lure the pirates into false sense of security and in a way you yourself feel hypnotized as well. There's a lot of tension in this scene and you know something is going to happen, your just sitting there anxiously waiting for it to happen, and then comes the boom. They may look lovely but they are definitely deadly beauties. Which brings me to the whole Phillip and Syrena love story. It didn't bother me however it did feel a little forced.I wouldn't even call what they had "love" it was more so infatuation. The interest was there it just needed more time to develop and thats hard to squeeze in the last 30 to 45 minutes of film. If there's a POTC 5 I wouldn't mind seeing Philip and Syrena again just to know what became of him. But for the most part I think their story is finished. We may never know what happened to Philip. But I must say I would most definitely want to see more mermaids.
In conclusion I was satisfied with this movie. The beginning was pretty slow and boring but it began to pick up towards the middle and end. Its definitely a good reminder of why people like pirates.