A waste

Rating: 3/10 (14 December 2011)

If the bar hadn't been set so tremendously high with the first three installments of the POTC franchise, you wouldn't be so disappointed with this film.
Gone is the clever storyline that made the first three so interesting. Gone are the characters that made them so worth watching. Gone are the rich and clear settings, that made everything stand out so crisp and believable.
POTC is (was) simply one of the most breathtaking, entertaining, and masterful series of motion pictures EVER. The characters, imagination, storyline, plot lines, music, setting, photography, special effects, and overall, spine tingling INTEREST are completely missing from this latest installment.
The ENTIRE picture is shot in dreary, overcast settings that compel ZERO interest or imagination. In fact, when they get to the edge of the cliff, it suddenly brought back the last time Jack was faced with a situation in picture two, and the contrast was more than sharp. The fun, fantasy, imagination, and utter whimsy of the previous picture was completely robbed with the current situation, where Blackbeard threatens to shoot his daughter unless Jack jumps off the cliff. (Oh, so wonderful.) Barbarossa the pirate is no better. He looks more than 10 years older in this picture, and I couldn't get over his heavily lidded eyes and odd hair and beard treatment. It wasn't until the very last scene, where he becomes captain of Blackbeard's ship that a smidgen of the previous movies returns.
If this were a stand alone movie, made completely apart from the previous three, would it stand on its own. Barely, at best. But that's the point. This WASN'T made in a vacuum, and all the story-points from the previous movies were utterly missing from this dreary tale.
The original three movies were good productions made by professionals at the zenith of their craft. Virtually EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of those movies is flawless. The inventive story-lines, the tremendous special effects, the humorous character pairings, the masterful production values and thrilling musical score, all combined to achieve a cinematic accomplishment never seen before. Utterly masterful in every meaningful respect. Crisp, scintillating, compelling, and thoroughly watchable.
In comparison, this current picture was made by a completely different production team, and had NONE of the excellent qualities found in the first three. Jack Sparrow was really the only one who kept this movie together; all the others, including Barbarossa and Gibbs, were wooden and lackluster in comparison.
IMDb says the budget was a quarter of a BILLION dollars, and that it grossed a cool billion at the box office. That tells you how strong the previous three were; that fans would venture their money in hopes of seeing something from the originals even though initial reviews warned it was a dog. They went to see it anyway, (just like me.) Any positive review of this movie is given strictly in deference to the originals.
I'm not sorry I watched it, if only to see how the mighty can fall. No doubt, this movie was not poorly made, but it turned out poorly anyway. Depp made $30 million, I'm told. Not bad for three months work. Definitely produced as a cash cow, and on that level, it succeeded. Don't look for anymore, though. Only in a TV series could you get any more life out of this franchise. (I'm sorry they decided to make it.)