Good, but not great

Rating: 7/10 (20 March 2012)

I love Pirates of the Caribbean, but. . . Part 4 misses what was earlier not noticeable... and that's the magic of Gore Verbinski. Not only poorly directed, but poorly written & performed as well, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 turns out to be an unnecessary sequel to the trilogy that actually ended the saga in a respectable manner if not on a high.
The only one holding the thread and saving the film from utter crap is Johhny Depp's immortal character, Captain Jack Sparrow. Although his performance in this movie is below than the first 3 movies, he still shines above everyone else. The removal of Orlando Bloom & Keira Knightly was an addition but it didn't help the movie much. Every previous character appeared rusty in their performances & the new ones are not much of help either.
What Gore Verbinski had done with his trilogy was to weave his web with great humor, supported by fine performances from the cast, pushing the visual effects to great extent, never making it look absurd & then leave Johnny Depp to do the rest. What Rob Marshall did was he never pushed anyone to the limit. Not the writers, not the actors & not even visual effects department or music & himself was trying too hard to force people to like it.
Compared to the previous three movies, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a sorry addition to the series & has nothing that can be called better than anything in the first 3 movies. Curse of the Black Pearl had remarkable performances & plot, Dead Man's Chest had great visuals & was a perfect blockbuster film. At World's End even though was the weakest, had remarkable music at least. POTC 4 has nothing. Kinda feeling sorry for those who watched it in 3D. Must have been a horrible experience because of movie being highly dark & no scenes having 3D effects at all.
At World's End ended the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy in a fine manner. This film was not needed. It simply shouldn't have been made in the first place. If you wanna watch it, don't have any high expectations... not even from Johhny Depp. He was poorly handled, just like the whole film.