Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Tags: boring, fantasy, murder, action, revenge, entertaining

Plot synopsis:
After a failed attempt to rescue his first mate, Joshamee Gibbs in London, Captain Jack Sparrow is brought before King George II. The king wants Jack to guide an expedition to the Fountain of Youth before King Ferdinand and the Spanish Navy can locate it. Jack's old nemesis, Captain Hector Barbossa, now a privateer in service to the British Navy after losing his leg and ship, the Black Pearl, which he says was sunk, is heading the expedition.
Jack refuses the offer and escapes. He meets up with his father, Captain Teague, who warns Jack about the Fountain's rituals. Jack learns someone is impersonating him to recruit a crew to find the Fountain. The impostor is Angelica, Jack's former lover, and the daughter of the ruthless pirate Blackbeard, who practices voodoo magic and wields the mythical "Sword of Triton" that controls his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. While Jack is shanghaied aboard Blackbeard's ship, Gibbs escapes execution by memorizing and destroying Jack's map showing the Fountain's location, forcing Barbossa to take him along.
Meanwhile, after a failed mutiny aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, Jack is forced to guide the crew to the Fountain. Blackbeard seeks the Fountain's power to circumvent his predestined fatal encounter with a "one-legged man", who happened to be Barbossa. Jack must find two silver chalices aboard Juan Ponce de León's missing flagship, the Santiago. The Fountain's water must simultaneously be drunk by two people from the chalices. Drinking from one chalice containing a mermaid's tear will extend life; the second person dies, their remaining years of life transferred to the other drinker. Jack also discovers that the Black Pearl was captured and shrunk before being added to Blackbeard's collection of other shrunken ships in bottles.
The Queen Anne's Revenge heads for Whitecap Bay to find and harvest mermaid tears. A mermaid named Syrena is caught, but Philip Swift, a captive missionary, falls in love with her. Reaching Ponce de León's ship on an uncharted island, Angelica and Blackbeard coerce Jack into retrieving both chalices. Jack locates the grounded, decaying vessel, only to find Barbossa there. Both guess that the Spanish have taken the chalices, after they are nowhere to be found on the vessel.
Jack and Barbossa team up to sneak into the Spanish camp and steal the chalices. Barbossa reveals he only wants revenge against Blackbeard for attacking the Black Pearl, and his leg being amputated. Jack and Barbossa escape with the chalices. Meanwhile, Syrena, reciprocating Philip's love, is tricked into shedding a tear. Blackbeard collects it, leaving her to die of dehydration while Philip is forced to go with them. Jack returns with the chalices and bargains with Blackbeard for Angelica's safety, Jack's confiscated magical compass, and Gibbs' release. In return, Jack vows to give Blackbeard the chalices and lead him to the Fountain; Blackbeard agrees, and Gibbs is set free with the compass.
At the Fountain, Blackbeard's crew is confronted by Barbossa and his men and they battle while Barbossa and Blackbeard fight. The Spanish suddenly arrive, intending to destroy the Fountain, believing its power an abomination against God. They crush the chalices and throw them in the swamp. When Barbossa stabs Blackbeard with a poisoned sword, Angelica pulls it out but is cut and poisoned. Barbossa obtains Blackbeard's magic sword and gains control of the Queen Anne's Revenge and her crew. Philip is mortally wounded, but he returns to free Syrena. She retrieves the missing chalices and gives them to Jack, telling him not to waste her tear. Syrena goes back to the dying Philip. She says she can save him if he asks her to. When he asks for her forgiveness, she kisses him and takes him underwater.
With Blackbeard and Angelica both nearing death, Jack wants Angelica to drink from the chalice containing the tear. Instead, Blackbeard drinks it, asking his daughter to sacrifice herself. Angelica agrees and drinks from the second chalice. Jack is upset to lose Angelica, but realizes he made a mistake about which chalice contained the tear. Neither of the two are happy, and believe Jack tricked them. Angelica's wounds are healed as the Fountain fatally consumes Blackbeard's body.
Eventually, Jack & Angelica admit their love for each other, yet he distrusts her intentions and strands her on a cay. Now wielding Blackbeard's magical sword, Barbossa captains the Queen Anne's Revenge and returns to piracy. Jack finds Gibbs, who had used the compass to locate the Revenge. He reclaims the shrunken Black Pearl and the other conquered ships in bottles, carrying them in a gunny sack. The two leave, hoping to revert the Black Pearl to its original size.
In a post-credits scene, a voodoo doll of Jack crafted by Blackbeard washes ashore and is found by Angelica, who then smiles.

Review: Johnny Depp, the goofy pirate that we have grown to love, returns to his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow in an action-packed tale of truth, betrayal, youth and demise.The plot is when Jack crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penelope Cruz), he's not sure if it's love—or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth.
Brings everything from the classic bizarre comedy to the nail biting action scenes.The marketing for the movie have been intelligently subliminal like some other great film releases, like Avatar, or Blair Witch (the real vs fake) and the recent awesome film production The Artifice (the-artifice.com) and so on.This is not a film to miss, does not matter if you are a die hard fan of Pirates, or new to the series!
As far as the Pirates of the Caribbean movies go, On Stranger Tides may be lacking in the rollicking fun of Curse of the Black Pearl, which I absolutely loved, though it's closer in spirit to it than those of the two movies before, but I think it is better than Dead Man's Chest, which had great effects and a brilliant Bill Nighy but felt overlong and ferentic sometimes, and At World's End, which had the cast giving their all, great visuals, score and final battle but rather convoluted and bloated on the whole.On Stranger Tides isn't perfect.
The characters are not the best developed, but they are fun and there aren't too many of them to interrupt the flow of the story, a big problem I found with At World's End, while the action sequences are both exciting and nail-biting on the whole.I wasn't so sure about Rob Marshall as director, but he does a far better job than expected, and the film is livelier in pace than Dead Man's Chest and At World's End. The acting is good enough for what it was.
Geoffrey Rush is underused in a way, but he does have some great lines and a fun presence so he isn't a complete waste.In conclusion, On Stranger Tides is not a perfect film, but as an instalment to a decent enough franchise it is a more than worthy one.
The "new" course set by "On Stranger Tides" uses worn sails, but with a fresh wind of characters and more importantly, a more direct purpose.As promised in the end of "At World's End," Jack's looking for the Fountain of Youth if for nothing more than ships and giggles.
The "Chicago" filmmaker chews the scenery well and creates effective moods and tones, but the action could have been a bit more inspired, especially considering the series' reputation for sword-fighting ingenuity.Marshall's best work and the film's best sequence deals with mermaids, not the singing and seashell bra type, but seduce you with their looks and then try and devour you with fangs type.
Plus you add in Ian McShane as the diabolical Blackbeard, and he's an actual bad guy, unlike Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who's jumped sides about as often as Jack Sparrow himself – and here begins the movie in the employ of the British King.The stunts are well staged as usual, and good use was made of the location shooting on Oahu and Puerto Rico.
These Pirates films are all about entertainment and thankfully this latest adventure with Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm is back to basics, reminding me of the formula that made the very first one, Curse of the Black pearl so great.
Cruz and McShane are infinitely more interesting and entertaining and play off of Captain Jack much better.Speaking of Depp's Jack Sparrow, I would make the argument that this character has entered the rarefied air of film comedy icon.
I can imagine that many has been sitting with a feeling if the Pirates concept is going too far(Specially after POC nr.3) but thanks to a tight script this fourths installment of POC is definitely worth a watch.I personally didn't like the 3rd one cause of too much talk and confusion, but this one lives up to the first two.Jack Sparow and captain Barbosa are the scene stealer s, their chemistry is Top-Notch.
I watched the preview last Thursday.I cannot disagree more with one of the reviews which suggested the latest version is a bit dull.On stranger tides is not only better than the last two instalments but nearly as good as the the original.The storyline is lucid,plenty of jokes which made the first movie good,less use of nonsense CGI and absence of two characters actually gives a new lease of life particularly since Ian McShane is as expected just brilliant.Penelope Cruz appears to be hiding in long dresses to hide her obvious problem at that time.All in all the best movie outing for sheer fun since Inception.Its a popcorn movie and does a good job of what is expected!.
I have to say I was really looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean 4, I really enjoyed Curse of the Black Pearl.Then Dead Man's Chest and At World's End were good, but there was room for improvement.POTC: On Stranger Tides was full of action.
Because it will always be as good as the first one.thats whats special about this, that it Never Gets boring or Old. Jack is Back,maybe not as powerful as ever, but with a new cast and new story and a new tide, brings a great deal of action to the series.So this is a MUST-SEE film of the year so far.
out of the rest of the pirates movie , this one lacked a little bit of sudden turn of events which made the movie a little slow....Still the story was amazing creating a last moment of forthcoming thrill and interest with jack with "his pearl" and and his own fleet of ships.The role of Barbossa was amazing with gradual display of his usual deception and pride of a "Pirate".Not much to go with Blackbeard.cast taken together is also good with the breath taking and beautiful Penelope Cruz to give them the boost(although she was showing in some places which strengthened the story ending)Too predictable with the thing with the switch of the chalices.
I thought the first Pirates film was excellent, the second one started to confuse me a little however I still very much enjoyed it while the third film was so confusing and I was beginning to fear the worst...however the reason I say welcome back was that after the third film it had seemed there would be no return for the franchise, however now with a much simpler story than the third and still maintaining the action, humour and still an intense storyline this franchise has well and truly taken off once more.The return of Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush with Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane added to the cast creates an experience not to be missed.
I thought this film would never have happened, since the first three films wrapped themselves up pretty nicely as a trilogy, but I suppose studios never say no to profits there for the taking, especially if the point man in Johnny Depp is game to don his eyeliner and pirates garb one more time, and possible more films lined up since the final scenes and the coda after the end credits blatantly teases and flirts with its audience and fan base.Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) is back to charm one and all with this swagger and wit, and this time sans his Black Pearl as he goes on a mission, or at least it's one of those self fulfilling rumours, that he's assembling a crew to set sail on a quest to locate the proverbial Fountain of Youth.
As with what's characteristic of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, there are always more than one party interested in either joining in or serving as competition, and here we have an English royalty keen on recruiting Jack amongst their ranks to led by Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), now an English privateer, the Spanish Inquisition team who are narratively the weakest of the lot save for one pivotal scene, and a true blue pirates outfit led by the villainous Blackbeard (Ian McShane) aboard his Queen Anne's Revenge ship, with his daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz) as his first mate and one time ex-fling of Jack's tasked with luring the latter out and joining their quest rather reluctantly.But everyone has ulterior motives, and in true Jack Sparrow fashion, the character relationships all play out like the reality game show Survivor as in previous films, where deals are cut, some allegiances are strongly forged while others being temporarily serving mutual self-interests of the moment.
Part of the fun is to witness how Sparrow navigates through sticky situations and almost always come up tops, with the nagging suspicion that Fate smiles on his side consistently, seemingly having no plan at all when he embarks on various mini quests in gathering artifacts all geared toward the primary mission, from the capture of mermaids (and they're of the nasty in attitude variety) to chalices all part of a strange ritual required to get to the secret fountain everyone is craving for.Joining the fray this time round are old hands such as Geoffrey Rush in bringing a lot more to the Barbossa character, and Gibbs (Kevin McNally) as Jack Sparrow's loyal and trusty first mate.
Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides is an entertaining ride and much more simpler than the bloated At World's End.The story: Johnny Depp returns to his famous role, witty Captain Jack.
The action in this one is rather good and Captain Jack Sparrow is once again the best character, only this time he is the main guy with no others taking time away from him in bunches like the previous two installments.
Whilst this race is going on Captain Jack meets up with old flame Angelica(Penélope Cruz) hot as ever and is taken captive on her father Blackbeard's(Ian McShane) boat who is also on the hunt for said fountain.This story is back to a basic plot after the more complicated 2&3 of the series and this has been a good move.
In fact, I have only managed to see the first one completely; the second and third one were too long, too boring, and too confusing to be worth my time.Stranger Tides boasts of a tight script, stellar visuals, fantastic adventure and, of course, great performance from the entire cast, especially Captain Sparrow, Johnny Depp.
i really really liked this movie a lot...it was SO great, everyone in it did a great job....i loved Jack Sparrow as always, Johnny Depp is such a brilliant actor...Ian Macshane did a wonderful job as Blackbeard, i really didn't want to leave after it went off, i wanted to stay and watch it again...Penelope Cruz was a welcome addition to the movie and it was great to see Barbosa again...if you haven't seen it you should, and wait till the credits are over to see a little more, its only about 10 seconds but I'm glad we waited around to see it..i gotta say i do not agree with people saying this movie was boring, there was nothing boring about it, it was funny like the others, there was plenty of action, new characters, (it was cool seeing Vernon Dursley from Harry Potter in it) i was very glad i went to see it, fans of the franchise will be very pleased...i don't want these movies to be run into the ground but so far i haven't been disappointed at all with any of them...so i give this one 10 out of 10 stars.
If in 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean 'At Worlds End' left you at your 'wits end', then it's understandable that you may have reservations about seeing the fourth instalment of this hugely popular franchise.The aptly named 'On Stranger Tides' certainly is in uncharted waters, as this chapter is the first Pirate movie not to star Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley and the first not to be Directed by Gore Verbinski also known for directing such films as 'The Ring' and more recently; 'Rango'.The film starts with Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in London on a mission to save the always entertaining Gibbs (Kevin McNally) from an appointment with the gallows.
Whilst there Jack crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penelope Cruz), who ends up trapping him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, ship of the most feared pirate 'Blackbeard' (Ian McShane) on a quest to locate the Fountain of Youth.Unfortunately the notorious Blackbeard is very badly portrayed by McShane with no real terror brought to the character like the previous Davy Jones; and with a 'mystic' zombie sidekick that is as pointless to the movie as the witch in Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves; the film should really be walking the plank very early on.However, thanks to the star performer Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, this movie is surprisingly good.
While I went out of "At world's end" after three hours feeling like it had been at most one and a half, I started looking at my watch twenty minutes into this movie, thinking "When will this get really started?" This film was clearly aimed at a younger audience than the previous ones, and so were most of the jokes.
Before it's release, the idea of adapting a theme-park ride to film was seen as a creative death knell by an admittedly cynical part of the movie-going public (myself included), but the film defied critics to become one of the more memorable action-adventure blockbusters of the new millennium, and introduced Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, one of modern cinema's most charming and appealing characters.
"On Stranger Tides" proves to be an enjoyable and entertaining instalment in this series without ever troubling classic status.Johnny Depp IS Captain Jack Sparrow and without Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley the focus is even more upon him this time.
Despite not being a great movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was an entertaining film, but it was Johnny Depp's extraordinary performance as Captain Jack Sparrow what made it seem much better than what it really was.
Another stupid thing is how the whole crew went to drink from the fountain to get youth and at the end only black beard and angelica drank from it, and one of them had 2 sacrifice..but overall this movie is good for entertainment, but if your a fan of the 1st trilogy I don't think you will like this 1...I really don't see why its called on stranger tides anyway, I know its a novel, but the name of the movie should have been "pirates of the Caribbean: the fountain of youth".
It is a great much anticipated addition to the pirates franchise.The reasons why this is so good is it follows a more Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl feel to it, which sat better with the people and the first movie was a classic, so smart move there.Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) had great dialog in this movie that was funny and delightful, bringing back the same old Jack we all know and love and he still maintained everything about Jack that makes him great and he also still managed to surprise me with new sides to his character.
The addition of new characters such as Black-beard (Ian Mcshane) and Angelica (Penelope Cruz) was also a good move as Angelica, acting as Jack's love interest and almost his equal, made it more interesting to watch because Jack has not had a love interest and nobody has really been able to outwit Jack Sparrow (sorry Captain Jack Sparrow) and Black- beard was also a great character, being very villainous and having the uncaring aspect of a villain in that he would just kill anyone and also to add he is probably the best pirate villain I have ever seen in a film in my opinion.
Unlike previous movies it doesn't have heavy creature show (like Bill Nighy's Davy Jones)...Coming to plot , Jack Sparrow & Barbossa on a quest,travels to find the elusive fountain of youth..The movie elevates the consequences of his questIf you enjoyed Depp's performance in this franchise , then I'm sure you wont regret..The special effects are excellent and are as usual....Plot is managed well and execution of plot is good ..
After expecting the 4th instalment of the POTC for more then 3 years...oh, dear...I feel like I just wasted more then 2 hours of my life...I love the Pirates, especially Jack so I caught the first show on the release day only to feel so frustrated after the first 15 minutes of the movie...Kept saying it has to get better but it didn't...same stale, lifeless,annoying on occasion dialogue, lack of chemistry between the characters (made me miss Orlando Bloom...a lot...and I hate Orlando Bloom..), even lack of action...I enjoyed the sparkly, witty dialogues in the previous parts...Witty Jack doesn't have a witty line in this in over two hours...the best he can do is:" There should be a captain in there somewhere..." Phuah...!!!
If your a die hard fan like me, you should enjoy some old things mentioned from previous films and the comedic genius of Johnny Depp, but this wasn't a good enough movie to watch again.
Coming to the performances, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush & Kevin McNally are the only ones reprising their roles from previous features while the new additions include Penélope Cruz & Ian McShane who play Angelica (Jack's former lover) & Blackbeard (the prime antagonist), and the performance by the entire cast is, in one word, terrible.On an overall scale, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a sequel that shouldn't have been made in the first place.