Full Review of POTC: On Stranger Tides
 

Having seen the movie just last night, I felt it would be good to write up my review on it while it was still nice and fresh in my mind.

First off, let me start off by saying that while I am a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan, I did my best to review it in the perspective of just a regular viewer. That way, it would be more balanced in terms of bias.


Let me start off by saying that I found the plot for this movie a lot more interesting than the last two (Dead Man's Chest and At World's End.) It's flexibility in terms of adventuring to actual places outside of the Caribbean, the involvement of actual historical figures, and it's overall premise made it a lot more enjoyable for all viewers, instead of just the hardcore pirate fan. This plot felt like it was a completely different movie from all the others, yet still maintaining that Pirates of the Caribbean touch - which is a good thing, trust me.

A major plus about the plot line is that it takes us all back to the focus of the first movie - it being a pirate movie. Unlike the last two movies, which were very indepth in terms of the romance between Will and Elizabeth, this one does a pretty good job at bringing us back to the aspects that made us fall in love with this franchise the first time. There are only two minor romances in the film, both of which that are big enough as to influence the story, but not so large as to overshadow it.

Where the plot of this movie really shines, however, is the fact that it's a very well-rounded story in terms of all of it's characters. Jack may be the main character, but he doesn't necessarily dominate the screen - you'll find that about half of the movie is centralized around following Barbossa and Blackbeard (both of whom I'll get to in a second.)


Johnny Depp did a very good job at covering Jack Sparrow, as usual. I think that the main reason why he may appear "off" in this film (trust me, it's still good ole' Jack) is by the fact that he doesn't have a Captain in front of his name - i.e., he himself doesn't run the characters in the movie. At the same time, however, this gives us a new side to Jack Sparrow, away from the commanding aspects of him. It may be odd to see him as a member of somebody elses crew, but Depp still does a pretty good job of recreating him in that spectrum.

The addition of Penelope Cruz to the series is a welcome one, in some respects. When she's in her prime in the movie, the aggressive, fiery Angelica, she does a very convincing job at it. However, at some points, her acting becomes very placid, and you kinda lose that sense of her being as ruthless as she should be.

Minor and secondary actors also do a very good job at capturing that pirate essence. But, forget about all of them - the acting in this movie is once again swept away by Geoffrey Rush (Barbossa) and, as a surprising addition to the powerhouses of this franchise, Ian McShane (Blackbeard.) Their presence in the movie overpowers that of anybody else in the movie, and you can be assured that when these two meet in the movie, sparks will fly.


While the movie itself takes place is many awe-inspiring, beautiful areas that the movies haven't even covered before, where the characters are and why will become very confusing right after the start of the movie. You're going to need to have a pretty good ear to get an idea of where they are from time to time, because even I couldn't catch that. Not to say that the plot is hard to follow - just, the setting is.

Another thing is that between the 137 minutes this movie makes up, setting changes don't happen extremely often like the last few movies. This slower pace in terms of moving around might seem a little weird, but not too slow as so that the movie becomes unenjoyable. (Like the entire entrance of True Grit.)


I'll be perfectly honest - the idea of Jack falling in love with an old girlfriend made me skeptical. And, truth be told, it did it's job. I really did not find any pleasure in Jack romantically intermingling with Angelica, except for the few moments where he brings his humor to the stand (which often provides some of the best moments in the movie.) It just seemed off to me - there wasn't that zest like in the second movie when Jack kisses Elizabeth.


Overall, this movie does an outstanding job of matching up with, if not surpassing it's previous members. It's arguable as to whether this was the best movie in the series, but one thing is for certain in this old pirate's heart was that it certainly wasn't the worst. For any pirate fan, this movie is definately a must-see - and for regular viewers, yeah, go see it too.

So, my final verdict? Given it's substantial number of pros, matched with it's group of cons, Pirates of the Caribbean deserves four surly sailors...

:buds::buds::buds::buds:

....out of five.

I agree with our mate here. went to see it last night myself, and it was purely great. Does make me think the whole Queen Anne's Revenge on the game is a weak idea though. The zombies from the movies looked incredibly awesome, as in not grey or just copy pasted from another movie. Must say the movie was good for not being so much about the Caribbean.

Im curious as to you said angelica should be ruthless. Her goal is to save her fathers dying soul. And why did you sa jack still loved her, he marooned her at the end.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how you you write a review. Without giving anything away but focusing on what's important for a film.

Thanks for the Spoiler Blaze.

Thought it was alright since were talking about the movie review......

I agree with most of what you said, this movie was PURE AWESOMENESS. It has to be one of my favourites in the series, probaly second, my favourite is the first.

Dont read last part of this sentance, might give something away.

What I ded whish to see was moreShip Battles, why didnt they have any?

Best to refrain from reading these sorts of threads until you've seen the film. I agree with Solomon about the lack of -you know what-. (until I learn how to do the covered spoilers thing, that's what I'm doing)

The Queen Anne's Revenge was the Actual ship Not a model so that might answer your question Solomon.
I thought the movie was good but lost something on the cutting room floor...seemed a bit disjointed & left some things unfinished sequel to come or not. I heard there are 2 more Pirates movies to come yet. Loved Ian McShanes' Blackbeard :)

I am a huge POTC fan, but this wasn't the best movie. Sure, it had new settings and ideas added in that made it unique; that's what the good thing about it was. But it lacked some piratey 'moments' that were in the other movies. (If you haven't seen the movie, you may not wanna read this.) A lot of the movie was mostly traveling, and since there were no ship battles, that made it less 'piratey.' Also, when Blackbeard is first mentioned, he is "the pirate that all pirates fear." And he wasn't as fearful and intimidating as you would think, although the character was played very well. And why was the Catholic man an important character? Sure, he was trying to help save their souls, but I thought that wasn't necessary for the movie, and didn't give me the pirate feel.

But, this movie was still really good.

Did anybody besides me get the Pirates Online reference???

what is this PO reference of which you speak?

To be releastic, it was rare for pirates to go into battle. As those voyages you see take somewhere around 10 days. And pirates didnt go into battle unless they needed or wanted to.

But compared to the other movies, there was way less action, and I was comparing this one to the other movies anyways.

I just watched the movie today. First, let me say that it was really really good. It was different from the others though. There were much fewer settings, and it mainly took place in London, Queen Anne's Revenge, and The Island of the Fountain of Youth. Nonetheless, it was very good. I'm going to give a review similar to that of Del's, just to state my opinion. There may be a few spoilers that I didn't put in spoiler tags... sorry about this. :P


I overall really liked the diversity of characters. Jack was of course brilliant as always. He actually made a few more jokes than usual in this one that were a bit more clever too, including the part where he was in front of King George, and he called him "Your Highny". Angelica was a good addition, and I feel that she was a bit of a more vicious Elizabeth Swann, if you will. She was one of those people who is kind and loving one minute, and vicious and bloodthirsty the next. As for Blackbeard, not much to be said, but I overall liked his character. He was very greedy, and a perfect example is when he ended up trying to drink the Fountain water to save himself and take the life of Angelica. Barbossa was interesting this time around... he had the same personality, except that he is now a privateer for England until the very end of the story, but his appearance is quite different. He looked a bit more red to the face, and of course he was wearing different clothes. Not to mention his peg leg that also seconded as a rum holder. I do agree with Sharktooth that the Catholic Minister's character was a bit unnecessary, but he probably was mainly there for extracting what Blackbeard needed for the Fountain Ritual.


Most of you know that the objective of the story is to get to the Fountain of Youth, but it is complicated by the fact that there is more than one faction trying to get to it, Blackbeard and his crew (including Jack), Barbossa who is privateering for England, and the Spanish. Overall, the plot was pretty simple and easy to follow, but not extremely predictable. The one thing that bugged me a bit were the Zombies. They were the crew of Blackbeard (his officers mainly), but I felt that they didn't really have a purpose other than to intimidate.


This is the icing on the cake for Pirates of the Caribbean, and that is Jack and his humor. From trying to get the cream puff in King George's presence, his "abrupt" goodbye to Angelica, his interaction with the crew on the Queen Anne's Revenge, and him calling Blackbeard "Mr. Beard" at one point, it was a very funny movie. The humor was nice so that you could laugh once or twice instead of needing to just watch intense action all the time.


This next part contains a lot of spoilers, so the whole part is going to be in spoiler text.

The ending was good, I thought. This movie will probably end up like The Curse of the Black Pearl, as in that it is probably going to be somewhat separated from the next two movies (there will be a five and six), and it is really just setting the scene, with Barbossa captaining the Queen Anne's Revenge and Jack and Gibbs PROBABLY freeing the Black Pearl from the bottle Blackbeard trapped it in. Its hard to say if Angelica will be in the next movie(s), but I have a hunch that she will be. If you saw the scene after the credits, the voodoo doll of Jack washes up on the shores of her island, so she could use that a bit. They can definitely work with the ending they made... although I'm not sure if Barbossa will be coming back. It seemed like he had gone is own path.


I remembered to put this one in before I posted. I know it seems like a small thing, but I'm big on music, so I think its important to put in. I noticed that they reused a lot of the music from the old movies, but there were a few original songs for this movie, such as the theme for Blackbeard and the main theme for On Stranger Tides (titled "On Stranger Tides"... duh...) and the slow, quiet but mysterious theme for the Mermaids. The music in this movie I thought was quite good.

Overall, I'd give this movie a similar rating as Del. It wasn't a perfect movie, but it actually was one of my favorites. It was original and fun. I'd definitely recommend seeing it.

actually, I bought the soundtrack, and the only FULLY reused song is the end credits, or he's a pirate. The other songs to some tunes, but didn't make it unoriginal, the Fully original songs are:

Angelica
Blackbeard
Mermaids ( The song Davy Fs was talking about. )
Palm tree escape
On stranger tides
&
South of Mermaids heaven ( jolly sailor bold wasn't on the soundtrack but WAS to be on the list.)

At the credits??? I don't watch the credits, but I have heard nothing of this...

The music definitely has elements of the other films music in it. If you listen to Guilty of Being Innocent of Being Jack Sparrow, it has elements of the Jack Sparrow theme you hear when you first see him in the first movie. There are a couple other instances as well. Overall I find the soundtrack very good!

Barbossa was sailing on The Queen Anne's Revenge.

Out of curiosity, how many of you saw the scene after the credits ended? Each movie has a short one. In the first, its Jack the monkey stealing one of the Aztec Gold pieces and he becomes undead again. The second one its the jail dog on Isla Pelegostos, sitting in the throne that Jack Sparrow had sat in and the dog is being worshiped by the natives. The third shows Elizabeth with her child, and Will Turner sailing towards her on The Flying Dutchman. This newest one is Angelica sitting on the island Jack marooned her on when something washes up on shore. When she goes to see it, it's the voodoo doll of Jack that Blackbeard had.

Aye I stayed until after the credits, that scene was worth the wait!

Thanks for the spoiler...



Anyways, I haven't seen the movie yet, but this review makes it looks more promising. Of course, I would go see it even if it got bad reviews, but this helped shine some light on it.

Great reviews, I agree on the most part about the movies. However there was one part that kinda bugged me.


So... I guess I'll have to make an excuse of a review as well, with all honesty.


I liked the way they went back to the less complicated feel, instead of the million different plotline messes they were so accustomed to. Overall, the plotline sometimes may seem forced, but I guess everything's sort of making it's own way to fit neatly into everything. Personally, my favorite part about the story is that it wasn't overly complicated, and it still kept me guessing on what would happen next.


Ok, before you say something terrible about all this, I have to get this off my chest. I'm glad they took Will & Elizabeth out. There, I said it. I felt like during the 2nd and 3rd movie, they took just as important a role as Jack did. However this story is supposed to be about Jack, so I'm in a way happy they took them out. Other then that, let me say how I liked each individual character.

Captain Jack Sparrow: Loved it, there's a reason why he's the main character. The only problem I had about him was the beginning, when he dressed up as the judge. I mean seriously, if you saw someone with eyeliner and a laid back accent, wouldn't somebody get suspicious? Other than that, I truly felt it was best with Jack as the main focus of the movie.

Blackbeard: He was actually one of the negative points for me. For some reason, he didn't really feel like he was really Blackbeard. I mean, he's supposed to be this loud tyrant that shoots anyone disobeying his orders at first sight. Although he had some elements, such as his incredible greed, he didn't really feel complete for me.

Angelica (Blackbeard's daughter): I really like how she was a fiery person who could pretend to be Captain Jack Sparrow. She felt much more needed than Elizabeth, since her role helped more in plot advancement. I especially liked all the backstabbing that goes on, one minute she's your freind and then the next your worst enemy and OH LOOK! Another betrayal! I guess she's good now and... oh no nevermind kinda thing. It even happens with the other characters, I just guess it's one of the movies fun points, you really don't know who's your friend half of the time. Overall, I liked this character, and if there's a POTC5, then I expect to see her with Jack in it.

Barbossa: How the heck did one of the most wanted pirates become one of the most trusted privateers? Anyways, I loved this character as well, definately one I hope to see if there's another movie. My favorite part with him is when they're captured by the spanish, and he's got the compartment in his pegleg, much to Jack's dismay.

Overall, great characters, for the most part, excellent casting.


The action was awesome, all the way from the beginning when Jack's escaping, to the part with the mermaids, which was AWESOME, all the way to the scene with the fountain of youth. Great action, great directing I just... loved it, 'nuff said. If you're bored and you haven't seen this movie, well...


In the movie, most of the settings were what you'd expect from a pirate movie. It looked pretty interesting for the most part, but that's mainly since most of the movie took place on land rather than on sea. The only problem I had with some of these settings is that there was no real concrete place in which they would stay for an extended period of time. Sure that wasn't too much of a problem, but I would like it if they added a little more time devoted to a certain area than always being on the move. I know, that was the main part of the plot, and it was good that they had a lot of diversity, but whatever!


Blackbeard: Overall, didn't really add up to my expectations, sort of a dissapointment.

The Clergyman: As the others have said, I didn't feel like this character was really needed that much, although I did like how he was portrayed, and even the thing with him and that mermaid, I didn't feel like this character was all that important.

The Zombies: ZOMBIES! What are they supposed to do? They go NOM NOM on your face that's what! Now I know that they're supposed to be eternal slaves or whatever, but I actually thought they were gonna be something that had to be fought in order to get to the fountain. All in all, a bit of a dissapointment, alot of hype and little delivery.

The unexplained... whatever just look at the spoilers: What really happened when the Clergyman went down with that mermaid? Did he become a merman? Aren't mermaids only supposed to be females? If so how do they... uh... What I'm trying to say is, what really happened with them? I guess we'll never know.


Now if you want my verdict on how good the movie is, I'd give it a 8-9/10 Good, but not as good as the first.

To answer your very last question Mr. Skip

In the end I think that the 'Clergyman' got eaten. I remember that somewhere in the movie they metioned the mermaids trick you and the eat you. Or it could of been that she kissed him, the 'bait' in the boat said that if a mermaid kisses you, you can breathe underwater. Maybe he went to live his life with her

Don't blame me... out of all the spoilers before ye text you didnt look at one?

[SPOILER] Clergyman survived. She kissed him as they went down the well.[/SPOLER]

Well, since of all of ye did it!



I really liked how the portrayed London in the movie. I also like how they portrayed the King. I also liked when Angelica betrays Jack..




I didnt like how they put Barbossa and Jack with wigs in the beginning. One, Barbossa looks weird in those wigs. And two, a wig doesnt help your appearance, Jack. I suppose they did it because to tell the difference between Angelica and Jack. I think my favorite character was the Quartermaster Zombie. I think he was the best of the zombies because he is the only one who is smart among them. My favorite part was when the Quartermaster throws the voodoo doll of the cliff and Jack screams. Blackbeard was pretty good in this movie. I think they portrayed him ok... Though the magic epicness by the sword of triton? Why doesnt ours does this? Also, I liked when Barbossa takes the frog of Gibb's shirt. Which brings me to Gibbs. I dont think Gibbs had a very good part in this movie, and where was he in the Fountain of Youth? All of the sudden he comes out of nowhere giving Jack the Pearl in the bottle.


Anyway, thats my review. I give it 4 1/2 out of 5.

In response (Hope this works)


Gibbs was there, they didnt show it but he was part of Barbossa's crew, thats how he got the pearl at the end. I hate to kind of rant, but I didnt understand the whole zombie thing. In fact it ticked me off because that made his crew immortal.

Am I the only person who was mad when Gillete and Lt. Grooves died? :P They looked epic when they fought. Gillete just died and Lt. Grooves got shot by the spaniard. Gillete died like he was a regular british crew member.

I watched it Tusedy, and i have to agree, it was a great movie. I have a feeling for another movie after Angelica (Penelope Cruz) said thngs on it at the end. (Dont want to give any spoilers).

erm... yeah. another strange thing is that they just ditched all of the other new characters from the end of the third movie by saying that the Spanish had killed them. Like, remember those two British soldiers who always argued throughout the movies? At the end of the third, they became pirates in the middle of the big battle... then they must have died when the Pearl was somehow sunk.

Also, wasn't it supposed to be Pirates of the Caribbean? Not even two seconds of the movie had any connection with the Caribbean Islands.

Oh yeah, and, really, if Jack ever got into trouble with anyone who wanted to kill him, couldn't Will just pop up out of nowhere and kill the enemy? If the whole world declared war on Jack Sparrow, then Will could just come up from Davy Jones' (or Will Turner's?) Locker and sink/kill all of the enemies.

Overall,... I wasn't completely satisfied with the movie due to the lack of connection with previous ones. The escape scene was prolonged and there was a different director, taking away from the originally set feel of the POTC movies. If Gore Verbinski came back to direct the fifth movie, he could probably twist it back into a film like the older ones. I consider this movie the start of some sort of sub-series that continues with a new story, rather than the next chapter due to the lack of real connection with the original three.

Out of ten,... I give it a 6/10. Worth seeing, but not really worth watching time, after time, after time. meh.

You gotta remember though some of the people quit after the third such as Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, they said their character's stories came to an end. The third was supposed to be the very last of the series, but, some people still thought that pirates didn't deserve to die just yet. (I think they are now going to make new movie because of what they said at the end in the Fourth). And you do know the Fountain of Youth was found in Florida, which is near the Caribbean, and they passed through it all. So really, i dont see why you gave it a 6/10 if you ask me, yeah it wasnt as good as the third, but i'll still give it a 9/10 (gave the third a 11/10 :D)

well that a huge relief that it doesnt completely suck like the last 2...

sorry i don't know how to do the black over the text yet so divert eyes for those who don't want to see any spoilers
I have to say the movie ranked second best in the franchise. I thought Dead Mans Chest and Worlds End focused too much on action and took away what made us all love the original, Capt. Jack Sparrow. We more humorous comments from Jack and I really love how he can always make a grand entrance to the films, followed by a grander exit from the scene. I especially loved the scene with the King where we actually see Jack setting everything up, where the other movies have it look like he is just really lucky.
I saw someone ask what the point was of Jack wearing a wig at the beginning...well he was trying to free Gibbs by pretending to be a judge so he kinda needed the wig since that is what they wore then. I loved all the POTCO references, they really tied the game and the movies together..for example the doll, there were a few others but I cannot remember off the top of my head.
Also, someone mentioned they didn't like the fact that this did not seem to go with the other films. Well that is sort of the point. That part of the story is done, its time to move on to the next chapter, and it was great.

Del, I just saw it last night! nice review mate! I agree with all you say but in addition, I think that little love story between the mermaid and the religious guy was just corny Disney romance.

I as very impressed with this movie personally. The first one remains to the best IMHO but this comes off as a close second. This is what I think Pirates 2 should've been.

I'll keep this short and sweet. I didn't set high expectations as I had a feeling I would be disappointed. However, I was rather pleased with the movie overall. IMO it was a nice change of pace to get away from Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan. They tied the knot and the love story is complete. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to see them in another possible movie, I just thought it was a refreshing change.

My feelings in short:

-Story line was good
-Action was decent (needed some ship battles added)
-Chemistry between actors was good
-Ending left opening for more sequels

Overall I enjoyed the movie. I didn't think it was fantastic, but definitely worth watching.

:pirate_flag: