Pirates of The Caribbean: On Strained Tides

With the latest Pirates movie (#4) still fresh in my mind, I thought I'd take a few moments to write a quick review. For this latest entry in the series, I decided to splurge and see it in 3D. Apparently the "D" stands for Damn! that cost a lot of money! $26 for two tickets to be exact.

It's no secret that I love Pirate history, and along with the truth, the fictitious Captain Jack Sparrow. The pirates movies have sailed with tide over the years, some absolutely brilliant (#1) and some quite convoluted and tiresome (At World's End). Whatever the future holds for the franchise, I walk the plank to the theater, clinging to both $26 and my illusions that the best movie is still on the horizon.

On Stranger Tides is a stand-alone entry, meant to be character driven and unique in it's plot. Johnny Depp has admitted that during the filming of the sequels he paused frequently to say WTF? It's also a fact that he doesn't tend to watch is own movies, which has nothing to do with my review, I just find it interesting. Regardless, the main goal of this entry was to move the characters forward and leave the long-winded back story in the past.

For the most part, I found the movie to be quite dim and drab, both comically and literally. Part of what made the series my favorite was the colorful characters, breathtaking scenery and well-balanced comedy/drama/action sequences. On Stranger Tides never really takes off and becomes a summer blockbuster, it feels more like a series of ideas strung together from the cutting room floor of previous entries. While I managed a few chuckles, the comedy seemed a bit too familiar for my liking.

My biggest disappointment didn't lie with the actors (or lack thereof in the case of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley) or the story (predictable, much?) but rather with Jack Sparrow. In my mind I was thinking this movie would take Jack to a whole new level, but unfortunately, I really felt like this was a step backward for him. Overall, I wouldn't say the movie is dead in the water, however, it didn't shiver me timbers and/or blow me down as much as I would have liked.