Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Reviewer: Charity Bishop

Zombie crewman, infamous scoundrels, and everyone's favorite rum-soaked pirate have returned in an adventure that proves entertaining but is not nearly as magnificent as it could have been.

When Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) sets foot in fair London-town for the first time, he is astounded and more a little displeased to discover he is being impersonated. Whilst attempting to find the scurvy cur who would dare disparage his good name, he runs afoul of Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who has become a "privateer" for the Royal Navy. His Majesty (and the Spanish too) are in search of the famed Fountain of Youth and have heard that Jack has a map to its location. Or had, having had it recently pilfered. Jack manages to escape the royal guards only to run into an old friend, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), who shanghais him on board Blackbeard's ship. Jack's intended mutiny goes bad but does introduce him to the infamous pirate (Ian McShane), who insists on Jack leading them to said source of liquid eternal life.

In order to make good use of the Fountain first a single mermaid's tear must be obtained... and the underwater folk are not very accommodating. Throw in a missionary (Sam Claflin) who finds it hard to believe Blackbeard has a soul worth saving, a zombie crew on board the Queen's Revenge, and the mysterious fate of the Black Pearl and the adventure has only just begun.

The first Pirates is one of my all-time favorite movies: it was original and exciting, cleverly written, beautifully directed, and had more twists and turns than one of Jack's long-winded explanations. It began a love affair between audiences everywhere and the memorable characters, the most notable of which being Jack Sparrow. This fourth installment in the franchise has plenty of Jack and some nice character consistencies with previous installments (it is particularly amusing to note that Barbossa has not lost his taste for green apples) but for some reason it did not hit all the right notes with me. I expected more humor than there was; while there are a few laughs and an occasionally brilliant line, it is nothing like the sheer hilarity of previous installments, which at times had me laughing so hard that much like Miss Swann in her corset, I couldn't breathe. There is also a little bit of doubt concerning the character of Jack Sparrow -- in all previous movies he was mostly out to look after only his own interests, and innocent bystanders can hang, but here he seems a little too concerned with other people to be believable.

However, there are some notable things about the script -- it is a bit awkward at the start but the pace settles in when we reach the high seas and by the end it had proven a rollicking adventure. There are a lot of fun and unnerving moments but by far the best scene involves the mermaids -- everything about them is mysterious, haunting, and sinister. History is muddied significantly but I will say that the writers unconsciously misrepresented two nations at once -- it is not a very kind depiction of the English, whereas it paints the Spaniards in an equally harsh light. (I cannot say more without revealing a plot twist.) I was pleasantly surprised by the depiction of faith through Philip, the missionary. Throughout, he is noble and kind, speaks reverently of faith, and is the only man to show compassion to a captured mermaid. Even before benefitting from his kindness, she senses that he is "different" from the others, a much better man. Some might be offended by him falling in love with a mermaid (he claims God must have created her) but I loved their subplot.

One of the cleverest things about the original film was the subtle innuendos, often hidden so well they went over history-illiterate heads (and some not so subtle) and always delivered by Jack with a sly smirk. This film fails in that regard, resorting to incredibly blatant innuendos intended to be funny but that come off as embarrassing instead. Hardly five minutes can pass between Jack and Angelica without a veiled sexual reference, ranging from arguments about whether or not he took her virginity when he sneaked into her nunnery and "corrupted her" to... uh... a rather famous line from the trailer that involves a sword. The mermaids also might present a bit of a problem, since whenever they rise up out of the water they are human -- and naked. Lingering shots show them from the waist-up from behind and a few times from the side; one or two quick shots show them from the front, usually with hair or arms covering their breasts. They are careful not to show too much, but they still show enough.

Language is frequent but mild, consisting mostly of minor swear words and "b**stard." The violence is rarely graphic but does include numerous swordfights, men being shot, attempted hangings, burned alive, and so forth. The most violent and creepy scene is when mermaids become enraged and attack a longboat full of men, dragging some to their watery depths. Conversation revolves around the fact that mermaids are cannibalistic, and will "eat men down to their bones." Supernatural events are, as usual, present, both in the form of mermaids and Blackbeard's familiarity with voodoo. His officers are comprised of zombies (this is never expounded on) and it is said that he reanimated himself from the dead. He makes a little doll of Jack and tortures it for fun, with Jack suffering literal repercussions. The Fountain is presented as a means of eternal life (religious individuals denounce it as "pagan"); it removes the life from one and gives it to another.

Whether or not you will enjoy this film is hard to predict; it depends on your expectations. I went in expecting more than I received, so I was a tad disappointed. It is not going to appeal to everyone and may even offend on some levels depending on your stance on feminism, but I enjoyed it overall.