You have to wonder what possessed Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush to agree to make yet another Pirates of the Caribbean movie, I am one of the few who genuinely enjoyed the last two movies and that was because I have a love for mythology and the weird. They say in interviews its because the plots are still fun, but honestly I believe that fat paycheck and the opportunity to wear lots of eye make up probably makes up eighty percent of the decision making process.
As to my own opinion of the supposed fun plot line? It is not that much fun. If this had been the only Pirates movie made, then yes, tons of fun, you have Blackbeard, the Spanish Navy, and the British Navy all on the hunt for the Fountain of Youth using Jack Sparrow in one form or another in their efforts. There is magic and mermaids, swashbuckling and sword fighting aplenty, a romance, and even a monkey.
However this is the fourth in the series, a standalone in that it does not encompass the stories or characters of the trilogy, excepting Sparrow, Gibbs, and Barbossa, but nevertheless using the music and plot features of the previous three movies. This is very annoying.
To explain, the film might as well have been the very first in the series, there is Jack looking for his ship, an astounding and theatrical escape from many of the Kings finest, a sword fight across wooden beams, and eventually a chase across the Caribbean with the pirates in the lead and the British Navy not far behind. Very formulaic by this point, and unfortunately set to exactly the same musical score as Curse of the Black Pearl, supremely irritating.
There is a redeeming feature that made it almost worth sitting through over two hours of pirate action, and that is the involvement of the Mermaids. The action scenes with the attack and the subsequent romance between the mermaid and missionary are both benefited by the improvements in special effects and my own soft side, can't resist a love story. The young Brit playing Phillip the Missionary is a fine actor by the name of Sam Claflin who has starred in both Any Human Heart and Pillars of the Earth with Captain America's Hayley Atwell. He is a better actor than Orlando Bloom but the story of the man and the mermaid is secondary to the plot, whereas Bloom and Knightley's love affair fueled the progress of the story of the Trilogy.
They attempt in this film to have another love story, and that is between Depp and Cruz. It is mildly amusing the idea that he seduced her years ago in a Convent where she was about to take her orders, but the idea Jack Sparrow is in love? No thank-you. Cruz is a good actress but knowing a lot of her screen time is actually performed by body doubles due to pregnancy makes for distracted viewing as I attempted to discern between actress and doppelganger. The ending was typical Jack, and back to the spirit of the series rather than just copying previous scripts, and I am pleased to say I enjoyed it.
Regrettably I also was happy at the end because it was the end, my 140 minutes endurance test over, and a feeling of relief that I did not spend any money only time on this film.
I can't criticise the acting in this film, in fact there are a couple of well placed cameos from acting royalty, but this film is not a triumph of the Disney franchise. Curse of the Black Pearl was such a hit with young and old alike because it embodied the old pirate movies of the days of Errol Flynn, the spirit of adventure and old fashioned comedy and romance so lacking in films of recent times. Now, as companies do when they have a success, the Pirates franchise has been sucked dry, the spirit has waned and audiences lacklustre in their opinions. Yes it attracts stars but I have to say even my beloved Johnny Depp was beginning to grate on me.
You can have too much of a good thing, and many fans would say the first film is enough. I disagree and say the trilogy was worth it, but a fourth and even a rumoured fifth pirate movie? Too much.
If you feel like watching a re-hashed Curse of the Black Pearl with Blackbeard the most notorious of pirates and some murderous mermaids watch this film. If you aren't fussed either way, stay clear, it will only annoy you.
No comments:
Post a Comment