I wasn't expecting all that much from the latest in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as I was severely disappointed in the last film, but even my low expectations were not met. Now I have to admit my enjoyment of the film may have been altered if I hadn't watched it on an airplane after staying up for over 24 hours but I don't think it would have altered it all that much.
Captain Jack Sparrow is back and after the fountain of youth but he's caught between the feared pirate Blackbeard, Blackbeard's daughter ex-nun and ex-lover of Jack's and Jack's old enemy Barbossa who has become a privateer (albeit only as a rouse to hunt down Blackbeard who took his leg (finally the franchise gets a peg-legged pirate)). My problem with the film was it's lack of direction and originality. It took gags from the first and second films and repeated them without a spark of newness about them. The only storyline that I liked in the film was between the mermaid and the priest which even that one felt a bit out of place. I guess that relationship sort of took over for the lack of Will and Elizabeth's relationship and was more interesting than the relationship or rather the back story of Jack and Angelica. The change in director definitely hurt the film and although I like Rob Marshall's other directorial work I think his talent is misplaced in the Pirate franchise.
The bottom line is that I had hoped for a come back of the Pirates films after the disaster known as the third film but this latest film did not deliver. It didn't have the same fun atmosphere that a pirate film should have and that the first two films of the franchised recognized. It has become too serious and no longer seems based on a ride at Disney theme park. Although Johnny Depp is brilliant in his role as Jack, as always, the film just doesn't measure up to him.
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