Pirates 4: On Stranger Tides

Batutta

Batutta

Major Contributor
Trailer. It will be interesting to see whether a film where Jack Sparrow is the primary protagonist makes the story better. I fear putting the character and Depp's shtick front and center may get wearisome. I'm already feeling Jack Sparrow fatigue just watching the trailer--

 
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Jack Sparrow was a fun character, but he wasn't fun enough to support the two overlong, convoluted, and unnecessary sequels I wanted to walk out on. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me three times? No thanks.
 
The first 2 were good, the third was awful. Trailer is okay. I'm with Battuta on fatigue. And I just read that parts 5 and 6 will shot back to back.
 
Well, the music at least is stuck in my head. Again.

A change from the now stock cast of the first 3 would be welcome. That storyline/dynamic was getting a little played out. I'm interested to see what they do with this one.

- Mikko
 
The first one was fun, solid, and an over-all entertaining ride.

The second and third seemed as though they were written by a two year old... "and then a giant squid comes in, then a woman grows fifty feet tall, then they fall into a huge swirling water pool... oh and there's lots of sword fighting and explosions!" I'm surprised there weren't any ninjas or flying sharks in it...

I will only see it if people say it's as good as the first... or at least better than the last two.
 
i like to think of Jack as the James Bond of pirate movies. If they can come up with an uncomplicated plot like the first, then i could see this franchise maintain some momentum. Plus the whole Bloom/Ke
ira sidekick thing really got old, glad the dead weight is gone.
 
Resurrecting this thread for the opening weekend.

Jon Starr said:
I'm surprised there weren't any ninjas or flying sharks in it...
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If I understand correctly, the new one has mermaids and zombies.

I loved all 3 of the POTC movies, and I'm excited to see the 4th. Even though I'm broke as hell and can't even pay my phone bill next week. I talked to the guy at one of the AMC theaters down at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and he said that at least one of the 3 theaters there will have Pirates 4 in 2D instead of 3D, so as long as they have it on opening night in 2D, I'll be there.

I probably won't read this topic much, though, as it depresses me when I love a movie/franchise that everyone else hates. The Pirates movies are some of the best-written action/adventure movies of the last two decades. It's a shame nobody can see that.
 
I actually love Pirates as well, Michael. =]

However, I'm afraid 4 is going to end it for me. Traditionally, though, I'll go see it on opening night.
 
Kholi said:
I actually love Pirates as well, Michael. =]

However, I'm afraid 4 is going to end it for me. Traditionally, though, I'll go see it on opening night.
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w00t! I think I'll love 4, but I'm wary of them making any more after that. Looks like Depp is too, though, which combined with the fact that OST probably won't do great box office (at least not as great as DMC), I think 4 might be the end of it for everyone. Which is probably a good thing - I think I'd rather seen one last great movie than one more great movie and then a s..ty one.
 
vcassel said:
Jack Sparrow was a fun character, but he wasn't fun enough to support the two overlong, convoluted, and unnecessary sequels I wanted to walk out on. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me three times? No thanks.
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In my opinion, Jack was a much more interesting protagonist than either Will or Elizabeth, who really just became more and more obnoxious as the sequels went on.

The 2nd film was really pretty good as well; they just took it in a terrible direction in the 3rd film.
 
Okay, I was wrong. I didn't like Pirates 4. The problem was that it tried to be a sequel to Pirates 1. The rise of epicness through the films, from 1 to 2 to 3 is perfect - and then 4 just bottoms out below even 1 on the scale of epicness. Not only that, but it had no meaning. Say what you will about each of the films in the original POTC trilogy, but in each I can point to a specific scene or shot that gave the film purpose.

SPOILERS for Pirates 1, 2, 3

CBP: The shot where Jack and Elizabeth are lying on the beach of the deserted island drinking rum and talking about the Black Pearl and freedom, and Elizabeth makes a toast to the Black Pearl, and the shot is of her rum bottle and Jack in the b/g behind it, and he leans to the side so we can see him and says "To freedom."

DMC: The shot of Jack going down with the ship.

AWE: The scene where they hoist the colors in defiance of the naval onslaught they're about to face.

OST: Nothing. Plot wise, it was interesting, but there was nothing to support it - no theme of freedom, death, a shrinking world. Just a very standard plot with very stock, undeveloped characters.

While some of the blame lies on the writing (from POTC franchise writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio), I think the majority fault lies with Rob Marshall's direction and/or Jerry Bruckheimer's producing. The cuts were lazy, the music was literally stock music from the previous films that was plastered over the new one, the timing of the jokes was off (though a few were very funny). It just felt messy. He had so much to work with - numerous great actors whose talents were simply ignored in preference of simple line-delivery.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. But as part of the series... no, I don't think I can even consider it that. Nevermind.
 
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