Why is Jack searching for the Fountain of Youth in OST - because he yearns for immortality, or because he gets roped up in Blackbeard's quest? (And Blackbeard is inspired to quest because he heard a prophecy, and Barbossa is only in the movie because Blackbeard shrank the Black Pearl, an ability which has f----all to do with the rest of the story.)
On Stranger Tides is my least favorite film in the series and a large part of that has to do with Blackbeard being such a meh character. Instead, I heartily recommend that you all read Tim Powers' novel
On Stranger Tides (an unrelated pirate novel about Blackbeard & the Fountain of Youth that "inspired" the 4th
POTC movie). In the novel, Blackbeard is depicted as the most powerful voodoo practitioner in history and he's a genuinely terrifying character. The novel also ties the fantasy elements into the real historical figures in a surprisingly plausible way.
And two, it looked as if the writers had revamped the story regarding the compass. I could have sworn that Tia Dalma had given it to Jack.
*headsmack!* I completely forgot about Tia Dalma's line in
Dead Man's Chest where she says that she gave the compass to Jack!
I've never seen any of the
Pirates movies, but was checking in here to see if anyone said anything about how Paul did. Alas, he was always a particularly lousy actor....
His cameo is very incidental but he gets a couple of fun dumb jokes that made me laugh. It's less substantial than Keith Richards' cameos in the last 2 films.
If they're going to make a habit of all of Jack's relatives being old rockers, I'm hoping that Stevie Nicks gets a cameo as his aunt or something.
Probably the best film to attempt and largely re-create the original film of Curse of the Black Pearl. Successfully I'd say.
I could see the Barbosa family tie coming from the second act but that's OK, doesn't make it a bad story element.
The second time around, I realized that this film ends basically exactly how the first one did with Jack back in command of the Black Pearl, Barbosa dead, and Will & Elizabeth living happily ever after.
I though Geoffrey Rush did a great job with the whole family angle. I'm a huge fan of his character generally. But, by & large, I felt a bit tired of him and his death at the end felt predictable and unengaging. (As opposed to, say, Han Solo's death in
The Force Awakens, where they work super-hard to get you excited about the premise of him & Rey & Chewie flying off to have adventures together only to yank that rug out from under you, Joss Whedon-style.)
I'd say if you are avoiding this cause of the last one do yourself a favor and catch it. It redeems the series quite a lot I felt.
I have a friend who felt so traumatized by the end of the Will/Elizabeth romance at the end of
At World's End that she refused the rewatch the first 3 movies ever again. This movie redeemed that entire trilogy for her. As she put it, "Now, instead of
At World's End being a really bad finale, it's just a really awkward middle movie."
Personally, I loved the tragic end to
At World's End. As convoluted as that movie was, it worked hard to earn the epic tragic ending for the young lovers. For me, it's very unlikely that any future installment would eclipse that original
Pirates trilogy. However,
Dead Men Tell No Tales is a worthwhile piece of fluff. It's certainly the funniest film in the series. The action isn't as good as
On Stranger Tides but it holds together better because it doesn't put quite as much of the story weight onto Jack.
Also, the return of series MVP Kevin McNally (Gibbs).
He's definately one of the best parts of the series. He came to town recently for Phoenix FanFest but I was too busy to go.
Although, for me, the definitive characters in the franchise are Pintel & Raghetti. Their Greek chorus was what kept the first 3 films grounded for me and the series hasn't been the same since they left. My friends have a theory that they were supposed to be in the 5th film but had a scheduling conflict or something, so the roles were rewritten for Murtogg & Mulroy.
As for the franchise's future, novelty is sorely needed, and I for one vote for fewer men and more women. Get Keira Knightley and Penélope Cruz together on an adventure, with Scodelario along for the ride and Thwaites forgotten, and we might just have a sail worth taking. Heck, they could make Geena Davis the villain
I would love to see that!
For another potential spin-off pitch, since the last couple movies have done substantially better overseas than they have in the U.S., maybe Disney should consider partnering up with a Chinese company and do a big budget film in Mandarin about the Pirates of the South China Seas or something like that. (Maybe squeeze in a brief Jack Sparrow cameo just to connect the franchises and help sell the film to non-Asian markets.)
