Pirates of the Caribbean franchise

I felt the movie didn't really come together until towards the end, with the ending being probably the best part. My biggest issue was actually Jack himself: he's very...un-Jacklike in this movie. He's much more straight up heroic (i.e. his trying to take the fall for someone on Blackbeard's ship), and is considerably more lucid and less weird than usual. This could all be chalked up to character development, but I missed the old Jack. I also missed the conflicting plans and backstabbing, not nearly enough of that. Also, when you really think about it, part of the problem may be that aside from the very beginning, the movie isn't really Jack's story (though it's told from his point of view), it's Barbossa's and Blackbeard's and, to a lesser extent, the missionary's and the mermaid's, Jack's just along for the ride. Still, I liked it overall.

I liked it and it is pretty good, its just so jumbled that it is annoying. Ironically USA is playing 1-3 right now without commercials. Seeing them again after seeing 4.....ehh I sort of like 3 more. Sure 3 has problems, but it actually has down time. Stranger tides really doesn't have any moments where it just slows down, we go from one scene to the next with little room to take in the events that have happened. Its definitely better then 2(the worst one imho), but I really don't know if its "better" then 3.

Saw it today, and I agree with the general consensus that it was a fun watch, not quite as badly plotted as World's End, but still with its share of problems. In addition to the ones already mentioned, I felt that it introduced too many new characters without tying their subplots to the concerns of Jack and Barbossa (who were, after all, the characters we were there for). So what you will about the plotting clusterfuck of World's End, at least all the major factions had past history with each other and occasionally came together to discuss it, and everyone's goals impacted everyone else's. The missionary and mermaid were completely extraneous to the story, and even Penelope Cruz's character didn't add a whole lot to the dynamic.

To a large extent, it felt like the screenwriters came up with a laundry list of things that had to be included—Spaniards! English privateers! Mermaids! Blackbeard's magic sword! A set piece replicating a scene from the original ride!—and forced the plot in the right direction to include them, which was not necessarily the right direction for a good story.

All the same, it was a fun watch. Jack's antics in the first twenty minutes or so are really not to be missed. And once he and Barbossa meet up in the third act, it starts to feel like PotC again. But it's a long wait inbetween.

I felt like this was the best one. I like all the extra stuff they added. To me, it didn't bother the plot like I thought it would.

I knew the Spaniards were going to mess everything up in the end. Plus, they were so much cooler than the english. They're kind of like the cool kids cruising down the block while everyone else just stares.

I am disappointed that we didn't see more flamethrower action. That was a big set piece and they only used it for one scene.

The mermaid part I suppose isn't really "extra" since they needed one for the ritual.

Plus, it was a good way to show that real heroes do get good endings. I'm glad they had a hero who isn't a villain protaginast or anti hero. After all poor Phillip was put through, I think he deserves a happy ending.

edited 22nd May '11 12:22:36 AM by TheProffesor

Except that "good ending" is rather ambiguous. I mean, given that it's a Disney pirates film and Philip/Syrena are the obvious romance option, a happy ending is a Foregone Conclusion. Though I guess that's just my displeasure at Disney leaving it unanswered what exactly happened.

Also, Barbossa won the damn movie.

I was holding out the whole movie for that to be subverted, Phillip gets in the pool with her and BAM Freaky fish face Scare Chord Gory Discretion Shot.

edited 22nd May '11 12:57:41 AM by Evellex

Ehh that would have been cool. Personally I was hoping for them to end up a part of Jack's new crew. That would have been pretty cool, since both sort of felt like replacement scrappys for Will/Elixabeth. Except you know, I actually liked the new people.

Well, Nolan's "I choose to believe" method is becoming increasingly popular.

I've noticed it showing up in a lot of newer movies. I think they were trying to pull a "I choose to believe" with Syrena and Phillip.

Personally, I choose to believe that they had a happy ending. What exactly happened, I don't know. But I'm convinced everything turned out alright.

However,if I were writing it I would have had them die together, since I like to subvert what real happiness is. If you loved someone, and you were both dieing, at least you were together when the end came. And so in the end they were happy,despite the circumstances.

I think everybody's choosing to believe in their happy ending.

I swear up, down, and sideways that she took him to the Dutchman, personally.

I'm not "choosing to believe" anything. I'm criticizing the screenwriters for leaving it so ambiguous. The series is suffering from severe Installment Fatigue and honestly doesn't need any more chapters, so what was with all the blatant Sequel Hooks?

I was hoping that the Spaniards would be more developed than they were. As characters, they could have been very cool and had much depth. The movie could have had some real interesting Anti-Heros.

It was a tad disappointing to get through the entire movie and not even learn a single one's name. They could have even replaced priest and mermaid subplot with them. That seemed kind of extraneous anyways.

edited 22nd May '11 6:22:51 PM by Pentadragon

Well, who ever wrote it felt like it was a good idea to throw in someone who WASN'T an antihero into the mix, which I agree with.

As for the ambiguity in somethings, I don't think that's a fair critisism. Sometimes it's good to leave things hanging. It doesn't neccesarily mean it's a sequel hook. Nolan's top scene wasn't a sequel hook.

What if the writer felt like it would be better that way? Then again, knowing this is Di$ney we're talking about,they're probably sequel hooks.

Including a straight-up hero? Fine. Keeping that hero disconnected from the familiar characters to such an extent that his subplot could have been cut from the movie entirely without losing anything of value? Not so fine.

I think the missionary/mermaid subplot would have worked better if they had tried to make them into the new Will and Elizabeth and actually had them interact with Jack for more than two lines. Jack seriously needs a straight man to play off, and the sad thing was they had one right there. And it felt to me like there were a lot of "Jack does something wacky" scenes that went on forever and could have been trimmed to make room for other things.

edited 23rd May '11 5:28:56 AM by SevenOfDiamonds

I figured out what I didn't like about this movie, the action scenes. Otherwise I liked it but most of the action scenes were lackluster in my opinion and there was nothing that stood out as much as the memorable moments of Dead Man's Chest and At World's End.

The fish person side plot was kind of annoying. I feel that every mutants in the second film were inferior to the skeleton pirates of the first film. I thought the Zombies would be a return to form but no, more fish people.

So what did I like? The pirates are still cut throat backstabbers. I also like the make up of the crew. In the last three movies, we had a bunch of eager criminals, here we got to see a different kind of crew. Didn't really care for Black Beard, but I liked his first mate. There were fewer intersecting schemes this time, but I still like to see the schemes run over each other with Jack's getting derailed again.

I imagine some where somebody is debating Davy Jones vs Black Beard.

I kinda hope we do get another sequel, I mean we kind of got the set up for it: Jack and Gibbs figuring out how to realease the Pearl from the bottle.

Question.

Obviously I know Jack Sparrow is awesome but I think a good antagonist is what makes a story.

Davy Jones was probably my favorite character in the first three films.

How does Blackbeard compare to him, Barbossa and Beckett?

According to Wikipedia, a 5th film is already planned.

I thought Blackbeard was kind of dull. Definitely nothing compared to Davy Jones, Beckette, or Barbossa in the first film.

edited 23rd May '11 5:34:21 PM by SevenOfDiamonds

I was thinking about something today.

Do the Spanish ever do anything villainous the entire movie? It seems that they, and the priest, might be the closest thing to straight heroes the entire movie.

edited 23rd May '11 7:24:02 PM by Pentadragon

No, infact they didn't do anything at all.

Well, they shoot Groves, destroy the Fountain, or at least give it their best shot, and set the whole thing in motion. They just have very limited screen time (would have liked to see more of them, myself- maybe in 5?). In any case, I got a pretty definite Anti-Villain vibe from them.

Damn, whenever I hear Blackbeard, I think of the one from One Piece.

I think Blackbeard is a really boring stock Evil Overlord. He never gets any motivation other than "I don't want to die", and even that isn't played in an interesting way. What's more, Ian McShane does a really bad job at playing him.

Nobody will remember Blackbeard anymore in a few years.

It didn't help that he was a real historical figure and not mythology. I know Black Beard's history. Seeing him command his ship with a cutless just seemed laughable. I couldn't take him seriously.

Then again, Disney is probably running out of pirate myths,so they had to cough up something.

Personally,I think they would have been better off with an original character.