Pirates of the Caribbean franchise

I was amused with Blackbeard's portrayal as well, especially since I had visited Teach's Hole at the Outer Banks (apparently where Teach was killed; now a museum dedicated to him) two summers ago. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he had a zombie crew.

I watched the movie two days ago, and it actually was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Jack did seem a bit less rougish than in the other movies, but I didn't think that impacted the overeall flow of the movie much (maybe near the end of the movie, though). Also, I didn't really mind the Phillip/Syrena story that much. However expected it was, it made good "breathing room" within the insane action going on!

Liked Judi Dench's cute cameo too.

edited 24th May '11 6:09:30 AM by Coujagkin

I liked the movie more than the last two ones.

One complaint that seems to come up is that Jack's abandonment of the quest for the fountain early on in the film is just handwaved, but I thought the movie hinted well at the fact that he had been close, but was turned away by some revelation that was too horrible for him.

That he'd have to keep killing people to stay youthful?

This is now my least favorite. I was bored stiff throughout the whole film. There is so much pandering and unnecessary scenes that stretch the length past the 2 hour mark. The whole sub-plot/love interest thing with the missionary and mermaid was superfluous as hell and really forced.

Ian Mcshane did a pretty decent job as Blackbeard though.

If the the film was 30 minutes shorter, eliminating the needless scenes in the process, and was more focused, I might have enjoyed it.

I don't recommend it.

edited 24th May '11 12:36:26 PM by HerrKman

Overall, I think it was an ok movie. It doesn't do anything different than the past three movies, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. If you liked the last three for: 1.) Captain Jack Sparrow acting like...Captain Jack Sparrow, 2.) Amoral pirates executing a Xanatos Gambit and/or a Xanatos Roulette, 3.) A romance dealing with two young lovers caught in the middle of events greater than they are, all tied together with a dash of the supernatural, then you're going into the fourth movie knowing exactly what to expect and you will enjoy yourself.

That said, the only thing about this movie that caught me by surprise was that the Spanish wanted to destroy the fountain, but once they stated why, their motivation made complete sense. I actually found myself rooting for them since I felt that the price for using the fountain was too high and could easily be used to sacrifice a lot of people in a personal quest for immortality.

I was a bit curious as to what happened with Philip and Syrena at the end. Sure, they loved each other, but there were enough parallels with that first mermaid scene to make me wonder if he ended up getting eaten after everything was said and done.

Regarding Blackbeard, I personally liked him. He was fairly well acted, and a scary bastard with some creepy abilities. Though, I thought his theme music sucked.

I liked it on the same level as the other movies (I only saw 2 and 3 in addition to this though). I liked the character of Blackbeard and for some reason I loved his voice. I also LOVED the soundtrack, as usual.

I think it's a firm YMMV flick leaning towards average.

edited 26th May '11 10:27:38 PM by Zyxzy

That's good. It means it's not horrible!

Saw it tonight, and thought it was quiet decent. Not as good as the first, of course, and some of the subplots could of used more work (or plotting, for that matter), but still a decent night's entertainment.

Also: Needed more hot Spanish guy.

Wait, I just realised something.

The fountain of youth doesn't actually make you immortal or invulnerable. It just removes all your deadly ailments and gives you more life years.

Why was Blackbeard looking for it again? Having a longer natural life span isn't going to help him in his fight with a one-legged man.

It was either that, or follow boring ol' history and retire.

It healed Angelica's wounds, so it clearly does have some regenerative power; I also believe there was a line or two of dialogue suggesting using Barbossa (the prophesied One-legged Man) as the victim in the ritual, which would prevent him from doing anything else to Blackbeard and undo any injury he'd already done him... but it didn't quite work out that way.

I just saw it. Personally, I loved it. It wasn't quite as good as the first, but oh so close.

And there was no Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley to hog screentime clearly meant for Johnny Depp. Yay.

Not the best movie, but there are two things that render me unable to completely pan it: Blackbeard's entrance and the mermaids' entrance.

Blackbeard had smoking embers in his beard. I AM SOLD.

And much like River Monsters or Jaws, the mermaids render me scared shitless of the ocean, which is problematic since I live on an island. I don't know what that tentacle/web shit was and it has no connection to mermaid lore that I know of, but it was scary as fuck because it means YOU CANNOT RUN FROM THOSE BITCHES. And the CGI for their tails was gorgeous.

On a smaller scale, did anyone else love that scene with the drop of water from the Fountain of Youth falling up? It was a surprisingly lovely little piece of CGI.

The smoking beard is supposedly real. According to Blackbeard's Wikipedia article "he was reported to have tied lit fuses under his hat to frighten his enemies."

And that is exactly why I loved it.

Its nice they included some actual historical touches.

Blackbeard's body swimming around his ship is an actual myth too as I recall.

I loved it. Great fun, which is all that the Pot C movies need or were meant to be. Enjoyed the solution to Angelica. Wish they hadn't left the Sequel Hook with the Pearl - four movies is quite enough, and I'd prefer that they stop milking the series now.

Just back from seeing the film.

I thought it a decent flick, certainly what you'd expect, and good fun. Also, the Mermaids were HOT.

But on the whole I think it was among the weaker installments of the series. There was a lack of the laugh-out-loud moments that I liked in the previous movies and there were a lot of characters and related sub-plots that were either not needed or not developed right.

Did we need Keith Richards cameo? Did we need the scenes with the annoying King George? The whole thing with the Clergyman could have been done away with while the involvement of the Spanish could have been used more - there was a great opportunity for a British v Spanish v Pirate threeway with a flamethrowing ship involved, and I think they missed a trick there. All felt a bit disjointed and the time could have been better used.

I saw this in 3D today and thought it was a good movie. Jack was a bit different from the previous three, but that's because he was in the hero role instead of supporting role. If Will/Elizabeth were still there they'd be the ones to destroy the spotlight but since their not, it's Jack's job. But that just made him do less weird funny stuff and replace it with cool funny stuff, so it's all good.

Something I was wondering: They never did explain the guy in the fishnet at the beginning, did they?

Also, about Ponce De Leon. Was the implication that the Fountain did the "give you life but not youth" trick, which was why he turned into a living prune?

The guy dredged up by the fishers was one of Ponce's crew, who was already immortal and spent two hundred years trapped on the sea floor. As for Ponce himself, it's ambiguous. He might have been kept mildly alive, which would have scared Jack and Barbossa off immortality for sure, or it was just a creepy skeleton.

I'm pretty sure the skeleton moved on its own, otherwise Barbossa and Jack wouldn't have been so wigged out by it... It would also make their reluctance to use the Fountain more believable. However it wouldn't make sense for both Ponce and the guy in the beginning to have been kept alive by the Fountain, because one of them looks much better than the other.

I thought this movie was just kinda average, for reasons already well articulated, particularly the triteness and lack of importance of the missionary/mermaid plot (though "I support the missionary's position" was the funniest line of the flick).

Then again, I thought that Dead Man's Chest and At World's End were better than Curse of the Black Pearl, so what do I know?