Not that my opinion of a movie really means much, I still like to share it ;) I'd like to consider myself an educated film viewer but in the end it's just an opinion...
First of all let me just say.... there are no spoilers in my review.
Ok so I have mixed feelings about this movie. I was a pirate fanatic when the first three came out. I think I went to all the midnight showings and I saw the first one 5 times in the theater. I loved the action and the adventure and I still think the first movie is beyond amazing! I know a lot of people didn't like the 2nd or 3rd but I quite enjoyed them. I thought they were filled with fun, fantasy, creativity and great choreography. While they didn't really match up to the 1st, they were still good and I didn't understand why so many people thought they were terrible. So moving on to the 4th installment...
The first half hour of the movie was really choppy and to be honest... not really necessary to the rest of the film. They were trying to get everyone caught up as to what's going on and where the story is going to go but it was not very well played out. It jumped around a lot, had a lot of confusing dialogue and again, didn't really pertain to the rest of the movie. They could've accomplished just as much in 5 minutes as they did in that whole half hour. After that... things got better. The movie started to have a rhythm and felt more like the pirate movies preceding it.
The mermaids were actually very tastefully handled for the most part. When they became somewhat vampireish I sort of lost interest. If I wanted to see a horror film about mermaids, I would've, well, done that! The filming was so flashy that you could barely tell what was happening and it was quite gruesome.
I enjoyed the story line of the missionary who believed in the goodness of people even if he seemed a little naive. He was a breath of fresh air amongst all the lying and cheating... although I love the sneaky pirates!
As far as casting... I was nervous about Penelope Cruz in this movie but she didn't do a bad job. She didn't blow me away or anything but I thought she fit the role quite well. Blackbeard was awesome and really seemed like pure evil. I'll admit I'm a little tender hearted and sometimes his actions made me feel a little uneasy but that just makes me believe that he did his job well. Of course Captain Jack Sparrow is the one most people go to see and he was his usual self, only his hair was slightly blonde and there was no explaination for it. Barbosa was great as always. I think he's my favorite character throughout the series. I think the lack of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan was long overdue. Even though I liked the 2nd and 3rd movies, I always felt that they should focus on the pirates going on different adventures and not keep the same cast other than the pirates.
So here's my overall opinion... The 4th movie was less family friendly by having more sexual inuendos and lot more cleavage.(some may like that and some may not.) This movie followed the darker mood of the 2nd and 3rd. I really wanted to love this movie and be super glad they didn't stop making pirate movies but in all honesty... it was just ok. It wasn't horrible and wasn't spectacular. I was nervous it'd be horrible having been so long since the last one and perhaps wearing out it's welcome but it was a good addition to the franchise. I think that I would've enjoyed it more if Will and Elizabeth hadn't been in all 3 prior to this one. If each movie would've been a different adventure with new people, I probably would've been raving about this one but it felt sort like an after thought... like it was an add-on to the trilogy. Would I buy this movie? Yes. But mostly cause I want to have the collection complete. Would I go see it in the theater again? Maybe, if a friend invited me and I had nothing better to do. So on a scale of 1-10, I'd give it about a 7.... maybe a 6.5.
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