Jack is Back!!!! Latest Pirates Installment Marks The Triumphant Return Of Iconic Captian Sparrow.
By: Brandon Porter
"Death Lies Before Us..As We Sail...To The Fountian of Youth." - Jack Sparrow
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| Johnny Deep returns as Captian Jack Sparrow in the latest chapter of the Pirates of The Caribbean saga |
The Story
Having conqured a curse, a kraken, and the infamous Davy Jones, Captian Jack Sparrow (Johnny Deep) is on a new adventure; this time to the mystical fountain of youth...Or at least that's what people are saying. Jack finds himself in an unusaual predicament when he discovers someone is stealing his identity and recriuting a crew to partake a voyage to the legendary fountian. Jack travels to London, England to locate the fraud and clear his name. The false Sparrow shockingly turns out to be Jack's former lover Angelica (Penélope Cruz), a woman who years ago he left and betrayed leaving her heartbroken and corrupted. She then tricks Jack into joining the crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge, with the Evil and Sinister Blackbeard (Ian McShane) as captain. Who also, as Jack discovers, is Angelica's father. Jack must now lead Blackbeard to the fountain to try and save his presumably doomed soul. But things start to get complcated when Jack's old nemisis and former pirate Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), now serving under the royal british navy, is on their trail, in addition to the resurfacing of his deep feelings for Angelica. With the spanish and british armies, the worlds most feared Pirate, man eating mermaids, zombies, and a corrupted old flame, Jack finds himself in the middle of possibly his biggest pinch yet. Will he get out of it alive or will the tale of Captian Jack Sparrow come to an abrupt end?
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| Jack Sparrow on the run from British Gaurds in the streets of London |
Analysis
Like critics and fans, my expectations for the new Pirates film were high. During development, the film went through some intresting changes to separat it from the other installments. The changes that the crew made to this film would either make or break the movie. One change in particular was the cast. Disney made a bold move letting most of the key characters from the previous films go. In this case, Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly who play Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan. With those two not returning for the fourth film, it was clear that Disney wanted to center this Pirates on the films big star Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Deep. Surronding Deep with an entirly new cast and only a handful of series veterans Geoffery Rush and Kevin McNally, Disney made it clear they were taking the franchise in a new direction. The castings of Ian McShane and Penélope Cruz were solid additions giving Jack his own love intrest as opposed to him being the third wheel to Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan's love story. The pieces were in place as On Stranger Tides joined the 2011 Summer Movie Line-Up and looked to make a big box office splash. Looking at the history of the Pirates of The Caribbean films, the franchise has suffered from after gaining some impressive ground in Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl in 2003, not being able to build on that momentum. Since the realese of the first film, critical ratings for the films have significantly sunk even though the financially they have dominated. The same result can unfortunatly be said for On Stranger Tides. Critics would think after a four year absence, Disney would be able fix the mistakes made in the previous two installments and finally bring the same great results as the first one. Sadly, That didn't happen. Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 34% out of 100 which is the lowest out of any of the previous three movies. Despite the critical fail, the film has set the years best box office mark garnering $90.1 million dollars making it the higest grossing film of 2011 and the Summer movie season surppasing Fast Five's $86.2 million dollar mark last month. Critics are coming to the conclusion that the Pirates franchise got lucky in the first film and the series should just throw in the towel and end the tale of Jack Sparrow here. But recent talks of a fifth film are starting to surface giving the realization that the franchise may, be down, but it's not going down without a fight.
Review
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| Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa look on at the enemy camp looking to steal the silver chalices from the spanish |
One of the biggest films of the summer that I wanted to see was Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I was lucky enough to catch it on the second day it was open in IMAX 3D. Though I'm not a die hard fan of the series, I still found the films entertaning and fun. I would expect the same from the the newest installment. I was not in the least disappointed. This film had exactly what I wanted in a summer movie. Intense action, great humor, and just an overall good time. Johnny Deep once again proves he is still at the top of his game as Jack Sparrow and Geoffery Rush gives a solid performance as Barbossa. I found the plot very understandable thanks to the fact that I watched the first three films in one weekend to understand the characters and story. This served me well in the end and helped me enjoy the film even more. As far as action, this is the best action I've seen in a Pirates film yet. The mermaid attack scene had me on the edge of my seat. I found my heart beating faster every second the scene went on. Seeing these beautiful women turn into flesh eating predators both startled and excited me. I also loved the chemistry that Johnny and Penélope Cruz showed on screen. Those two showed a connection that I've never seen before in any film I watched. They worked well together in the sensual points in the film as well as the comedic moments. This will bode well for them if they partake in more projects together down the road. I really loved Penélope's overall performance as well. I feel she brought a sexiness and spice to the series that I felt Keira Knightly lacked in the first three. Hopefully, this will not be her last stint as Angelica. One of the number one things I liked about the film was the fact it centered around Jack Sparrow and not Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner. Looking at the first three films, I felt that Will and Elizabeth were the center of the story despite Jack being the primary protaganist. They sort of took the spotlight off of him basically making Sparrow a third wheel which I felt wasn't fair to Johnny at all.
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| Johnny Deep and Penélope Cruz's on screen romance was a true treat to watch. They made the relationship between Jack and Angelica intensly hot and steamy in most moments of the film. |
Rating and Final Thoughs
89% B+
Handsdown the best Pirates of The Caribbean movie I've ever seen!!! Definitely the perfect summer flick, humourous, action packed, and just plain FUN!!!
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| Captian Jack has done it again and hopefully he will continue to charm and entertain the world for years to come. |
