The Walt Disney company have tried to reboot one of their biggest franchises with a fourth installment. Hoping to get rid of the stigma with the poorly received second and third installments.
I think I need to write my film reviews for this blog a bit closer to the time I see them. I've had some time to think about my feelings for the film and each time I think about it I find more problems with it. My first reaction was that it was a lot of fun but far too long. For some reason I noticed the slower parts of the film a lot more. I'm a big fan of Rob Marshall. I think his musicals 'Chicago' and 'Nine' are brilliant. I got really excited when I heard he was going to direct this film. He has ended up doing a decent job but the non action scenes I found to be a bit lacking in excitement. Rob does handle the action well. They are almost like musical numbers anyway. I don't know what it is about Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio who wrote the convoluted second and third installments have not lost their knack. While this film is a bit simpler they have included many unnecessary elements. The fact the Spanish are searching for the fountain as well I found was a bit too much and does not heavily impact on the main story too much. Their role could easily have been for-filled by the English. Speaking of the English I found Captain Barbbossa unnecessary too. While I liked his character in the previous film and love Geoffrey Rush I would have preferred a different character in that part, someone new. While the love story between the priest and the mermaid was important for the plot I think it was not needed. It seemed like they were trying to set up a new Will and Elizabeth.
Johnny Depp is clearly one of the best actors working today. He seems to be very comfortable playing the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. Maybe a little too much. While he is funny in that reckless attitude he does not bring anything new to the character. Penelope Cruz is excellent. But then she is excellent in everything she does. She does a good job of verbal sparring with Johnny. As mentioned above, while I love Geoffrey I would have preferred a different character in his role. A new ships captain. The big delight though was Ian McShane. Many people would not know him from previous work but he is brilliant here as Captain Blackbeard. By far the best thing in the film.
If the rumours are to be believed Johhny Depp needed a lot of convincing to do this film. And the person who had to talk him into it no longer works for Disney. So if this film is hugely successful then it will be interesting to see if he does another one.
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