I’m not as blasé about Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as I present myself in today’s comic. Actually, I’m kind of excited to see it. Cami is, too. Although, admittedly, I’m not excited for the reasons I’m probably supposed to be excited.
I guess I will say – at this point – Johnny Depp’s Keith Richards impression has worn a little thin on me.
I totally recognize that Depp has created an iconic film character – one that will be imitated (poorly) at Halloween parties for years to come. But that doesn’t mean I find it either as cute or charming as I once did.
Truthfully, the big draw for me is Ian McShane as Blackbeard. I’ve heard his role in the film is not pronounced, which is a shame. I mean, the man practically looks like a pirate by default. And he makes a great villain. Actually, he makes a great protagonist, too. He’s just great, okay!
Someone has got to fill the void Sean Connery left behind and I nominate McShane. Done! Written! One for the books!
The one thing the Pirates of the Caribbean movie have been exceptional about is characterization. Capt. Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, Davy Jones… even Norrington. Great characters, each.
Of course, leave Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann and Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner out of the equation – which the fourth movie thankfully does – because they bore me to tears. I’m sure they have their fans. I’m just not one of them.
The Pirates of the Caribbean movies also have great production design. Amazing richness in detail – a stylized world I can believe in, a place I want to spend two hours in.
If the Pirates of the Caribbean movies have any failing is that they tried too hard to force continuity on the audience with the last two movies. They tried so hard to manufacture an epic legend, it ended up smothering the proceedings.
Of course it didn’t help that At World’s End devolved into a swirling cauldron of nonsensical special effects at the end. You could almost see Gore Verbinski looking at the dailies near the end and saying “I don’t know what the hell is going on anymore! THROW MORE MONEY AT IT!”
To that end, I’m glad that On Stranger Tides is more of a self-contained story. My hope is that it will recapture some of the pep of the first movie because the last two were completely exhausting to sit through!
With luck, Cami and I will be able to sneak out of the house sometime this week to check things out.
What about you? Have you already seen it? Also, why hasn’t the trailer for the new Muppet movie shown up online, yet? I demand answers!
Please feel free to leave your comments below!
REASON #5: Ian McShane might drop a swear. REASON #4: Penelope Cruz in a corset. REASON #3: Kiera Knightly is not in the movie. REASON #2: Orlando Bloom is not in the movie.
And REASON #1?...
I heard the trailer for the new Muppets movie is attached to it.
Sounds like all of the right reasons to me?
Truthfully, I'm too lazy to get up and leave after the Muppet trailer!
The pirates sequels could have been great if they didn’t make two of them at once, leaving no time to finish the scripts and actually make them coherent. The Davy Jones and Chinese pirates / East India Trading Company plots could have been separate and complete by themselves.
Wow. I had completely forgotten about the Chinese pirates.
Truthfully, I probably haven’t watched At World’s End since I bought in on DVD a few years ago.
It might be fun to sit down and watch a marathon – if for no other reason than to try and digest all of the action on a smaller screen. I know I was having a hard time keeping up when we saw it in theaters.
For me the big draw of Pirates was always the early-18th century setting and the uniforms that came with such a thing.
Pirates 4 delivered the best dose of said setting yet, so I left happy.
It also made a good contrast / what-have-you from a Hornblower marathon the previous night with some friends.
…
The sun never sets on the British Empire!
I’m one of the few who truly enjoyed the second and third movies. Granted, they were much more serious and dark than the first, and I’ll even concede that they might have been a bit bloated with content. But I saw both in the theater and I wasn’t disappointed in the least. I’m really interested to see how the 4th movie is handled and where it fits in on the spectrum.
I liked the second movie a lot. Lots of great action pieces in that film and Bill Nighy created a character that lived beyond the digital wizardary that brought Davy Jones to life. One of the best screen villains of the last 15 years, easily.
I enjoyed the first Pirates much more than I expected to. I also greatly enjoyed the second, but the problem was: it was a great first half of a movie. And the third movie delivered not a resolution but a mishmash of unrelated ridiculous crap.
Sometime back in 2005, anticipating the release of Pirates 2, I had a dream about reading a short story anthology that was basically an episodic collection of Jack Sparrow’s bizarre adventures. When I heard that the plot of Pirates 4 was basically going to be a standalone Jack adventure, I said to myself: yes. They have got it right.
A large part of the success of Pirates 1 was Jack’s character, so I think a movie that lets Jack be Jack in the midst of Age-of-Exploration mystical pirate weirdness has got the right idea. Jack’s a great character; he’s outrageously entertaining, and you never know when he’ll actually do the right thing. Hopefully they pulled the flick off right this time. Pirates 3 was really a buzzkill for me on the franchise, but with this new installment I’m cautiously optimistic. Probably gonna catch it next weekend.
I did make a brief comment about this on the last comic but I’ll extrapolate a little more.
Myself, Mrs. Pkmn and my sister went to see Pirates 4 a few days ago and we really enjoyed it. Here be spoilers.
I’ve always liked Barbossa’s character and his friendship/rivalry with Jack. The backstory between him and Blackbeard/losing the Pearl could have been shown on-screen a little I felt, but apart from that I don’t think there’s much else doing with his character now.
I really did think Gibbs’d hang during the scene and that would have been symbolic to me as starting a new “series” if needed.
My one major complaint is that the rest of the characters names are just so forgettable. There’s the clergyman that loves the mermaid, and then Jack’s friend on Blackbeard’s ship and more forgettable folk.
More thoughts later maybe.
Jack Sparrow is one of the most annoying characters in cinematic history. The only reason I will see Pirates 4 is if it’s at the Drive In with a must-see movie. Johnny Depp overacts every part of the roll and it grates on me. I have the same feeling for Depp that I have for Will Ferrell, the less the better.
With all due respect, Herbert, I hope the “must-see” movie attached at your drive in isn’t the same playing with Pirates at mine – Prom.
I really liked the fun of the new Pirates movie. It had a plot and it was complex but not convoluted. It had action with was swashbuckly but not blurry. (see it in 2D not 3D as the movie is not shot for the 3D format and certain pans would just be blurry). Overall a very fun movie. The characters are still enchanting.
The Muppet Movie trailer is not much really but it is pretty cute. I did not realize it was a trailer for the Muppet Movie at first so they play around a little bit and then hit you with the muppets. Very charming but I have no idea what the movie will be about. does not matter. It looks like it will be charming.
I enjoyed this flick more than the previous 2 Pirate movies, but I thought the love story between the young attractive priest and the mermaid was unnecessary.
Some of the best characters are the little side love story but they don’t get enough screen time. Probably trying to avoid a repeat of Kiera and Orlando. I do have to say though, the little scene after the credits is NOT worth the wait. Just google it after the movie. It’ll take less time and you can be just as disappointed in the comfort of your own home.
Pirates 4 was fun, and I found myself enjoying it more than the last one as it was much less convoluted. However, as previously mentioned most of the new characters were forgettable – I had to check the credits because I couldn’t remember anyone’s names even right after the movie ended. The “love” story sideplot was extremely shallow; whether or not you’re fans of Will and Elizabeth, at least their relationship was a more epic, believable romance than the cleric becoming infatuated with the beautiful mermaid he just met.
Jack is a great character to bounce others off of; I think the best format for future Pirates movies would be to follow the Indiana Jones formula of serial adventures largely unrelated to each other aside from a few central characters.
You asked for this: http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-muppets,56483/
(It’s the trailer)
Muppets! But I have already watched the trailer..so..probably no Pirates for me.
The Muppets trailer is online. This has to be possibly THE best movie trailer EVER! 😀 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CloKbXtD28
Meh, it’s an ok film. Kinda wierd to see Lovejoy trying to be a pirate….
Spelled Keira wrong in the comic.
Damn. You’re right. And I Googled it and everything!
I’ll have to fix that later. Thanks.
I love how you’re drawing Tom’s hair now! It’s so stylized, but also completely recognizeable!
Also, the only Pirates movie I ever saw was a bootleg of the first one in someone’s dorm room, with the audio and video out of sync by a couple seconds. Between that and the horrible picture quality and small laptop screen, I still have no freakin clue what it’s about.
One more thought: since they’ve spun them both off into their own movies, how long until a Wolverine/Cap’n Jack Sparrow team-up?
Really on the hair? I feel like I’ve been drawing it the same for a while now?
But thanks!
Try reading Tim Powers’ book ‘On Stranger Tides’, on which this film is based: much weirder, darker and better. In fact, go and read all of Powers’ books, they’re bloody great.