(2012-04-30 18:51:06)

Better than I expected

This review is from: Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Amazon Instant Video) This sequel was much better than the previous. The plot was more interesting than the last movie. The script is a lot better as well. I was surprised to see the improvement.

(2012-04-30 04:39:58)

Not as good as I expected, but not the worst in the series

This review is from: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (DVD) When I saw that Blackbeard was going to be in this movie, I was looking forward to it (do to the fact Blackbeard is my favorite pirate). However, when I saw this movie, I noticed he was nowhere near the pirate that the REAL Blackbeard was. In fact, he was probably the weakest pirate villain in the whole series. There are funny parts in this movie, and a lot of action, but if you were wanting a great pirate villain, he's not here. I still liked the movie and if you are a big POTC fan like me, I suggest buying it.

clr03f

(2012-04-29 19:07:27)

Good! But it felt like we skipped a film?

It did feel like Stanger Tides was actually part 5, and we skipped overpart 4.First off, I'll say the film was solid. The mermaid sequences werestunning, Blackbeard was stellar in every way, and I loved the twistending with the surprise motivation of the Spanish.But as for the rushed feeling, for one, there are a number of things weare just told to accept from the beginning of the film such as Barbossahaving the peg leg and being in the British service,,,,, OK,,, perhapsnot that big of a deal, but what about this, Cruz's character has cometo accept Black Beard as her father. Fair enough, but wouldn't thathave been much more powerful if we had gotten to know each characterfirst and then in a "Luke I am your father" moment seen her learn thathe was in fact her father. Instead, we're just told that she's learnedthis and any build up to the discovery is hacked off at the knees.But more importantly perhaps was the lack of character development insome areas. Most specifically with our new priest. Why was he thereagain? It's not really clear. And for the love story between he and themermaid, which was in effect taking the place of the displaced coupleof previous films, the pair felt extremely underdeveloped.Likewise was the back story of Cruz and Depp. I mean it was there, theydid mention it, but it just didn't really resonate as significant.NOW, those two issues can be resolved by a future film, and should a5th film bulk up the characters of Cruz & the priest and theirmotivations and/or relationship with Depp, then this film will growstronger in retrospect, but as it stands now, it just felt like eitherthey were underdeveloped, or that their back story deserved more thanan "oh by the way" and perhaps should have been explored previously,before embarking on this story itself.

Jizdenky

(2012-04-29 06:31:14)

Captain Jack Sparrow Is Back With A More Exciting Adventure

Thanks to Johnny Depp, Jack Sparrow has become an international iconand he continues to draw viewers into his exciting adventures. Thefirst film that came out in 2003, brought back the genre that wasforgotten. I mean, before that, what was the last exciting adventurefilm that has voyages, pirates, treasure hunt, babe, and loads ofenergy? Perhaps 'Indiana Jones' was the last of such films.Then a couple of years later came the second 'Pirates' film which didnot live up to the first but still managed to be entertaining to anextent. The third movie was a major disappointment in comparison asthings got more absurd. As such, I wasn't expecting much from thisfilm. But then again, Jack Sparrow is such an awesome character and nowwithout the tiresome Elizabeth Swann angel perhaps this may be worth aview.After seeing it, 'Pirates of the Caribbean' is back on track. JackSparrow's new adventure is much better than the second and third movie.The pacing is a tad slow in the beginning but picks up after the firsthalf hour. The new storyline and characters fit together brilliantly.The deadly mermaid sequence was a fun addition.The special effects and art direction are good enough and thecinematography is superb. The soundtrack almost exactly the same as inthe prequels with the exception of the guitar pieces which were arefreshing change.Geoffrey Rush reprises his role, this time as Sparrow's rival Barbossa,and he is just as wickedly hilarious as he was in the first film. IanMcShane is an excellent villainous rival. Kevin McNally is amusing asthe sidekick who switches sides. Fiercely sexy Penelope Cruz is feisty,fiery and very funny. She draws more laughter than Knightley did. But,this is easily Depp's film. It is solid proof that 'Pirates of theCaribbean' is carried by Captain Jack Sparrow.If there is going to be another 'Pirates' movie (I suspect so) then Ihope it continues to be just as much enjoyable. On a last note, don'tmiss the hilarious cameo by Judi Dench.

(2012-04-28 20:30:13)

Classic Pirates and Sea Story Stuff Comes Out!

Ever since the emergence of Davey Jones in the series, I have been wondering whether the infamous Black Bear would be making an appearance in any of the series! I WAS RIGHT!One of my other thoughts was how could they show the Kraken without showing mermaids? Guess what? I WAS RIGHT AGAIN!I really believe that this movie takes nothing away from the series and is a very riveting continuation of the saga... in no way falling short to the rest of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The movie was as interesting to follow from start to finish... some points were slightly obvious, but not everything can be a mystery... you need to be guided along with the plot.Jack Sparrow continues to be the same quirky and eccentric hero (if he can be called that) that he has always been the past movies. Penelope Cruze was a good addition and she played the role well... she is rather fitting in her role, even when her character shifts gears dramatically she is able to convincingly play the two. I have no issue with a number of the old characters not showing up in this sequel as I think they have done their part and have been played out. Then there is Black Beard... Even though the actor had the face, the voice, and overall intimidating demeanour about him, I couldn't get over the fact that he was on the tubby side and HAD NO NECK!!! That was very irritating to me for some reason, not sure why.Now I have to say this because I couldn't help myself from blurting it out in during the movie and being shushed as a result... The scene where Jack ties a coconut to a rope and he rocks the palm tree and also where he swings from the palm tree using a rope to ties some villains up while he swings... WAS RIPPED OFF FROM A VERY OLD CARTOON I SAW AS A KID ABOUT THE ADVENTURES OF SINBAD AND ALI BABA!! IT HAD THE EXACT SAME MOVE IN THE EXACT SAME ORDER!!! RIPOFF!!! But, it was funny to see!Overall a movie that lives up to being an sequel in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga.Definitely worth the watch.

(2012-04-28 12:12:13)

G

This review is from: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (DVD) great item. very useful and this item is a great price. great item. very useful and this item is a great price. great item. very useful and this item is a great price.

Salma Chughtai

(2012-04-28 15:09:40)

Swashbuckling Action All The Way!

Johnny Depp returns once again as the the swashbuckling Captain JackSparrow! This time he is joined by his past love Anjelica who is playedby Penelope Cruz and together they search for the Fountain of Youth! Asexpected there is plenty of action from the start and Johnny Deppcontinues to fascinate me with his eccentric behavior and quirkyaccent. The storyline contains the usual elements of action, swordfights, romance and magic however for me, the visual effects did notamaze me as they did in the first two films.The film lasts just over 2 hours and overall it was very entertainingand for a younger crowd I am sure it was fabulous but for me it wasjust a good film.

Stuart-sidebottom

(2012-04-28 07:24:46)

On Better Tides

If in 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean 'At Worlds End' left you at your'wits end', then it's understandable that you may have reservationsabout seeing the fourth instalment of this hugely popular franchise.The aptly named 'On Stranger Tides' certainly is in uncharted waters,as this chapter is the first Pirate movie not to star Orlando Bloom andKeira Knightley and the first not to be Directed by Gore Verbinski alsoknown for directing such films as 'The Ring' and more recently;'Rango'.The film starts with Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in London on amission to save the always entertaining Gibbs (Kevin McNally) from anappointment with the gallows. Whilst there Jack crosses paths with awoman from his past (Penelope Cruz), who ends up trapping him aboardthe Queen Anne's Revenge, ship of the most feared pirate 'Blackbeard'(Ian McShane) on a quest to locate the Fountain of Youth.Unfortunately the notorious Blackbeard is very badly portrayed byMcShane with no real terror brought to the character like the previousDavy Jones; and with a 'mystic' zombie sidekick that is as pointless tothe movie as the witch in Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves; the filmshould really be walking the plank very early on.However, thanks to the star performer Johnny Depp as Captain JackSparrow, this movie is surprisingly good. Sure the movie doesn't havethe best plot compared to the first two movies, but with theintroduction of Penelope Cruz as the beautiful Angelica; Sam Claflin asPhilip the hunky clergyman; and Stephen Graham providing the comedyeffect as Scrum; this movie will have audiences won over.This movie is certainly one for all the family, and having just reacheda staggering $256 million in its opening week, this franchise willprobably return to continue another trilogy.

Murli

(2012-04-25 22:55:31)

Goes a long way to redeem At Worlds End but still needs polishing

I hardly saw any previews and so went in expecting nothing and I wasleft surprised which is good, as I was really let down by the lastpart. At Worlds End was a bloated, convoluted special effect drivenmess that had me hoping that there would be no more Pirates movies.Gore Verbinski pulled a Wachoswski brothers in destroying the goodwillthey created with the first Matrix with two very poor sequels. WhileVerbinski had a better second movie the third is very comparable toMatrix 3.The Positives: The humour is mostly back and it was funny, unlike thelame jokes from AWE.Penelope Cruz looked really amazing, till I realized later that she was7 months pregnant at the time of shooting- what a glow! She also heldup very well in her role and her comic timing was excellent. I hope shemakes it into the next movie.Less special effects and more real action. This is a huge step up fromAWE whose ending was terrible.No Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley! Yahoo! This deserves a 7 ratingjust for just positive alone! Slightly more focus on the story, even ifit is still weak compared to the first movie The negatives: The storyis still weak and not totally focused which let down the movie overallThe opening action sequence was unnecessary, dull and overly expectant.It was a copy of the action from the first movie so it was just amatter of going through the routine. Not very funny either.Sparrow being the focal point of the story was not handled well. Infact the more the story focused on Sparrow the less interesting hebecame.Blackbeard's story was very dull and for a fearsome pirate...he wasnot. Ian Mcshane didn't do the character any justice and he could havewell been left out.The movie suffers from too many plot angles still...There's Sparrow vsBarbossa, Sparrow Vs Blackbeard, Sparrow and Barbossa Vs Blackbeard,Sparrow vs Blackbeard AND the Spaniards...The plot still suffers fromthe parts 2 and 3 problems. This needs to be toned down to one or tworivalries, not the whole world vs Jack Sparrow Barbossa was notinteresting and it's time that this character is cut from the plotentirely.Gibbs's role was really reduced which is a shame because he providedplenty of good humour in the first movie and he and Sparrow shared areally good camaraderie. He needs to have a bigger role in the nextmovie.All in all it's still worth watching at the cinema. Ignore the openingand ending sequence. It's a good start to repair the damage done by AWEbut it still needs improvement. If there are still 2 more sequels tocome then they have time to get it right. So far the first movie stillranks as the best, even if orlando bloom and keira knightley are in it.

moviefan201

(2012-04-25 05:50:38)

Pirates- Ahoy, another nice addition but not the best

Pirates 4 was a good movie but not as excellent as the rest. It focusedto much on the town adventure rather than the journey. It lacked inexcitement, with little dialog to work with, the action wasn't as bigand fast paced as the other films. The missing presence of Kiera andOrlando was well noticed , but the new couple helped this but did notfully develop throughout the film as it was open-ended and leftaudiences wondering what there fate was... Johnny and Penelope did agreat job, black beard was an okay villain but lacked a menacing feelcompared to Davy Jones.. Overall a nice addition to the franchise butnot the best, 7/10

nama chakravorty

(2012-04-25 14:26:57)

Fairly Entertaining...

'Pirates Of The Carribbean: On Stranger Tides', directed by RobMarshall, is a fairly entertaining fourth installment in the Pirates ofthe Caribbean series, with a fun & effortless performance by Depp, inhis most popular character, Captain Jack Sparrow.Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, this time to search for theFountain of Youth, and is accompanied by Angelica, played by PenГѓВ©lopeCruz, legendary pirate Blackbeard, played by, Ian McShane, a youngmissionary Philip Swift, played by Sam Claflin and the beautifulmermaid Syrena, played by ГѓВЂstrid BergГѓВЁs-Frisbey.'Pirates Of The Carribbean: On Stranger Tides' has a weak first hour,but picks up gradually and redeems itself in the second hour. Thesecond hour is enjoyable, and offers a well-done climax. The 3DEffects, are good.Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's Screenplay is weak in the first hour,but picks up nicely in the second hour. Rob Marshall's direction isdecent. Cinematography is excellent. Editing is fine. Stunts arefabulous.Performance-Wise: Depp is fun and effortless as Captain Jack Sparrow,once again. His body language and comic timing are perfect. PenГѓВ©lopeCruz is satisfactory. Ian McShane is fantastic as the baddie, whileGeoffrey Rush has a blast playing Barbossa, once again. Sam Claflin andГѓВЂstrid BergГѓВЁs-Frisbey are good. Kevin McNally is passable.On the whole, Captain Jack Sparrow has still got it, but the franchisehas started to show it's age. Nonetheless, A Decent Flick.

(2012-04-25 08:20:59)

Not a bad adventure movie at all

Not a bad adventure movie at all. Moves along nicely, doesn't linger too long anywhere, and introduces some fun and interesting elements. If you can see a really good 3D presentation that isn't too dark and murky, it looks fantastic too.

(2012-04-23 01:51:18)

The 3D edition is the one with all the special features!

This review is from: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) There are already several reviews for the film itself, so I won't bother giving my two cents. If you're reading reviews for the blu-ray, I assume you're a fan of the series and are interested in what this 3D edition has to offer over the others. To put it simply, this is the one with all of the "goodies." The regular 2D blu-ray only has a few of the special features, while this 3D version comes with a bonus disc full of content that us die-hard Pirates fans were hoping for. It includes a behind-the-scenes documentary, similar to the ones made for the first three Pirates films. It also includes several featurettes that go into more detail on certain sequences, such as building the set for the epic climax of the film, or the highly technical aspects of bringing the mermaids to life. None of these features are available on the 2D blu-ray version, so even if you don't have a 3D-capable TV (I don't), I still recommend this 3D package (the 2D version is included in this package) for anyone wanting to know more about the making of this chapter of the franchise.

Manoj P

(2012-04-22 19:52:22)

Pirates of the Caribbean, with the tides

i found it more silly stupid n entertaining to begin with but theadventure with the pirates was not completely full of lies and dirt! onstranger tides, a bit of fun, not bad. sexy finish thoughthe fountain of youth is not what keeps you from dying but living eachday knowing you might die any day was the climax. mermaids, mermaidtear(very impressive, i have no idea why. is it my young age fallingfor the mermaid! cant say anything now after all.), priest falling madin love, sparrow literally ditching a woman who he has stealing rfeeling with, evil mermaids operating in darkness, a completely lostman succumbing to the prophesies above all sparrow jumping ropes,chandeliers and coconut trees and who plans to be innovative, a puppet,many lies but i find him true to something which i find hard topicture.(again i suspect there is any intended picture here, cant sayat all!) sadly i feel bad for laughing for dumb jokes n not making more sense ofthe contexts which after all might be to might not be! thats like 'liewith the truth'.thats how the movie was, goes with the tides(strange(r)).

(2012-04-22 06:20:08)

Why?

This movie was simply made for the financial aspect of motion pictures. Pirates of the Caribbean and especially Johnny Depp deserve better than this excuse of a movie. With each release the franchise has gotten steadily worse with Stranger Tides being terrible. I hope this is the last one.

(2012-04-21 19:14:36)

Great gift

This review is from: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (DVD) Gave this to a friend for a gift and she loved it. Nice that I can still find regular DVDs and not Blue Ray.

(2012-04-20 03:23:10)

Okay--But Not Up to Previous Standards

I am really unsure of how to sum up On Stranger Tides in simple words. Before I begin this review, let me state 2 things: 1. I absolutely love the first three movies, and 2. To that guy who said "the skinny girl is not in the movie", that skinny girl is named Kiera Knightley. OK, now moving on, sort of.The first three movies were good old fashioned fun that didn't take themselves too seriously. I enjoyed them all very much and have seen them numerous times. I thought Verbinski did a hell of a job, considering he was a punk rock video director before a filmmaker. When I heard a fourth movie was being made, I got super excited. However, I had a stirring feeling of disappointment when I found out Verbinski was not directing. I'm not down with Rob Marshall- I thought Chicago was overrated and Nine was a confusing and slow mess. But, it's a Pirates movie, so I figured it'd be fun.Since I'm kinda pressed for time, I will sum up what I liked and didn't like.FIrst, the cast were great as per usual. Visually it was entertaining and the movie moved along at a nice pace... for the first hour. That, and Penelope Cruz is hot!!! And she did a great job as Angelica. Blackbeard was a cool villain, and Ian McShane does a fantastic job. There's a creepy scene involving mermaids, and that got a good reaction from those at the theatre.The bad... is everything else. First off, Barbossa is in the movie for only 20 minutes. The last hour is boring, drags a lot, and that's not all- there's a MAJOR plot hole involving the fountain of youth which is really annoying. And the 3D sucked.Overall, this is not a bad movie, but the writers are running out of ideas and it's clear. PROS:-Great acting-Hans Zimmer's score rules-Nice after the credits codaCONS-Pointless characters including the mermaid and the religious dude-About 30 minutes too long-Jack thinks far too much in this film-Drags greatly in the second half

Polaris_DiB

(2012-04-19 12:11:26)

Just the type of contemporary summer blockbuster needed.

Now that graphics and interest has caught up, comic book adaptationshave become normalized, and cross-franchising doesn't seem asunexpected as it once was, feature length movies have officiallyreached the ability to become serialized--and this is a good thing. Notto say that there are not movies in the past with a nearly endless lineof sequels--horror and porn are sort of infamous for it--andfurthermore, film serials were quite common before movies expanded tomultiple reels, but nowadays we practically have franchise movies soldin narrative blocks of three. The problem is when each episode dependson each other--which is why Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 are notthat great, why Matrix 2 and 3 are not that great, and why On StrangerTides is the sequel Curse of the Black Pearl deserved. Maybe otherfranchises will also embrace general serialization as a stand-aloneinterest, maybe not. Nevertheless, On Stranger Tides should make anexample of things.It probably won't, because... people don't think about things likethis... but nevertheless, what really DO you expect from Pirates of theCaribbean? You expect Jack Sparrow, and you don't expect him to beparticularly bothered to make a point of doing specific things in a waythat garners a logical plot. For that, you need other characters withother interests to drive the story. The problem with 2 and 3 is that itwas bogged down in characters that outlived their welcome (Elizabethand Will, aka Keira Knightley and Legolas) whilst introducing a broadarray of other characters, none of which the filmmakers writers,director, or producers alike wanted to kill, dragging the story on anendless array of double-crossings until it finally just got tired andfell down like a kid spinning round and round yelling. Pirates 4 doesthe necessary and gets rid of all that crap. Now characters are indanger. Now they could possibly die. Now, when a handsome loverboyfinds his missus magical (this time a clergyman and a mermaid, heckyeah!), the movie lets them do their lover-ly thing and sinks them intothe water to be forgotten for good.This movie is the continued adventures, but in the way that anybodycould come in or out as they please. Jack gets a bit more backstory,the worldbuilding gets broader, and there are flesh eating mermaids(not necessarily far from traditional merlore, but let's keep in mindthis is the same studio that is responsible for Ariel the princess onfirst grader girls' backpacks). The only reason to see 2 and 3 would beto understand why Barbossa appears in 4--a throwback again to the factthat nobody wanted to kill anybody in the second two sequels, and infact just had to bring back basically the only dude who died in film 1!More importantly, this movie has Blackbeard. After about seven or eightlong hours combined of pirates scowling and buckles a-swashing (swashesa-buckling?) and a rather tepid Cthulhu wannabe Davey Jones followingup the at this point fully all-too-lovable Barbossa, Blackbeard fillsthe presence of the screen with some real sense of unease. This is onemaniacal pirate, whilst being cold and calculating--FINALLY! SpriteyJack has a foil! Blackbeard is everything Jack Sparrow is not--solid,burning, serious, destructive, fearful, and evil. The best part is,however, he has a relationship you can actually connect to--and its histreatment of that relationship that really shows how dangerous this guyis.Now let's get to the use of 3D. 3D technically doesn't do anythingaesthetically good depth of field couldn't do in 2D, but for what it'sworth, Rob Marshall and Dariusz Wolski don't clutter up the foregroundof vision with out-of-focus layers (in other words, the exact thingyour eyes were they on their own would focus on first, but instead stayout of focus because the camera decides) and lets the characters' facesloom in foreground, the world of fantasy and adventure in thebackground. It's a good choice, this movie is much more pleasant on theeyes in terms of stress than even Avatar, which reveals the limits of3D in almost the very first frame with that friggin' droplet hanging inthe air. And if you are the type of person to pay attention to suchthings, this movie is cut a bit slower than previous fares, probably tomake room for the 3D and the delayed reaction times to spacial cutsaudience's eyes have. It looks like Hollywood is finally learning touse its little spectacle beast correctly, finally. However, just asAvatar looks better in 2D, I wonder if Pirates 4 wouldn't seem a bitslow and laggardly in 2D. I suppose I'll find out later since Iwouldn't mind watching this one again.At any rate, this movie is pretty much just as it should be, as far asthe franchise and the technical aspects are concerned. Hopefullydiscontinuous serialization of franchises will continue to occur whilst3D filmmakers keep their frames clutter free, and maybe someday Disneywon't own a near monopoly on swashbuckling. Amen.--PolarisDiB

waynec50

(2012-04-15 20:08:33)

Weakest POTC Yet

Depp and McShane are always entertaining, but this movie isn't evenclose. Cruz is like Puss In Boots from "Shrek" in human female form.Keith Richard is ridiculous, as usual. This might be about two hoursbut feels like two years. Rush is possibly the best thing in the movie,but he's really underused. The plot concerns the Fountain of Youth andsomehow all these characters chase each other around with occasionalsword fight to relieve the tedium. The battles are well staged, but thestory is incoherent and silly. Depp gives his usual performance, givingmore to the role than it deserves, the same is true for Rush andMcShane, Cruz is blah. Worst one yet, but surely there's another comingalong.

lisamba

(2012-04-15 14:10:02)

Good movie

I took 6 teens to this movie and we all enjoyed it. I was a littleweary when they had a preacher character in it whether there was goingto be some cursing against God but it was all done in good taste. Theyhave a little voodoo in it, but not bad. And of course they haveskeletons and Zombie type of people but they just have a lot of scareson the face. This was not too scary for me(I get scared easy). Themermaids could be a little scary to kids with vampire like fangs. Thiswas a fun movie to watch and not to scary. They film part in Englandand most of it in Hawaii. I wish I knew how they did some of the trickon the screen because some are really cool.