A disk arrived in the post this morning. A steaming mug of coco on the side, I turn the Tv on and open up the disk to find Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Ooh, I liked the previous films so this one should be pretty cool right? Well, not only did it bring up odd questions such as "are mermaids just water vampires and Spiderman combined?" - they have fangs, are allergic to sunlight and can shoot out seaweed tendrils- but it was also a little difficult to follow.
"Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) crosses paths with a woman from his past (Cruz), and he's not sure if it's love - or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know who to fear more: Blackbeard or the woman from his past."
Now, from reading that I automatically think "hmm, why is Blackbeard here and who is this Angelica women?"Not knowing the legend of Blackbeard very well I thought I'd let that one slide - he is after all still an important part of pirating history.
Angelica on the other hand turns out to be an ex-Spanish nun; Sparrow corrupted her and she left the covenant to seek a life with him but turns out she left him. The next time they meet Angelica is impersonating Sparrow so get a crew together so that they can go in search of the Fountain of Youth so that she can give her father immortality.
Strangely enough Sparrow is also in London at the same time and finds out about his identity theft and goes to find out who it is and in the mean time he insults the King and finds out that Barbossa is in the King's Navy (why he went there I'll never know).
Barbosa realizes that Sparrow is headed for the Fountain of Youth with Blackbeard and sets sail to follow them but not for the water. Turns out Blackbeard put the Black Pearl in a bottle - I know weird right? - and Barbossa wants revenge and his ship back.
There is finally one other party to join the convoy: the Spanish. The Spanish are rivals of the British so naturally have to get there first; they were tipped of by some guy who was pulled out of the ocean by a fishing boat - again I have know idea who he was or what he was doing there in the first place.
As I'm watching the movie - sipping on my coco - I realize that there are people missing. Where are Will and Elizabeth? Has Stranger Tides just become a spin off for Sparrow? Hmm, I wonder if there will be a sequel explaining why and how Barbossa (a wanted pirate) got into the King's Navy.
Stranger Tides does keep up it's tradition of brilliant fight scenes and especially Sparrow's spectacular over-the-top escape plans. The characters do have some great interaction and yet it wasn't quite the same without Will and Elizabeth. As for the plot having those three sets of characters to keep up with, especially when they swap sides - Mr Gibbs was originally helping Barbossa but teams up with Sparrow when they finally meet -, is difficult to keep up with.
Overall I would say it was an Ok movie, it worked fairly well as a spin off for Sparrow but it feels somewhat diluted from the rest of the POTC series.
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