The following text will likely contain spoilers.
Pirates of the Caribbean is a series that I have had a lot of respect for since its inception. While the movies at heart are action/adventure films, they're among my favorite of the genre. Featuring entertaining characters, well-placed humour, and plots that actually had me constantly guessing what came next due to all the backstabs and deals being made, they entertained me both viscerally and mentally.
The conclusion of the Trilogy was also quite impressive, both because Disney actually released a film that did not have a happy ending for really any of the characters, and because it still managed to wrap up pretty much all the loose threads in the story.
And yeah sure, at the end of the third movie we see Jack sailing off in a small rowboat trying to figure out the map to the fountain of youth. It felt entirely necessary to establish that what Jack was hadn't changed, that despite all the setbacks and losses, he would continue to be Jack Sparrrow, ever seeking the next treasure. Sure, it could easily be a set up to a sequel; but how could they really go on?
A few years later, Pirates 4 was announced. I can't really claim to have been surprised, but I hoped that the gap in time meant that a great script had arisen that was worthy of the series. A script that would surround Jack with enough interesting characters the lack of the dynamic added by Will and Elizabeth would not feel like a gaping hole in the movie.
Pirates 4 is the first to featured 3D, and due to the time we arrived at the theatre we ended up seeing it in the IMAX. The 3D was actually used rather well, I would say - instead of being used to make you jump when something flies towards you, it made the hectic busy-ness of a lot of the London scenes feel more manageable, made the wide open shots of the open sea and the islands feel more magnificent.
The plot starts off strongly, as we are re-introduced to the three crew members who have returned from the original trilogy: Jack Sparrow (pardon me, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow), Barbossa, and Gibbs.
We are soon introduced to the few new major characters, Angelica (whom Jack knows from his past), Philip (a priest she has rescued) and Blackbeard.
Unfortunately, none of the side characters are quite as strong as the old ones (where are the blundering English guards?), Gibbs is absent through the majority of the film, and the new characters are frighteningly shallow. Angelica is obsessed with saving her fathers soul; Blackbeard wants to reach the fountain of youth; and Philip wants ... okay, nobody knows what Philip actually wants, he's just kind of along for the ride. (And while Philip does reach peace at the end, the struggle he was apparently undergoing was never introduced until about 30 seconds before he finds said peace).
In essence the movie is a race to the Fountain of Youth between the three factions, with those introduced at the beginning (The Spanish) having almost nothing to do with the plot until the great climax (at which point even then their involvement is pretty limited). There is very little allegiance swapping and very little deal making. The plot marches inexorably forward towards the sadly predictable conclusion.
The action scenes suffer due to the lack of interesting characters. In the first three, it was always amusing to see the side characters joining the fray, and you always got a few tension-relieving laughs when they did something silly. Plot occasionally even moved forward, as characters met, interacted, and even switched sides mid-fight. In this movie, the action scenes seem to happen as if by rote - okay it's been half an hour, make Jack flee in a coal cart. And ... next scene.
The saddest nail in the coffin of this movie is the lack of proper motivation for even our old characters! Nobody knows what Jack is actually after; he manipulates people (almost always unsuccessfully) and lies, but unlike in the previous movies we have no thought that there is some goal he is trying to attain, some set of circumstances that will put him in a situation to succeed. Barbossa himself lacks a strong motivation; I hardly feel that revenge is enough for this pirate who, in the past, has revealed himself to be cunning and measured where Jack was sporadic and manipulative.
Blackbeard himself fails as a villain; he is so brutally narcissistic and evil that there is no sympathy for him. He has no interesting back story like Barbossa, does not represent a dissenting viewpoint like the East Indian Company, and is not at heart a hurt romantic with a challenging duty like Davy Jones. He is just self-serving and powerful, with no care for the lives of others (although this does nicely cover up his lack of presence at the pirates council in the original Trilogy).
All this being said, while watching the movie I was entertained from beginning to end. The action sequences were fun, Jack Sparrow is as usual always a pleasure to watch, and it was only really in the final minutes that how flat a lot of the elements of the plot were actually sunk in. On the surface level, this movie contains all the seafaring adventures we have come to expect of the Pirates series, it contains the large cast and the multifaceted plot, it contains the beautiful scenery and the wonderful mythology. It simply lacks the lasting emotional attachment and the twisting plot lines that made the original trilogy so thrilling, and after leaving the theatre, one will find themselves largely unmoved.
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