PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides stars Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Claflin, and Astrid Berges-Frisbey. Directed by Rob Marshall. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 2 hours and 17 minutes. In case you lost count this is indeed the fourth installment in the franchise.

Plot: When Jack Sparrow crosses paths with the enigmatic Angelica (Penelope Cruz), 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 legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know whom to fear more: Blackbeard or Angelica, with whom he shares a mysterious past.

Yep thats right folks here is another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Shocker huh? Yeah no not really, especially with the popular Johnny Depp back in his most beloved role, Captain Jack Sparrow. In Pirates 1 (sorry I don't feel like typing out the long subtitles of each movie) Depp created a true character that really came to life and whom everyone adores. He was very good and just created this persona that skyrocketed to the top of pop culture. Over the next two sequels Depp is pretty much doing the same thing over and over, which wasn't bad because he was a joy to watch and really brought the character to life. You really feel like you are a watching a drunken pirate from the 18th century. So I hate to say it but this fourth time seeing this character made Depp's schtick pretty old. Jack Sparrow was a joy to watch in the earlier films ( 1 and 2, but not 3 because that movie was complete crap) but the fourth time isn't a charm and thanks to Disney, it's pretty tiring.

As for the rest of the movie, it is certainly not as bad as the third installment but I was still disappointed. Look I wanted to see this movie for some cool sword fights and some big high seas action. But to my horror out of the 2 hours and 17 minutes of the film I'd say there was about 35 minutes of action. So that leaves 1 hour and 42 minutes of the Jack Sparrow schtick and a lot of pirate banter. Im just confused as to how people can call this an action movie. Throughout the movie I found myself bored because there was way to much talking and not enough action. Though I did find the mermaid scenes entertaining and exciting.

The plot is pretty silly and basically is a bunch of pirates trekking the seas looking for the fountain of youth. Throw in some decent action scenes and way to much pirates standing around talking and you get an uneven, unsatisfying "action" adventure movie. I thought that Ian McShane (who plays the main bad guy) was not the slightest bit scary or threatening. Definitely nowhere near the first films villain Capt. Barbossa. Speaking of him Geoffrey Rush is back as Barbossa but in a very limited role. It's to bad too because he is a very fine actor and he plays Barbossa as kind of a menacing, sarcastic pirate who plays off of Jack Sparrow nicely. Penelope Cruz is new to the franchise and adds absolutely nothing except for some cleavage (not complaining there).

Unfortunately there will probably be a fifth pirates movie in the near future. You can definitely count me out on that one. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has definitely been milked dry by DIsney. Pirates 1 and 2 were pretty good movies and very entertaining. The third movie was complete crap due to a bloated running time and way too many plot points. At least Pirates 4 was a little bit better but still disappointing. Teenage girls everywhere will probably want to kill me after saying this but Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow is pretty much a bore now and its almost as if his performance in this one was phoned in. Thanks to Disney for beating another franchise into the ground.

C-