“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES” (2011)

It is a 2011 American fantasy swashbuckler film, the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and a standalone sequel to At World's End (2007). It is the first film in the series not to be directed by Gore Verbinski, replaced by Rob Marshall. Jerry Bruckheimer again served as producer. In the film, which draws its plot loosely from the 1987 novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is joined by Angelica (Penélope Cruz) in his search for the Fountain of Youth, confronting the infamous pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane). The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and released in the United States on May 20, 2011. It was the first film in the series to be released in the Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D formats.

Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio first learned of Powers's novel On Stranger Tides during the back-to-back production of Dead Man's Chest (2006) (it has a post in the blog)and At World's End, and considered it a good starting point for a new film in the series. Pre-production started after the end of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, with Depp collaborating with the writers on the story design. Principal photography lasted for 106 days between June and November 2010, with locations in Hawaii, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and California. Filming employed 3D cameras similar to those used in the production of the 2009 film Avatar, and ten companies were involved with the film's visual effects. Following inflated production costs which ballooned the net budget to $379 million, the film currently ranks as the most expensive film ever made.

On Stranger Tides broke many box office records and was the third highest-grossing film of 2011. It is the 38th highest-grossing film of all time worldwide when not adjusting for inflation. Reviews were mixed, with criticism for its plot, screenplay, direction, excessiveness, and lack of originality, but general praise for the acting, action sequences, musical score, visuals, and the shorter runtime. A fifth film, titled Dead Men Tell No Tales, was released in May 2017, and a sixth film is in development.

Plot[edit]

After a failed attempt to rescue his first mate, Joshamee Gibbs, in London, Captain Jack Sparrow is brought before King George II. The king wants Jack to guide an expedition to the Fountain of Youth before King Ferdinand and the Spanish Navy can locate it. Jack's old nemesis, Captain Hector Barbossa, now a privateer in service to the British Navy after losing his leg and ship, the Black Pearl, which he says was sunk, is heading the expedition.

Jack refuses the offer and escapes. He meets up with his father, Captain Teague, who warns Jack about the Fountain of Youth's rituals. Jack learns someone is impersonating him to recruit a crew to find the Fountain. The impostor is Angelica, Jack's former lover, and the daughter of the ruthless pirate Blackbeard, who practices voodoo magic and wields the mythical "Sword of Triton" that controls his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. While Jack is shanghaied aboard Blackbeard's ship, Gibbs escapes execution by memorizing and destroying Jack's map showing the Fountain's location, forcing Barbossa to take him along.

Meanwhile, after a failed mutiny aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, Jack is forced to guide the crew to the Fountain. Blackbeard seeks the Fountain's power to circumvent his predestined fatal encounter with a "one-legged man", who happened to be Barbossa. Jack must find two silver chalices aboard Juan Ponce de León's missing flagship, the Santiago. The Fountain's water must simultaneously be drunk by two people from the chalices. Drinking from one chalice containing a mermaid's tear will extend life; the second person dies, their remaining years of life transferred to the other drinker. Jack also discovers that the Black Pearl was captured and shrunk before being added to Blackbeard's collection of other shrunken ships in bottles.

The Queen Anne's Revenge heads for Whitecap Bay to find and harvest mermaid tears. After managing to lure in a mermaid named Tamara, she summons other mermaids to attack the crew before Jack causes an explosion that scares them away. A mermaid named Syrena (who, unlike the others, is not savage) is caught: then Philip Swift, a captive missionary, falls in love with her. Reaching Ponce de León's ship on an uncharted island, Angelica and Blackbeard coerce Jack into retrieving both chalices. Jack locates the grounded, decaying vessel, only to find Barbossa there. Both guess that the Spanish have taken the chalices, after they are nowhere to be found on the vessel.

Jack and Barbossa team up to sneak into the Spanish camp and steal the chalices. Barbossa reveals he only wants revenge against Blackbeard for attacking the Black Pearl, and his leg being amputated. Jack and Barbossa escape with the chalices. Meanwhile, Syrena, reciprocating Philip's love, is tricked into shedding a tear. Blackbeard collects it, leaving her to die of dehydration while Philip is forced to go with them. Jack returns with the chalices and bargains with Blackbeard for Angelica's safety, Jack's confiscated magical compass (which they took from him before sending him to get the chalices), and Gibbs' release. In return, Jack vows to give Blackbeard the chalices and lead him to the Fountain; Blackbeard agrees, and Gibbs is set free with the compass.

At the Fountain, Blackbeard's crew is confronted by Barbossa and his men and they battle while Barbossa and Blackbeard fight. The Spanish suddenly arrive, intending to destroy the Fountain, believing its power an abomination against God. They crush the chalices and throw them in the swamp. When Barbossa stabs Blackbeard with a poisoned sword, Angelica pulls it out and is cut and poisoned. Jack notices Angelica is poisoned and begins frantically searching the swamp for the chalices. Barbossa obtains Blackbeard's magic sword and gains control of the Queen Anne's Revenge and her crew. Despite resistance from Blackbeard's crew, the Spanish successfully pull down a pillar, crushing the Fountain of Youth. The Spanish army leaves once the fountain is in ruins. Philip is mortally wounded, but he returns to free Syrena. She helps Jack retrieve the missing chalices and gives them to him, telling him not to waste her tear. Syrena goes back to the dying Philip. She says she can save him if he asks her to. When he asks for her forgiveness, she kisses him and takes him underwater.

With Blackbeard and Angelica both nearing death, Jack retrieves the last remaining drops of water from the destroyed fountain and puts the tear in one of them. Knowing that one of them must be sacrificed, he wants Angelica to drink from the chalice containing the tear. Instead, Blackbeard drinks it, asking his daughter to save him. Angelica agrees and drinks from the second chalice. Jack is upset to lose Angelica, but reveals that he made a mistake about which chalice contained the tear. Neither of the two are happy, and they both believe Jack deliberately tricked them. Angelica's wounds are healed as the Fountain fatally consumes Blackbeard's body, killing him.

Eventually, Jack and Angelica admit their love for each other, yet he distrusts her intentions (aware that she may try to avenge her father) and strands her on a cay. Now wielding Blackbeard's magical sword, Barbossa captains the Queen Anne's Revenge and returns to piracy. Jack finds Gibbs, who had used the compass to locate the Revenge. He reclaims the shrunken Black Pearl and the other conquered ships in bottles, carrying them in a gunny sack. The two leave, hoping to revert the Black Pearl to its original size and continue living the pirates' life.

In a post-credits scene, a voodoo doll of Jack crafted by Blackbeard washes ashore and is found by Angelica, who then smiles.

Cast[edit]

Main articles: List of Pirates of the Caribbean cast members and characters

·                 Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: Former captain of the Black Pearl.

·                 Penélope Cruz as Angelica: Jack's former love interest, and daughter of Blackbeard.

·                 Ian McShane as Blackbeard: Legendary pirate, and captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

·                 Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa: Jack's former-rival-turned-ally, and former captain of the Black Pearl.

·                 Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs: Jack's friend, and former first mate.

·                 Sam Claflin as Philip Swift: A missionary, kept prisoner aboard Blackbeard's ship.

·                 Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as Syrena: A mermaid captured by Blackbeard, and love interest of Swift.

·                 Stephen Graham as Scrum: A self-serving member of Blackbeard's crew.

·                 Richard Griffiths as King George II

·                 Greg Ellis as Lt. Cmdr. Theodore Groves: Barbossa's second-in-command, former second-in-command of Cutler Beckett and James Norrington's crew.

·                 Óscar Jaenada as The Spaniard: King Ferdinand's most trusted agent.

·                 Keith Richards as Captain Edward Teague: Jack Sparrow's father.

Music[edit]

Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (soundtrack)

The film's score was written by Hans Zimmer, who had worked in all of the previous entries in the franchise; being the main composer for the second and third installments.^[63] Zimmer said that he tried to incorporate a rock n' roll sound, as he felt "pirates were the rock 'n' rollers of many, many years ago",^[64] and Spanish elements, which led to a collaboration with Mexican guitarists Rodrigo y Gabriela and a tango song written by Penélope Cruz's brother Eduardo.^[65] American composer Eric Whitacre contributed several choir-based cues,^[65][66] as well as regular assistant Geoff Zanelli.^[63]

Critical response[edit]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 33% based on 259 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's shorter and leaner than the previous sequel, but this Pirates runs aground on a disjointed plot and a non-stop barrage of noisy action sequences."^[156] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, gives the film an average score of 45 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[157] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B+" on an A+ to F scale.^[80]

Roger Ebert gave On Stranger Tides two out of four stars, saying that although the removal of Knightley and Bloom as well as the addition of Cruz were positive aspects, the film in general was "too much of a muchness" for him.^[158] Tom Long of The Detroit News gave a D+, saying that Jack Sparrow had "worn out his welcome". Despite the more linear plot, "the movie is still ridiculous". He found On Stranger Tides to be "precisely what you'd expect of the fourth installment of a movie based on an amusement park ride: a whole lot of noise, plenty of stunts and complete silliness."^[159] British film critic Mark Kermode gave the film an overwhelmingly negative review on his 5 Live show, saying "it's not as staggeringly misjudged as the third part, because it is just nothing, it is just a big empty nothing, whereas part three I think was an active atrocity, it's just nothing at all".^[160]

As with the previous films, the plot was criticized as incoherent and confusing. The Arizona Republic critic Bill Goodykoontz rated the film two out of five, stating that "the movie is a series of distractions tossed together in the hopes that they will come together in a coherent story. That never really happens."^[161] Online reviewer James Berardinelli considered the script "little more than a clothesline from which to dangle all of the obligatory set pieces",^[162] and USA Today's Claudia Puig found On Stranger Tides "familiar and predictable...often incoherent and crammed with pointless details."^[163]

Mike Scott from The Times-Picayune mentions that "while this latest chapter isn't quite sharp enough to restore the sense of discovery that made that first outing so darn exciting, it's enough to make up for most of the missteps that made the third one so darn arrgh-inducing."^[164] Writing for The A.V. Club, Tasha Robinson described On Stranger Tides as "a smaller film than past installments, by design and necessity", and felt that "the series has needed this streamlining" as the film "feels lightweight, but that's still better than bloated."^[165]

On Stranger Tides also had positive reviews; some critics found the film to be entertaining and well-made. Richard Roeper gave the film a B+, describing it as "the most fun installment since the first", calling the story "pure cartoon, but a lot easier to follow than the other sequels", and summing as "the franchise is getting tired, but Penelope energizes it."^[166] Along the same lines, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post gave the film three out of four stars, writing that it "feels as fresh and bracingly exhilarating as the day Jack Sparrow first swashed his buckle, infusing new reckless energy into a franchise that shows no signs of furling its sails". She said that Marshall "swiftly and without fuss delivers the action set pieces and eye-popping escapism" and praised Depp, Cruz, and McShane's performances.^[167] Ray Bennett from The Hollywood Reporter considered that Marshall "shows terrific flair with all the usual chases and sword fights, and he handles the 3D well", and welcomed Penélope Cruz's character, saying she "brings her Oscar-winning vivacity" and had "lively sexual tension" with Depp.^[168] Writing for The Globe and Mail, Rick Groen found the action scenes to range from "merely competent to tritely cluttered", but he was pleased with the overall result, calling McShane a "fresh villain" whose "stentorian tones are welcome anywhere".^[169] Variety's Andrew Barker considered the film derivative, but accessible. "It has nary an original idea and still doesn't make much sense, but it's lost all pretensions that it should". He praised Geoffrey Rush, stating that he "not only gets the funniest lines and reaction shots, but also starts to siphon away much of the roguish charm that used to be Depp's stock and trade."^[167]

Accolades[edit]

See also: List of accolades received by the Pirates of the Caribbean film series

The film was nominated for four Teen Choice Awards: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Actor, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Actress, and Villain.^[170] Its trailer and TV spot were nominated for Golden Trailer Awards.^[171] The film won Best Movie for Mature Audiences Award at the 2012 Movieguide Awards.^[172]