New Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Stolen Treasure

In spite of my better judgement, or maybe even because of it, I have always found some portion of enjoyment in all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The first one is without a doubt the best, and I even say that between Johnny Depp’s three Oscar nominations, that is the film he should have won for. The two succeeding sequels are of lesser quality, obviously, with the second being overstuffed with action and the third being overly-complicated with endless plot. However, I’ve enjoyed pretty much all of the films with varying degrees. I can’t quite go that far with this film, which redeems itself with a streamlined plot but still indulges in numbing action.

As we all know, this is the fourth film in the surprisingly successful Disney franchise that’s inspired be a theme park ride, before that notion was commonplace. Depp is back once again in the role of the notorious and flamboyant Captain Jack Sparrow and he’s on the search for the Fountain of Youth. But we need people to contest his search, and among them are the returning Geoffrey Rush as Barbosa, now inducted into the British Navy, Ian McShane as the notorious Blackbeard, Penélope Cruz as Blackbeard’s daughter and old flame of Captain Jack, and the entire Spanish armada. It’s a crowded field indeed.

Say what you will about the Pirates sequels, but I think the reason they stayed afloat was because of the direction of Gore Verbinski. He knew how to juggle the massive storylines as well as craft some interesting notions out of the gigantic action spectacles. Rob Marshall might be a more honored filmmaker because of his directorial debut, but it’s abundantly clear that the goodwill from Chicago is all but gone. To be fair, his flashy musical tendencies can make for some interesting action scenes, but his touches feel lightly peppered in, and a lot of it becomes dull. He’s also another filmmaker who can’t optimize 3D at all, and despite starting off the film on a high note with a nicely staged breakout scene with Sparrow, it’s a series of diminishing returns with his direction combined with an even more useless script.

Sparrow has been reduced to nothing more than a paycheck for Depp at this point, so in trying to judge his performance, it’s nowhere near as fun as it was or ever will be. At this point, I just hope Depp can turn down some of his theatrics that went out of control in the last sequels, and to his credit he does. Still, I’m not every to get as much enjoyment out of Depp in these movies like I did from the first one. People like Cruz, McShane and Rush are scenery that aren’t worthy of anything in this film. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly have been replaced by Sam Claflin as a captured missionary and Astrid Berges-Frisbey as the mermaid he falls in love with. The main problem here is that these characters are given hardly any backstory, making their participation feel stunted and unnecessary.

I’d definitely say that there are worse ways for you to spend your summer, but as it is now, I think there’s also better. There’s some interesting action scenes in here, and Depp isn’t quite as annoying as he used to be, but to be honest, this thing barely passes as a summer tentpole. Most of it is uninspired under the direction of Rob Marshall and it becomes rather dull and useless by the end. I have to say that this is the first Pirates film that I haven’t come to fully recommend, which is why I’ll probably be saying the same once the fifth one comes out.

C+

New Review: Thor

Hammer Time

I have to be perfectly honest and admit that even though this was the film was chosen as the official start to the summer movie blockbuster season, I wasn’t particularly looking forward it. I’m severely limited in knowledge for most comic book superheroes, and Thor is probably one of those that’s furthest from my mind. I wasn’t too familiar with Chris Hemsworth, but considering he wasn’t even able to carry the five emotional minutes at the beginning of Star Trek, I wasn’t holding out hope he could carry an entire film. Even all of trailers and clips for the film did very little to impress me. The only thing that was attracting me to the film at all was the notion of a classically trained director like Kenneth Branagh handling such action heavy material. Understandably, my expectations were considerably low. Perhaps that’s the reason why I ended up enjoying this film pretty much all the way through.

If you’re like me, and unfamiliar with the backstory of the Marvel superhero, here’s the brief rundown. It turns out that the Norse gods that were worshiped hundreds of years ago were actually just plain old folks on a distant planet, still called Asgard and still holding control over some powers on Earth. Asgard’s kingdom has beaten the Frost Giants and have taken their source of power. In the present, as Thor, played by Hemsworth, is about to succeed his father King Odin (Anthony Hopkins), there’s an attack on Asgard and he leads a party to counterattack. As punishment, Thor and his hammer are banished to Earth until he learns his lesson. It’s here where he strikes a budding romance with a scientist (Natalie Portman) and keeps bumping into those mysterious S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

As strange as it was to here the news, I think that Kenneth Branagh was a perfect choice to direct this material. I often wondered what Branagh’s Shakespearean background could bring to this material, and it pays off well, particularly in the ambitious family dynamics that happen on Asgard. There’s a serious dramatic quality that Branagh brings to the material, and it’s well felt. Branagh even handles the action sequences quite well, maybe not in any spectacular fashion, but considering that serious action is not his pedigree, I was quite impressed with it. He does have some difficulty with the romantic scenes between the Thor and his ladyfriend, and the climax does feel a bit rushed, but for the most part his direction is the saving grace of the film. The screenplay also works well with Branagh’s direction, particularly with some familiar yet still funny “fish out of water” humor. Towards the end, the script does start to have a bit more clunky lines that start to drain on the film a bit more, but it’s still a serviceable screenplay for this material.

Another saving grace for the film is Hemsworth, and I swear that I didn’t believe that I would be saying that. He actually carries the film very well, providing the source for a lot of the film’s heart and humor. He’s a quick comedian when he needs to be, and can be quite tender and emotional when those scenes call for it as well. Hemsworth is a valuable asset for the film, and it’s very entertaining to watch him. Hopkins also gives one of better performances and doesn’t use this opportunity to just stand there and cast a check. Portman is actually kind of unimpressive here, and doesn’t add anything really to the film. Her friend Kat Dennings has that quirky charm, and a lot of the other supporting cast is effective also.

Like most starts to superhero franchises, this one does come up short in some of its exposition and some of the relationships cause the film to drag in the middle and then feel rushed towards the end. However, it’s the winning combination of director Kenneth Branagh and star Chris Hemsworth that makes the film a success. Add to it a worthy supporting cast, a nice sense of humor, and a great look (which maybe has something to do with me not seeing it in 3D), I think this is a great start to the summer movie season. I can’t wait to see if the rest of the summer can be just has entertaining.

B+