As shocking as it is, I have never reviewed any of the films apart from the first and fifth ones. So let's review films three to four today. Now as we all know,
Pirates of the Caribbean is Disney's most successful franchise to be loosely based on one of their own theme park rides. Pretty much any other franchise based on a ride has failed compared to this. I have always seen the first three films as the best of the franchise for a number of reasons while the later films are considered pretty rubbish because they are trying to give us a good film. But we all know those later films only exist to please fans of Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp in all films) and just try to find something to do with pirates so that they can make a story out of it and failing spectacularly. So with all that said, grab your rum, bury your treasure and all the rest of it as we look at the middle set of films in this franchise:
Dead Man's Chest
So the film begins with Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom in all but one of the films) and Elizabeth Swann (played by Keria Knightly in all but one of the films) about to wed, before being arrested by Lord Cutler Beckett (played by Tom Hollander in two of the films), chairman of the East India Trading Company. He also wants to arrest James Norrington (played by Jack Davenport in three of the films) all for their parts in allowing Captain Jack Sparrow to escape custody. With Norrington having disappeared due to losing a ship in a hurricane while pursuing Jack, Beckett gives Will the job of finding Jack's magic compass in exchange for his and Elizabeth's freedom. But with Jack being hunted down not by the trading company, but by a being known as Davy Jones (played by Bill Nighy in two (or possibly three) of the films), our heroes are in for one heck of an adventure. While not as good as the first one,
Dead Man's Chest gives us a much darker story focused on myths and legends all the while giving a face to the formerly unseen Davy Jones who is quite possibly one of the best villains of the series next to Captain Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush in all films). Its fun when it needs to be, has some pretty mad moments and is good fun even with a pretty depressing ending when one of the main characters gets consumed. 8/10
At World's End
So the East India Trading Company and Davy Jones have united and go about conquering the oceans and wiping out all pirates that they face. In a desperate attempt to prevent the extinction of all pirates, our heroes set out to free Captain Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl from Davy Jones' locker and unite with the pirate lords to take down their enemies. During this we learn the fates of the conflicted minds of James Norrington, Elizabeth's father and governor of Port Royal Weatherby Swann (played by Jonathan Pryce in the first three films) and a member of Davy Jones' crew and Will's father Bootstrap Bill Turner (played by Stellan John Skarsgård in two of the films). Plus we learn that Tia Dalma (played by Naomi Harris in two of the films) may not be quite what she seems to be. The story in this one is confusing, but manages to get discussions going as the film goes on. The film has the best visuals of the series so far with a lot of crazy and epic moments and some great performances from the main cast too. I guess it just gets to complicated when the story becomes confusing and you get too many new characters (i.e. the pirate lords) introduced that it then becomes the
X-Men: The Last Stand of the franchise. But otherwise, its a decent film that is worthy of being watched over and over again. 8/10
On Stranger Tides
While causing havoc in London, Captain Jack Sparrow finds his old first mate Joshamee Gibbs (played by Kevin McNally in all films) and finds himself caught in a race to find the Fountain of Youth. With the British Navy led by now Privateer Barbossa and the Spanish Navy hot on its trail, Jack eventually winds up being part of the crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge led by Captain Blackbeard (played by Ian McShane only in this film) who is also seeking the fountain and it soon becomes a race to see who finds it and who gets to use its power. I guess where the decline in quality falls is the fact that the film makers just want more money and don't really care about the story or its characters and just want to do something that's to do with pirates. But despite this, there is some good things about this film. Depp remains to be the best thing of the film as do the action scenes, music and visuals. Its also a lot shorter than previous films which I guess makes sense because some of us like to have films that actually fill up its run time with something meaningful over just sitting for long periods of time in a tower block seen in any of the
Transformers films by one Michael Bay. Anyway going back to this film, its not great, but it has some good things about it. 8/10
So there you go. While the first three sequels slowly decline the quality in the franchise, they have some good things going for them. I still say that the first three are always going to be the best ones and I guess the later sequels have some good things, but ultimately only exist for money and because there is a lot you can do with pirates, but not a lot you can do to make up a good story with the pirate things. 8/10
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