You can ask pretty much anyone that knows me how I feel about the Pirates franchise. They will quickly tell you that I am not a big fan of the overall series of films. Why? Because they started out with a pretty solid movie with The Curse of the Black Pearl but was turning out trash by the end of At Worlds End. This is the biggest problem I have with a franchise. They keep going past their prime and ultimately ruin any of the positive memories that you had of the original release. The original Superman franchise is the best (and most personally painful) representation of this point. They made the superhero film genre a serious subject, but by the time Superman 4: A Quest for Peace came out, the series had been reduced to a joke and NO ONE cared about the punch line.
We, once again, find ourselves following the wayward Captain Jack Sparrow on another adventure in this latest Pirates film. Jack, after refusing to help the English Navy (led by Barbossa from the previous films) beat the Spanish Navy in a race to find the legendary Fountain of Youth, wakes to find himself a prisoner on a ship that is at sea. When an old flame, Angelica, tells Jack that she is in search of the Fountain as well, Jack scoffs. That scoff quickly turns to intrigue when Jack learns that Angelica’s father is the famous pirate Blackbeard. Jack must fight his way through armies, zombies and mermaids in his race to the Fountain.
This movie is fun. It’s not something that you are going to remember as being one of the best movies you ever watched, but it is a great break from the normalcy of your work week. It also proves that someone can successfully be a one trick pony…especially if they are really good at that one trick. Whereas the last two Pirate movies felt over the top, stale, and boring, this one seems to have corrected the sluggish areas and keeps the story moving at a nice pace.
Worth the admission? Aye (yes). Lots of fun and lots of action. Make sure to see it!
No comments:
Post a Comment