Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

It's as if someone has fixed your once-upon-a-time favorite theme park attraction for the fourth time. You’ll be entertained by old friends, at times you will be delighted by new ones, your eye will get tired of the effects, your ear will endure the moments when someone speaks and somehow you will partly laugh through it, and partly suffer through it to the end. The most significant feeling it will leave in you after you get out is that you were quite bored. PS: Half a day after watching it, all I remember is the raucous music, the perpetually drunk Depp, and Penelope’s cleavage. An elegant quarter-billion-dollar experience. (21/09/2011)

The first part of the Pirates series that managed without pathos. Liberated from the original trilogy, the fourth part offers a new adventure, new stories, new locations, and thanks to Penélope Cruz, it's finally a feast for the eyes (and ears, because she uses her Spanish accent). The previous films were just effectively assembled grand images, whereas this was finally a pleasant and entertaining spectacle. (21/11/2022)

I really didn't expect such a bad outcome. An incredibly clichéd film where nothing really works. The action is dull and unremarkable, the actors are average, the editing is boring and meaningless, the plot is the overused cliché of “we form a team – sail towards the goal – we win or lose”. I don't even have to mention how these PG13 pirates look. The only thing worth watching is Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz. Now, asking 50 million for the main role also requires balls of iron. Rob Marshall is not a director for adventurous action films. Pirates # 4 is a huge piece of shit, and it's also overpriced and unnecessary. A purely money-driven film without a drop of love for the craft. (05/06/2011)

Given the barely palpable aura of unsuccessful sequels that unfairly burdened the second and third installments, a change on multiple fronts was probably the only solution. Gone is the escalating complexity of various intrigues or last-minute pulling of key characters out of the hat. And although I have always enjoyed this approach, I must admit that returning to a classic pirate escapade where Jack Sparrow mainly pulls the strings in key moments, is an idea worth all the money. Rob Marshall's academic pedigree successfully builds upon Gore Verbinski's legacy. (21/09/2011)

This time the Pirates played the same trumps as once upon a time in part one, i.e. on the purely adventurous tone of the quest for treasure, instead of attempts at mythology or epicness. And it darn worked, even though it’s not so great. To hit the jackpot they needed someone in the director’s chair who can handle dynamic action and comedy timing and who knows how to present everything he has at his disposal. No blockbuster, but no disappointment; just perhaps the absence of chemistry (with one exception) between Depp and Penelope. (20/05/2011)