elbes

After watching "On Stranger Tides" as far as I'm concerned, Pirates of the Caribbean is a trilogy. Penelope Cruz made a terrific Pirate Wench, and the Design of the film, as always was visually stunning. Not to mention it was actually a brilliant relief to watch a 'Pirates' film without the annoyances of Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom's whiny acting. However, despite this, the film was really not great. The script was a lot poorer than its predecessors, as was the plot. The make-up was very very wrong and was distractingly modern throughout the film- not befitting the era or the mood. Some of the cinematography was surprisingly low-grade, especially in dark shots, and I was surprised some frames made the editing process (such as a frame with a large water globule on the camera lens, completely ruining any realism left). And that was another thing, the vague supernatural elements in the previous films seemed apt and 'in-place', yet these ideas were taken way to far in this film... since when was Blackbeard a wizard? However, the thing that bothered me the most about this film was the Christian moral values. Please don;t get me wrong, I have nothing at all against Christianity in anyway whatsoever, it's just when I go to see a film like this I do not expect to have it shoved down my throat at every opportunity. It seems that the writer/director deemed it necessary to have all the sin in the film toned-down, and that it was essential to have 'Christianity' win over all, with the incredibly sickeningly annoying 'Orlando-Bloom-esq' Missionary, who JUST WOULDN'T DIE!!! Normally I would suggest going to see this film just for good ol Captain Jack Sparrow.... but alas, even this classic character has been given a revamp, turning him into a bit of a 'Goody-goody' by the end of the film. Overall, I would say avoid it. Maybe see it out of curiosity if you must, or even just for the visual design of Blackbeard's ship. But if you're expecting another classic to add to the trilogy you will be sorely disappointed.

A simply moronic film that I doubt can even be loosely described as a comedy (unless jokes repetitive jokes about boobs make you guffaw with laughter). It wastes no time in befouling the grave of classic Noir with Steve Martin's usual brand of dim-witted, inane, unfunny claptrap. A real endurance test to sit through it in its entirety. Conversely, in its concept the film is 'one of a kind', and some of the splices are done very well, some are very clumsy. It is an interesting concept to use clips from old movies as part of the plot, but one more befitting of a film student's experiment than a mainstream feature film, and was certainly not enough to redeem the film of its blistering asinine ineptitude.

It was a really good film... but I HATED IT. Objectively, it was a really fantastic and apt adaptation of the play, but subjectively, I would have rather watched paint dry. Set in some desolate, almost dystopian, icy, barren landscape; the production design was brilliant and unique, perfectly capturing the desperation of the play. Unlike so many other filmic Shakespeare adaptations, it actually worked really well as a movie, and made the most of "film" as a medium; making the set and the costumes add to the feel of the play. However... It was dull, boring, tortuously long, depressing.... I couldn't stand it. I'm a Shakespeare fan, and I thought I knew this play, but the adaptation still left me thoroughly confused, primarily because I struggle with faces, and every character looked exactly the same. Overall, I'd say steer very clear unless you are a very dedicated King Lear fan, or a very dedicated Peter Brook fan.