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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Film)

by Jack Sargeant | May 17, 2011 17:01

Returning to the thematic and narrative simplicity of the franchise's first film, the latest instalment is a rollicking and surprisingly enjoyable ride.

The fourth film in the increasingly inaccurately titled Pirates of the Caribbean series follows Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow, once again radiating a slightly-punctured cool, as he travels with a suitably motley crew of press-ganged cutthroats in search of the mythical Fountain of Youth. Along the way, the audience are introduced to female swashbuckler Angelica (a surprisingly enjoyable Penelope Cruz), and Ian McShane's larger-than-life Blackbeard, a study in villainy and malevolence that makes the loss of television's Deadwood all the more keenly felt. Also returning are the familiar faces of Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa and Kevin McNally's first mate Gibbs, as well as a predictable yet suitably amusing cameo by Keith Richards as Sparrow senior.

 

The action travels from Europe to the Caribbean, and takes in everything from the bustling streets of London to a remote cove in which erotic mermaids (including local model turned actress Gemma Ward) seduce luckless sailors before dragging them to the depths to feast on their flesh. However, despite the lure of exotic locales, the plot maintains an economy that was sadly missing from the two previous films in the series. The feeling is of a return to the comparative narrative simplicity of the first movie with its themes of pirates, betrayed loyalties and the competing forces of the colonial aspirations of the empires of both Britain and Spain.

 

The film clearly benefits from this broad return to the roots of the pirate genre and a greater sense of the world of seafarers rather than the fantasy nonsense that dominated its two predecessors. Of course, the otherworldly still manifests here, but it comes from the presence of mermaids and zombies - figures that emerged from travellers' tales, mariners' mythologies and 18^th century gothic mysteries, rather than the quasi-mystical narrative of the awful Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

 

Too often 3D movies simply seem like dumb gimmicks created because somebody thought it would be a good idea but here, there's little of the luxuriating in the monolithic and often wildly overrated 3D spectacle. Instead the movie rattles along at a cracking pace, the 3D (effective but ultimately unnecessary) almost adding to the pleasure of the film.  Similarly, if the second and third instalments of the franchise were too bogged down in a peculiar sense of their own self-importance as spectacular epics, this movie foregrounds storyline, with the narrative never giving way to the spectacle. Instead the spectacle, and there is still much here, from a carriage chase through London to a vast pirate boat, largely functions as part of the story rather than merely an excuse for digital-effects teams to showcase their software.

 

As the fourth film in the series, On Stranger Tides risked becoming staid, but by avoiding pure spectacle, it escapes this fate. Kids anxious for non-Hogwarts thrills should enjoy it, but it doesn't pander to its youthful audience and there are a couple of well deserved scares here, which should at least unsettle the younger audience members. Ultimately, part way through watching a film like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, you have to give up and admit that you're enjoying yourself.