by Laurent Kelly
I thought that the first Pirates of the Caribbean flick was a good laugh though amazingly overrated , appearing in a string of greatest film polls as voted for by the public and somehow gifting Johnny Depp an Oscar nomination in the process. Don’t get me wrong I think he nails the role but I wouldn’t even put it in the man’s top five performances let alone feel that is was deserved of a place in the best actor catergory at the Academy.
So anyway that was the first film. The second was an entertaining romp with some solid set-pieces but overall the whole thing was a bit of a convoluted mess which took itself a bit too seriously. Frankly neither film was helped by the poor chemistry at the heart of the story between the talented but out of place Keira Knightley and the bland Orlando Bloom. Watching their romance blossom on screen is like waiting for a train to arrive and then having it run you over when it pulls in at the station.
As you can probably tell then I was not a fan of the indulgently long and frankly dull third installment which focused more intensely on the uninteresting romantic dynamic. The film lost a lot of the fun that made it a good laugh in the first film and the whole thing just felt kind of pointless and flat. It was however a monumental success particularly overseas as it grossed almost a billion dollars worldwide. (For the record only seven films in history have actually reached the magic billion mark.) And so unsurprisingly plans for a fourth installment were immediately put forth. The film entitled Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is thankfully berift of the generic and tedious Knightley and Bloom characters and will instead prioritise its focus on the real star Jack Sparrow and his travels in search of the fountain of youth.
Here in all its glory below is the poster for the fourth film. For a blockbuster I think it’s pretty neat.
SOURCE: TOTAL FILM
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