PotC 4

[Mission]

Speaking of, "uh, that's not how that works", there were at least three times I asked Kate Bagley (who had the misfortune of sitting next to me in the theater), "How did Jack do that? It's impossible!" She promptly replied (three times), "He's Captain Jack Sparrow!" ...with just the right intonation.

Which, in my opinion, is the correct answer for any of those films. He's a madcap adventurer, and thus, like Bugs Bunny, not subject to the laws of physics.

Yeah, I can accept some of that. Like when he's swinging around on a turning, wooden loading arm (or whatever that was) and somehow manages to swing himself over from that to a guy-rope that leads back to land - I'm pretty much OK with it. It's unlikely, but it's cool, even remotely possible. I'm even OK with him using his supposedly leather-soled boots to climb up the side of a tree he's tied somewhat securely to. But when we can actually see him reach the huge crown of the same tree, still fairly secure in his ropes and then *pouf!* suddenly he's on top of it with the loosened rope in an unexplained jump cut... Well...I guess all we can do is apply a Bugs Bunny/ 'He's CJS' rule. I still prefer it to at least be possible. It's the engineer in me.

[blackjohn]

But, . . .

To Hollywood mentality, "EVERY" pirate boat has a wheel. That's from ship to schooner, to sloop, to anything above a rowboat.

That was just a "for instance." My point was that on more than one occasion I was surprised by the author's apparent lack of research.

[blackjohn]

But when we can actually see him reach the huge crown of the same tree, still fairly secure in his ropes and then *pouf!* suddenly he's on top of it with the loosened rope in an unexplained jump cut... Well...I guess all we can do is apply a Bugs Bunny/ 'He's CJS' rule. I still prefer it to at least be possible. It's the engineer in me.

That pushed the envelope for me too. And I'm a simple country cartographer.

[Jib]

Did I notice a new mark of some type on Jacks face? An "X" on his upper right side almost eye level?

Liked the tie in with the monkey and Sao Feng's map.

Did not like the zombies (but might have liked them if they were better explained).

I wished the mermaid would have saved the preacher only to devour him with her sisters.

[oderlesseye]

Over all they need a new Musical score! ( Eye just went back and read every ones else post and was not surprised to see others agree on this Account! Disney Take Account! ) Eye liked the few new songs introduced and the main bit pieces associated to Sparrow , but in between , it all sounded the same ole same ole.. A Flame Throwing Ship? Haa HAa Eye didna buy it...even as fiction.. Eye am glad they left Barbossas character Intact less one leg. Over all eye enjoyed the movie but did not like Penelopee . She didna have the kinda Sass a man would want to put her down for ***** CENSORED***** to teach her a lesson unlike Kierrera Knightly.. She musta got pregnant some other way! HArle ~ Eye care naughwt for my grammar no more than for a Female Puss -n- Boots character in this movie. Harr ! ~

Edited May 25, 2011 by oderlesseye

[MorganTyre]

I saw it the other day. The 3D effects were ok but I think the luminosity loss due to the glasses robbed a bit from the dramatics of the scenery itself. I am so glad that did away with all of the old characters. I think all of the comedic possibilities of those one sided characters had played out in the first movie and the second and third just featured retreads of the same old material. My biggest disappointment was just how far they departed from the original book. For those who have seen this movie but have not read the book please do yourself a favor and read it. Other than Blackbeard and the fountain there is literally nothing in common with the source material that "suggested" the script. Because of that departure the zombies feel forced as did the magic "Revenge". Unfortunately, all of this means that a faithful to the book movie will never be made which is a shame.

Once you separate the movie from the book the movie does have some neat scenes. The mermaid introduction for me was the standout and not the London escape. The legless Barbossa was a neat effect though I agree his makeup was overdone. He looked more rotten than the zombies. One minor quibble (that drove me nuts and literally noone else in the civilized world should have noticed) was that one of the zombies (don't remember his name but he had the majority of the screen time) had modern snap shackles, modern bow shackles, and what appeared to be a caulking iron strapped to him, literally none of which made sense and most were completely anachronistic.

All in all it was a fun movie for what it was but I think the best thing they could do to that franchise is get rid of Elliot and Rossio as writers.

[Daniel]

Just got back from the 2-D showing. I enjoyed it overall; it grew on me as it went on. Like Blackjohn, I'd rank this third behind At World's End and Curse of the Black Pearl, but ahead of Dead Man's Chest.

I wasn't happy with the first act at all. The action sequences were poorly edited, it never looked like anyone was actually trying to catch Jack. King George was neither realistic nor menacing. Way too much canned exposition in the back of the coach.

The other major problem is how the movie wastes Penelope Cruz. My eyes love her as a pirate, but her character is terribly written, and her behavior winds up just being outright stupid. I'd like to see her back again with another character, but as an action heroine Angelica doesn't hold a candle to Elizabeth Swann.

The movie starts getting real momentum from the minute Blackbeard walks onto the set. This is, of course, Blackbeard the myth, not Blackbeard the historical pirate, and why not? Everything else in POTC is myth: ghosts, Davy Jones, Aztec curses, the Kraken, the edge of the world. His control of Queen Anne's Revenge truly eerie and impressive. I like the way that Ian McShane understates the character and plays him with a straight-up American accent; not historically accurate for a Bristol-born man, of course, but a nice change from our previous villains.

The mermaids were pretty cool, and seeing them destroy an entire ship was really impressive although I would have liked to see them a little less vampire-like, and to have Serena be more scary. When I heard that a mermaid's tear was necessary for the ritual, I had a vivid image of mermaids shedding tears while devouring the sailors, like crocodiles' tears that soften up the prey while they eat it; I would have liked to see that. Having a character who's at least a borderline religious fanatic, and yet is actually a pretty decent person, was different; I kind of liked it. I had no strong feelings about the zombies, but I thought the best way to deal with them would have been to chop off their weapon hands, then pick them up bodily and throw them overboard. The scenes on the island were so rich and lush, and the joy of Barbossa and Sparrow in recovering their ships is so wonderful, that by the end I was completely sold on the movie.

One thing I missed completely:

what happened to the Spanish after they destroyed the Fountain of Youth?

[Daniel]

One other thing. Barbossa's "bad makeup" is face powder, which he's taken to using since he became a gentleman privateer. I'm pretty sure the whole point is that it looks horrible because he hasn't a clue how to use it properly and it's all wrong for him anyway - as demonstrated by the stirring moment when he tears up his letter of marque.

[Mission]

The other major problem is how the movie wastes Penelope Cruz. My eyes love her as a pirate, but her character is terribly written, and her behavior winds up just being outright stupid.

I did wonder why on earth she would share any info with Jack at all. I mean, I know they needed someone to explain the rules of the thing for the audience but her telling Jack when she clearly didn't trust him made no sense to me.

It would have made much more sense if they had done a humorous pre-credit sequence building up to Jack finding the FOY and then discovering that he doesn't know what to do next. (I was never clear on whether he had found the FOY location or not before the events of the movie, although I assumed that he had based on the way things were presented at the beginning of the movie.)

Good point about Barbossa and the face-powder. Yet another thing that could have been nicely exposited had they focused on him in this story.

The ending did do a good job of making it all seem grand, but I was still disgruntled by the dull middle third and many underdeveloped characters. You can't just whitewash that with a good ending. (It was a good ending.)

As for what happened to the Spaniards after their big scene...I think they just left. "Well, that's done! Goodbye now!"

Say, does anyone know why the hell the mermaid decided to

retrieve the two cups for the pirates? Or how she even knew that they needed to be retrieved? As soon as she was able, she took off in a huge mad rush to...retrieve the cups. Then she left. It made no sense to me. I have the vague feeling something got left out - either that or I missed something. Although they really could have left that whole bit about the cups falling in the deep water out since it really didn't add anything other than the smallest bit of tension over whether they could use the Fountain's power. Anyone who has ever seen a movie like this knows they were going to have to revive someone as part of the payoff. (Just like we knew the Ark couldn't only be filled with sand and that was all there was to it.)

[Tartan Jack]

Finally saw it.

Overall, enjoyable. I kept laughing, though. So much was WAY over the top, completely outta-date, or just wrong that it was close to slap-stick some of the time. Oh, and the 1801-on British flag was sometimes upside-down-interesting to me. Also, George II was German born, raised, and educated with German as his native language. He was played as a bit of an English baffoon (by a GREAT English actor), probably best known in the US for his more recent comedic roles. George I didn't speak English (or care much for the British throne besides its additional power and money.

I did like the many cameos of well known British actors.

The Queen Anne's Revenge was an interesting artistic design, but terribly period-inaccurate and cartoon-ish. The HMS Providence was better. Even the 1750-ish date people are giving this film make the wheel less of an issue to me. From Blackjohn's comment, I was expecting a wheel on a ketch, sloop, or the like. Here, the 2 shown main vessels are both 2-masted ships. (The Spanish are shown, but not much.) Historically, the wheel was just showing up in the 17-teens and on new-built large ships- replacing the whipstaff. In the Caribbean, the shipstaff and tiller were still the primary rudder interface, but the wheel spread quickly to all but smaller vessels. So, by 1750, the wheel is plausible on both the QAR and Providence. Of course, we must completely ignore that the QAR was grounded, broken, and sunk in May/June 1718 (32 years before the 1750 assumed date) . . .

Overall, fun and not to be taken seriously-> WAY too many period-errors and sheer impossibilities.

Edited May 26, 2011 by Tartan Jack

[Tartan Jack]

After a (tiny) bit of looking, I saw which ships played the QAR and Providence:

Queen Anne's Revenge: Sunrise (formerly played the Black Pearl)

HMS Providence: HMS Surprise (modified HMS Rose replica converted for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World)

[Darrel Morris]

I enjoyed the movie overall, but left feeling vaguely dissatisfied. Mostly, I wish there was more story and character development. I'd love to have seen the battle between Blackbeard and Barbossa and it would have been nice if they spent a little time on explaining the zombies and the enchanted ship. Everything seemed to move too fast and left me questioning how they got from one place to another.

The mermaids were nearly perfect though.

[Ransom]

Just saw the movie today. Overall, I liked it. I was glad to see it wasn't buried under a ton of CGI stuff, and was more like the first movie, which I still thing is the best.

I think they could have left the zombies out. They didn't make any sense. Also, I'm not real sure why the devout christian was included, other than as a love interest for the mermaid.

The mermaids were perfect.

The QAR was a bit over the top. All that fire on a wooden ship?...I don't think so. I also think the BB character could have been just as menacing without the magic sword. But I liked Ian McShane in the role.

One, quick little scene I loved was Capt. Jack in the coach with Dame Judy Dench. Quick, but priceless. As was the voodoo Sparrow doll going over the cliff.

Bottom line, I liked it a lot better than the last two. And I'm still a sap for Capt. Jack.

[seabaroness]

Saw the movie today. I found it to be a very enjoyable experience with lots of comedy and fight scenes.

[Heartless Wretch]

I'm a POTC fan, and really enjoyed OST.

[Mission]

It's got to be tough to try and top the first movie, which I thought hit almost every note perfectly. The second and third were rather clumsily written bolt-ons. I had hoped this one would take us in a new direction, which it did, and recapture the magic of the first one, which it didn't (well, not for me, anyhow.) Since it's a huge international hit (and not doing so badly in the US either), we can count on them making more - probably as many as Depp can stand to make, based on the numbers.

Pitch perfect or not, it all burnishes the pirate re-enacting marque and keeps pirates in the public eye, so we should all be grateful for that.

[Tartan Jack]

Reviving old thread . . .

For a request: Could someone make a copy of the 2 page spread showing the concept art in the "Art of" book (I'm sure SOMEONE owns it on here)? I'm really only interested in those 2 pages-> not worth $15-25 to me just for that.

Just PM me with a link or for my email for a direct image message, if you want. That would be fine too.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Tartan Jack