A Pirate's Life for Me
Years have gone by since the last pirates movie. Since then you've had other pirate shows like Crossbones try and other pirate shows like Black Sails make it. The popularity of pirates now is nothing like it was a few short years ago. This memorial day Pirates of the Caribbean 5 comes out. They also warned us, "Dead Men Tell No Tales".
Arr.. To Much Pirates?
It has been well over 10 years since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out. When in launched there was really nothing like it, The Curse of the Black Pearl, was a fresh original swashbuckling movie. Now after 4 movies, are we sick of Pirates? Although the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie was a financial success it was very lack luster. After Stranger Tides, the answer is yes, there have been too many pirates.
Revisiting Pirates
There has bee a lot of time since Stranger Tides came out. I'm not sure why, but after seeing the trailer's for the new pirates movie, it didn't feel overplayed. So I decided to go back and watch all 4 of the pirate movies in a single weekend. It has been years since I had been entertained by Jack Sparrow, so it felt okay to get this full helping of pirate cinema.
The Curse of the Black Pearl
Still the coolest movie of the lot. I've always enjoyed Capt. Barbossa, but now after all of these years, I really started to appreciate how he kept the movie together. Out of all the characters in the movie, he is the one that now jumps out at me as the most traditional pirate. All the moving around that Jack Sparrow does, it is hard to pay attention on just how magnificent of a roll Hector Barbossa truly is.
Dead Man's Chest
Here is where I kind of lost it with the series, when I first watched the movie. Dead Man's chest felt more like a long commercial for the next movie. After watching DMC again, I didn't feel as robbed as I first did. That is probably because I could watch the next one anytime I wanted and not wait an entire year for the follow up. After watching it after so many years, I kind of feel like they where going for an Empire Strikes back kind of mood. The movie is a lot more fun this time around.
At World's End
What I really didn't like about World's End was that the main story was about William Turner and Elizabeth Swan. Jack Sparrow kind of becomes an afterthought even though they went to look for him and he is supposedly the key. Watching it after years, I noticed that William and Elizabeth aren't really a great couple and they really aren't great people. They kind of just think they are. Calypso turning into a giant still feels like a "jump the shark" moment. The end, the battle between Jack and Davy Jones is truly one of the best fights in cinema history I believe.
Stranger Tides
When this movie came out, I thought it was pretty good. I hated Blackbeard, but the rest of the movie was good. I really enjoyed the parts with the mermaids. Watching it again. The movie felt thrown together, it doesn't have that polished dirty look of the other Pirate movies. The zombie-ish people and the second sight guy are truly horrible. They are like characters a kid might make up for a home movie, with their uncles dressing up as the zombies. Blackbeard still doesn't care, he is afraid for his life, which hardly makes an interesting villain. After watching all of these movies back to back, Stranger Tides is really a parody of what a Pirate film should be.
Pirates 5
Sail on Pirate brothers, summer will be here shortly and so will the new Pirates movie. Captain Salazar looks like a great villain. The music and the mood of this pirate movie seems to be a little more somber. Salazar kind of feels like a mix of Barbossa and Davy Jones but I hope there is a little more depth added. I've painted pirates for years, before pirates came out and to this day. I've always enjoyed the symbols and the nautical aspects of the film. Well, let's see what it is like this Memorial Day.