Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - 8 stars out of 10

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - 8 stars out of 10

Before I give this review, I have to state that I really enjoyed "On Stranger Tides."  Depp is magnificent and Cruz was stunning.  Unfortunately, this film lacks a good villain.  The first film had Barbossa, the second had Davy Jones, the third had Jones, Turner, Barbossa, and Sparrow at different moments... but Blackbeard wasn't sinister enough and, where the other films were enhanced by having the heroes sometimes appear to be villains, this film is just confusing as to whether Barbossa is good or bad.  My last criticism before I sing praises to this new installment: they didn't spend enough time on pirate ships.  The entire atmosphere of the film changed by putting them on land more than the sea, and that is why it didn't completely feel like Pirates of the Caribbean.  This film is much darker and contains less light-hearted moments than the previous ones which was refreshing.  The entire mermaid sequence is destined to become one of those famous Hollywood moments - I've never seen anything quite like that.  Astrid Berges-Frisbey was captivating and I never expected that much characterization from a mermaid.  She played excellently off of Sam Clafin who made a great secondary character.  Penelope Cruz was definitely the highlight of this film, feisty, clever, and I can't say enough about that accent!  Although I love Geoffrey Rush, I felt that this was the weakest of his Pirates performances, though his peg-leg was awesome.  The film still has the beautiful scenery and awesome musical score, but it lacked a great pirate ship battle scene, like the Kraken scene or the final battle sequence from the 3rd film.  Also, the driving force between the first three films was Will and Elizabeth's journey to be together.  This is more of an adventure film, where it's focused around the "treasure hunt" aspect, not a love story.  This is just a new generation of Pirates films, but I was sad to see it fall short of the previous three.  I believe that when the next two Pirates movies come out, we'll enjoy this one more.  This film is transitional as the old characters disappear and new ones take their place but I believe that it is starting us on the path of more Pirates greatness.