Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Welcome back to Deep Dive Disney my friends, and welcome back once again to the Disney franchise that refuses to die, Pirates of the Caribbean. Last time we covered this film series, the story that began in the first movie came to a natural and satisfying conclusion in the third installment. However, since Disney has got to Disney, the company just kept on milking this lucrative cash cow for all it was worth, so here we are at the fourth installment of the franchise. Now, I’ll say this up front. Despite this movie lacking that same spark that made the original three so great and memorable, stakes that feel significantly lower than the film that preceded it and a plot that often feels too convoluted for its own good, I still enjoy this film for what it is. So, what the hell is it? Well, our favorite pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, is back for another adventure. This time, circumstances have brought Jack to London in order to spring his loyal first mate, Mr. Gibbs, from his appointment with the gallows. Whilst in London, Jack makes a few disturbing discoveries. First, Jack’s beloved Black Pearl has been lost and his best frenemy, Barbossa (who stole the ship at the end of the third movie) is now an officer in the British Royal Navy. Worse yet, there’s an imposter Jack Sparrow running around recruiting people for some unknown venture. When Jack, not too keen on someone running around pretending to be him, goes to investigate, the imposter turns out to be a former flame of his named Angelica. However, Angelica isn’t the one Jack needs to worry about, that honor goes to the Angelica’s evil father, who just so happens to be real life legendary pirate, Captain Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. Blackbeard it seems is a deeply superstitious man. As such, having heard a prophecy that foretells his demise, the notorious pirate has set sail for the one thing he believes will allow him to cheat fate, The Fountain of Youth. At first, Jack wants nothing to do with Blackbeard or his temptress daughter but then it’s revealed that Blackbeard used his voodoo magic… which he totally has, don’t question it… to shrink The Black Pearl inside a bottle and keep it as a trophy. Now that Jack is given sufficient motivation, the race is on between Blackbeard’s crew with Jack in tow, the British Royal Navy lead by Barbossa who has his own ulterior motives and the Spanish armada who want to find the fountain for their own reasons. Let’s see if this franchise can survive beyond its original trilogy as we look at Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Main Character:

I think now that we’re four movies in we’ve pretty much said all that ever needs to be said about the character of Captain Jack Sparrow. And indeed, Jack is still very much the same character we’ve always known and loved from the first movie, and it is nice that for once he doesn’t have to share the role of main character with Will or Elizabeth. The film does try to give Jack a little more character development by introducing a love interest, but we’ll get to why that doesn’t really work when we discuss Angelica. Actually, an odd thing I find about the film is that Jack, despite being the protagonist, doesn’t really have any personal stake in finding the fountain. Sure, he wants the Pearl back, but we find out at the end that Jack had a contingency plan for that regardless of whether or not they actually found the fountain. It’s also sort of implied that Jack wants to find the fountain simply so he can say he did, but that’s kind of all we get. Still, Johnny Depp still brings the same wit and energy to this film that he brought to the previous three and I certainly can’t complain about that.

Villain:

Before we discuss the version of Blackbeard in this film, played brilliantly by the always awesome Ian McShane, I’d like to take a minute to discuss the character’s historical counterpart as I feel that there is no better real life example this series’ recurring theme of how a legend can become bigger than a man than notorious pirate, Captain Edward “Blackbeard” Teach. Active in the West Indies around the late 1710’s, it may surprise you to learn that he actually wasn’t all that successful as a pirate. Oh, make no mistake, Teach was fearsome and highly intelligent marauder who successfully robbed plenty of ships throughout his two year career of piracy, but if you were to take the stats of all the pirates of the era and put them into trading cards, Blackbeard would actually end up on the lower tier by comparison. It may also surprise you to learn, that Blackbeard greatly disliked the use of violence. With all this in mind, one may wonder how the man became such a legendary figure. Well, it would seem that Captain Teach was very well aware of how powerful it can be a build a myth around oneself and knew that if he instilled the proper amount of fear in his victims, then violence will no longer be necessary as his reputation will do all the work for him. One of the ways he would accomplish this would be to light the ends of his beard on fire, giving him this other worldly and almost demonic appearance. Soon enough, the mere sight of his ship, The Queen Anne’s Revenge, was enough to send an icy chill down the spine of any honest sailor. Because of this, Blackbeard is often considered the most famous pirate who ever lived and the basis for the modern-day romanticism of pirates that we see in pop culture today. In a way, we have old Captain Teach to thank for this entire franchise.

This leads me back around to the version of Blackbeard we see in the film. For this depiction, Disney has opted to lean hard into the idea of Blackbeard having supernatural abilities. A practitioner of voodoo, Blackbeard’s weird powers include turning the officers aboard his ship into hulking zombies, shrinking down ships into bottles to keep as trophies of past victories and the ability to control parts of his ship using his sword. Oh, and did I mention the ship is equipped with an enormous flamethrower!? Actually, it’s sort of implied that it’s the ship that Blackbeard derives his power from but this is never fully explored. In any case, a lot of what makes Blackbeard work really is Ian McShane’s performance. Very rarely does Blackbeard raise his voice, instead opting for a quiet and subdued yet still incredibly menacing demeanor. His calm and even polite demeanor betrays the horrific monster lurking just beneath the surface. Indeed, Blackbeard is shown to be unapologetically cruel, especially in this one scene where he’s willing to murder his own daughter to force Jack into obedience and even sets up this elaborate game just to prove he’s not bluffing. Blackbeard also seems to be a firm believer in fate, hence his apparent need to find the fountain, but we’ll discuss why that doesn’t really work in a later section. Blackbeard is a great bad guy but is he as good as some of the other villains in this franchise? I don’t know if I’d go that far. Blackbeard is awesome and a real highlight of the film but coming off the heels of characters like Jones and Beckett and even literally going toe to toe with Barbossa in the climax, he does fall a bit short by comparison. Still, Blackbeard left a great impression and I doubt the movie would be half as enjoyable as it is without him.

Side Characters:

One of the big problems of this film is how it tries to push a bunch of new characters down our throats after having Jettisoned the majority of the supporting cast for the previous trilogy. Case in point, there’s a mermaid and a Christian missionary who are captives of Blackbeard who get a romantic subplot and it’s painfully obvious that the movie is trying to make these two the new Will and Elizabeth. The fact that I can’t remember either of their names and that Will and Elizabeth will be back in the next movie (albeit relegated to glorified cameos) should tell you all you need to know about how well that worked out. Fairing a little bit better than the romantic couple is a musician named Scrum, clearly meant to be a stand-in for Pintel and Raigetti. While he doesn’t quite have the same comedic timing as the two who came before him, Stephen Graham gives a fairly charming performance and hey, someone must have liked him because he makes it to the next movie.

King George II makes an appearance in this movie, played by the late Richard Griffiths, whom you may remember as Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter films. And I swear to God, this performance is inspired by Hedonism-Bot from Futurama.

Anyway, let’s discuss Angelica. Now, on paper, introducing a love interest for Jack who can match wits with him is actually a really interesting idea and I actually really liked that Jack acknowledges his feelings for her but is also smart enough to realize they’re completely wrong for each other. Unfortunately, despite Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz being fine actors in their own right, they just have virtually no chemistry with one another, and it really hurts any kind of romance that we’re supposed to be invested in. On top of that, Angelica’s character just seems wildly inconsistent. She comes across as someone who will do whatever it takes for the sake of her own survival but her genuine and almost fanatical devotion to her father seems to contradict that. As a result, it’s really difficult to get an idea of what the character is supposed to be all about.

As far as returning characters go, Keith Richards is back to reprise his role as Jack’s father in a brief but still fun cameo. It’s actually nice to see the two characters exchange more dialogue this time around and I rather like how Jack seems to have a great relationship with his Dad, even if he might be a little afraid of him. I honestly don’t blame him, if what I’ve heard is true, a lot of people in real life, including Mick Jagger, are absolutely terrified of Keith Richards.

Gibbs is also back and while he’s pretty much unchanged from the previous films, he gets a little bit more to do this time around and I will never pass up an opportunity to praise Kevin McNally as the unsung hero of this franchise.

Finally there’s our old favorite, Barbossa. What do you even want me to say at this point? Barbossa is awesome, Geoffrey Rush is awesome, you know it, I know it, the world knows it. The dude had fifteen seconds of screen time in the second film and it was still the best scene in the movie. And, continuing that trend, Barbossa has the most interesting arc in the film. I actually really like Jack and Barbossa’s differing perspectives on the loss of the Black Pearl. Jack is offended that Barbossa didn’t go down with the ship like a good captain should while Barbossa thinks the bigger insult is to allow the man who took the Pearl to keep breathing. See, Barbossa lost both the Pearl and his leg in a battle with The Queen Anne’s Revenge and he’s got a serious hard-on for some revenge of his own. To that end, he’s joined the British Royal Navy in order to use their resources to hunt Blackbeard down and kill him to death. Sure, he feeds Jack some bullshit line about joining the winning team, but Jack doesn’t buy it for a minute. Barbossa is the most piratey pirate who ever pirated, which in this franchise, is saying something. Barbossa’s only goal is to kill Blackbeard and claim the Queen Anne’s Revenge for himself. An eye for an eye, a leg for a leg, a ship for a ship! Barbossa even goes as far as to coat his sword in the lethal venom of a poisonous frog just to make sure Blackbeard stays dead. I also like pretty much any scene he shares with Jack. I appreciate how they may often be on opposing sides, but do actually respect one another and make a surprisingly great team if they can overcome their egos for a minute. Good stuff.

Songs:

In addition to the iconic Pirates of the Caribbean theme which is always a delight for the ears, the score adds an nice and menacing theme for Blackbeard which I really like.

As far as lyrical offerings go, we have a song called My Jolly Sailor Bold. It’s a catchy little sea shanty that Scrum sings which I rather enjoy, especially when it comes back as a song sang the creepy killer mermaids, but that’s better left for the Dark Disney Factor.

Memorable Scenes:

It’s tradition at this point to discuss Jack’s entrance into the film, and this time around it’s pretty cool. As I said, the film starts off in London and we’re seen a man with a black back over his head lead into a courtroom. Obviously we’re meant to believe this is Jack, but this turns out to be a bait and switch when it’s revealed that it’s actually Gibbs under the black bag. So where’s Jack? Well naturally, he’s paid off the bailiff and impersonating the judge. Nice!

I really want to highlight this one scene between Barboss and Gibbs where Gibbs forces Barbossa to spare his life by burning the only map to the Fountain of youth, meaning that he has to take Gibbs, who’s committed the map to memory, along on the voyage. With the obvious exception of Jack, Gibbs and Barbossa are the only two characters who appear in all five films and to my recollection, this is the only scene where they go one on one and to their credit, Kevin McNally and Geoffrey Rush play off one another very well and I appreciate that Gibbs is shown to be just as clever as Jack when he needs to be.

Finally, there’s this great scene where Jack confronts his would-be imposter and the Mirror match that ensues is a lot of fun. I love how the imposter Jack is completely in shadow to hide their identity and the sword fight is awesome, as one would expect from this franchise. The ending is especially amusing with Jack catching the audience off guard and making out with his doppelganger just in case any of you still thought that Loki was the only one with a literal boner for himself.

Story:

The film still maintains all of the usual themes from the previous films that we’ve discussed to death and even adds in a healthy dose of the tried-and-true Fate vs. Free Will motif. We’ve discussed that in great detail already in the last three articles. Besides, that’s not really what I want to talk about here. Instead, I want to talk about how the villain’s plan really doesn’t work, like, at all. Alright, so we’ve made it clear that the big MacGuffin this time around is The Fountain of Youth. Now, we all know the legend of the Fountain from elementary school. Those who baith in its waters either live forever or have their youth restored depending on which version of the legend you hear. Sounds simple right? Well not in this movie. Instead, the rules of the fountain (which looks suspiciously like the Guardian of Forever from Star Trek in this movie) involve and incredibly convoluted ritual that requires two silver chalices, a mermaid’s tear and two people to drink so the beneficiary of the fountain can steal the remaining years from the life of the poor bastard who drinks from the cup that takes life. Okay, so this movie gave the legend a few more moving parts than I personally would have deemed necessary, but I still understand the basic idea. Here’s where it all falls apart. It’s made clear that Blackbeard is after the Fountain of Youth because he foresaw that a one-legged man (Barbossa) was coming to kill him. Okay, but the rules of the fountain state that it prolongs one’s life by stealing life from another. So, does that mean it make you murder-proof? If so, that’s never established. And even if that’s the case, why would Jack bother leaving Angelica, who ends up drinking from the fountain, with the customary suicide pistol when he maroons her an a deserted island at the end. The whole thing just feels far to complicated for it’s own good and really drags the movie below its potential.

The Dark Disney Factor:

As per usual with the Pirates movies, the Dark Disney Factor doesn’t apply in the same capacity as it does with the animated films geared towards smaller children. But, we still get plenty of dark stuff to go around. One of the more creepy scenes in the film is the one with the killer mermaids. I have to give Disney its props for making mermaids into horrific monsters after spending the last twenty years trying to convince us that their bubbly optimists who just want to be part of our world. Since it’s no secret that I can’t stand Ariel, I for one welcome this interpretation. The scene is absolutely wonderful with a boat full of poor saps being sent out to sea as bait for the mermaids, all of whom are very much aware of the grim fate that likely awaits them. A mermaid swims up to their dingy, and while she seems kind at first, the mood music makes it clear that shit’s about to go down. I actually love Scrum in this scene. He knows he’s probably doomed, but if is going to meet Davy Jones… or Will Turner I guess… he’s going to make out with a sexy mermaid before he does. What follows is a creepy rendition of My Jolly Sailor Bold sung by the Mermaid as her sisters close in and start chowing down. Nice!

However, the most disturbing scene in the film is how Blackbeard meets his demise. After Jack tricks him into drinking from the life taking chalice in order to save Angelica’s life, the evil pirate is engulfed in a tornado of water that spins so fast it rips his skin off. That’s pretty gruesome even by the standards of this franchise.

Final Thoughts: While not quite on the level of its contemporaries, I still think that On Stranger Tides is a fun entry in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It makes up for its deficiencies with a great villain, some creative and interesting fight scenes, and the characters we've known and loved for the past three movies just being their awesome selves. It's not great, but it's still fun, which is more than I can say for Dead Men Tell No Tales, but we'll get there when we get there. Next time, things take a turn for the Scottish as we cover one of my favorite Pixar films, Brave.