Well, I saw it last night, and I had mixed feelings. Overall it was good. I’m a big fan of the series, and I loved the first three, but this one was different.
I’ll have to see it again to figure out more of what I’m talking about.
What did you think?
Haven’t seen it yet, but I’m particularly interested if anyone who’s read the book has seen it, and how well they’ve adapted it.
:dubious:
On Stranger Tides, by Tim Powers. Published in 1987. Great book, and the only reason I’m at all interested in the movie.
Yes, Blackbeard using magic to find the Fountain of Youth. Excellent book. I am waiting also to hear how badly they butchered it before spending any money on the movie.
To those wanting to see this solely because of the Tim Powers book, don’t. The rights of the book were bought only so they could use the Blackbeard, voodoo and Fountain of Youth elements in their plot, rather than make an adaptation of the novel.
I haven’t seen it, but it seems that the general consensus among everyone (critics and fans) is that, “It’s not as bad as the last two sequels, but not as good as Curse of the Black Pearl.”
We saw it yesterday on digital screen in 3D.
The 3D was NOT worth the money - go see the 2D version.
As far as the film itself, OK. Maybe the franchise is getting old, but there just didn’t seem to be much fun or life in this film. Sort of going through the motions. It was what we expected to see - nothing more, nothing less.
If you have a half-way decent flat screen at home, you could easily wait to see this on DVD.
They have a new Director for the series. Switching from Gore Verbinski to Rob (let me throw in a million edits) Marshall.
I’m not thrilled with that.
Have to agree with that. Much better than the last two, not as good as the first. Worth seeing, but don’t bother with the extra expense for 3D.
When they sailors in the longboat turned around and saw the mermaid hanging off the side of the boat I was rather creeped out, knowing that
they’re actually carnivorous hunters who prey on people. It was like a very pretty shark smiling at you.
I have seen it, and have read the book, but **Liddle Lamsy Divey **is on the money here. The movie was not as good as the first one, and many times they did seem to be going through the motions–oh, another fight scene on an unstable surface. It’s been 15 minutes since the last one!
The movie really had nothing to do with the book except Blackbeard, voodoo and the Fountain of Youth. There was talk of Blackbeard’s officers being Zombis, but they really did not act much like Zombis. There was a voodoo doll, but no talk of Loas at all.
There was one quote from old Teach himself, which was a nice touch–“If I don’t kill one of them once in a while, they will forget who I am.”
So, re-read the book, and see the movie when it gets to the Dollar theater.
No time to find a cite at the moment, but I remember hearing sometime back that the script was not based on the book at all. It’s just that enough elements were similar to the novel (Blackbeard, Fountain of Youth, voodoo/zombies) that it was considered the smart move legally for Disney to just get the rights to On Stranger Tides.
I just saw the movie a couple of hours ago, and there’s not much similarity to the novel On Stranger Tides. The FIRST PoTC movie actually reminded me more of the Tim Powers novel.
I disagree - I thought both sequels far better than this bland, boring mess. I can forgive a lot in a summer action flick - too much CGI, too many pointless chases or fight scenes - but not boredom. I knew they wouldn’t use any of Tim Power’s book (pity - that could have been a really good pirate movie) and I hope Tim got a big wad of cash for the rights.
The elements of a good/fun movie were there but mostly ignored. Most of the actors seemed to be sleepwalking through their parts, although Geoffery Rush couldn’t turn in a bad performance if he tried and I did like Richard Griffiths’s cameo. Oh well, my tastes clearly don’t agree with most people’s. But I would have even preferred to walk out hating it than bored with it. Oh, actually, I just remembered “Cutthroat Island”, so forget that last sentence.
As it turns out, I just came back from seeing it the second time. It was much improved! In fact, it was great! This time, I heard more jokes and observed more plot points than I did the first time. Many of these things were quite subtle.
As I paid more attention, it was far less boring.
I haven’t seen it yet, but my wife has. She loved the original movie (it’s probably her all-time favorite movie), but hated the hot mess that #2 and #3 were so much, that she likes to pretend that they don’t even exist.
She was pleasantly surprised by this one. It wasn’t as good as the first, in her mind, but it was still much better than #s 2 and 3.
I have a question for those who have seen the movie:
In Ponce de Leon’s ship, when Barbossa leans over to Jack and mouths the words, “Don’t touch the map,” what was that all about? Why couldn’t he touch the map, and why was it important that the skeleton not hear what Barbossa said?
Because when they grabbed the map, Ponce de Leon’s head turned in that direction, implying that the skeleton was alive in some way and would react if someone took the map. Kind of like it was bewitched or cursed or something. At least that’s what I got from the scene.
Haven’t seen it but my wife watched them film a good chunk of it in Greenwich - they used the exterior of the building she works in, which they “extended” via a scaffold and fake building front so that they had something for the characters to jump from.
She said Johnny Depp was great - he stopped into the office and chatted, and he even went to visit a local school because a girl wrote to him to invite him; I’ve heard he also invited the girl to the London premiere. The (British) film crew, however, were assholes (for which Depp also later apologized).
I remember when that hit the news last year. Depp rocks. 