Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

A movie based on a theme park ride was never supposed to take on the dimensions of Inception. With the previous two Pirates installments left rocking on a storm of criticism - both guilty of convoluted plotlines - new skipper Rob Marshall seems to have learned from predecessor Gore Verbinski's mistakes. On Stranger Tides changes course to become a good old-fashioned quest with the welcome return of familiar faces, as well as inviting onboard some shipshape new talent.

Drawing from the 1988 Tim Powers novel, On Stranger Tides has perma-groggy Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) press-ganged onto the Queen Anne's Revenge, where he's forced to ally with the notorious Blackbeard (Ian McShane), who's on a mission to find the Fountain of Youth before the prophecy of his death manifests itself. True to race-for-the-prize convention. Blackbeard isn't the only one after the fancy Evian. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) has sided with the king's men (the monarch in question, a befittingly grotesque Richard Griffiths), ostensibly to claim the fountain in the name of England. Oh yes, plus the Spanish have set sail to destroy the "unholy" water source for good. This is more or less the sum of the whole plot, and if it sounds a little thin, all that's actually needed to keep it afloat is its motley bunch of characters.

No longer suffering the milksops that were Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, On Stranger Tides' lineup is the best yet: darker and spicier, like a good rum. As piratess and is-she-isn't-she daughter of Blackbeard, Penélope Cruz's Angelica recalls the feisty Maria from Vicky Cristina Barcelona, proving as she does an irrefutable match for one-time lover Sparrow. As they're reacquainted, Sparrow hums and haws over whether she's to be trusted, Angelica accuses him of "corrupting" her in the past, and both tussle with flirtatious rough-and-tumble and some rapier-sharp dialogue.

As for Depp himself - what can be said of his woozy pirate captain that hasn't already? Whether or not you think he's overtly whimsical at times, whimsy is exactly what On Stranger Tides demands. From his initial hilarious appearance dolled-up as a high court judge (followed shortly after by a historical car, i.e. carriage, chase through the streets of Ye Olde London), Depp steals every scene he's in - camp antics this time having him catapult himself from palm trees, leap from exploding lighthouses and pilfer a cream cake - the hard way, naturally.

McShane as Blackbeard - the high-seas scoundrel with facial hair that literally smokes - is another treat, and just the kind of man whose headless corpse you'd expect to swim around a ship three times (see pirate legend for more details). His use of black magic - including a Jack Sparrow voodoo doll - is a bit much, but he makes for a truly foreboding presence, while his fire-breathing galleon is one bad-ass sailing vessel.

Then again, Blackbeard's got nothing on another new Pirates foe: mermaids. A single teardrop from one of these scaly beauties is necessary to complete the fountain's life-giving ritual, and in order to procure one, Blackbeard leaves a few poor suckers out as bait, the mermaids emerging from the deep (looking something like an ominous L'Oréal ad) and lashing out like sexy piranha fish. Perhaps they're not all bad though; an unlikely relationship between glass coffin-imprisoned Syrena (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) and well-cut missionary Swift (Sam Claflin) makes for an unusual and touching development.

As is evident then, Marshall, the cast and not least the four scriptwriters, have had a lot of fun playing about with their eccentric characters, while making the story rambunctious and often scary but, most significantly, understandable. In doing so, they've created the film that Pirates was always meant to be: a rampant rollercoaster adventure.

Though a fourth installment of any movie is always going to be perilous (here's looking at you, Scream 4), On Stranger Tides surfaces as a pleasant surprise in a series that looked like it was sinking fast. Come to think of it, it's almost as if the Pirates franchise itself had sipped from the Fountain of Youth.

Will Noble can be reached at
wnoble@praguepost.com