Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Who needs the rapture when you could see the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie? I just died and went to heaven, says I!! Now that we have that fanboying moment out of the way, let's carry on with the review.

On Stranger Tides brings us back once again into the life of Jack Sparrow (there should be a captain in there somewhere), the pirate we all fell in love with eight years ago. As promised at the end of last we met, Sparrow is after the fountain of youth. Along the way, Sparrow is reacquainted with Barbossa, Gibbs, a lover scorned - Angelica, the menacing pirate legend - Blackbeard, and even zombies and mermaids.

On Stranger Tides is, by no means, a perfect movie but does wash away any bitter aftertaste you (emphasis on you, because I loved them) may have had towards the franchise after Dead Man's Chest and At World's End. I felt that that On Stranger Tides returned to form by unfolding as an adventure-quest story, much like Curse of the Black Pearl, rather than a plot of rescue, betrayal, and backstabbing like the sequels before it did. Marshall, the new director at the helm, even pays homage to Black Pearl by including a sword fighting sequence reminiscent of the first duel between Sparrow and Turner in the blacksmith shop. The film was also shot beautifully and the soundtrack is as stunning as ever. The Hans Zimmer's familiar score is even enhanced with relevant Spanish guitar by Rodrigo y Gabriela .

What doesn't work for the film is the introduction, of what i am assuming, a replacement couple for Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner. Quite frankly, I didn't care for sub-plot romance between the Syrena the mermaid and Philip the missionary. They didn't have as large a presence as Turner and Swan did, so it seemed more like an after-thought than anything else. That said, I thought the mermaids were really cool and the scene where they attacked the pirates was pretty intense. I will admit though, I did laugh at the shot of one of the mermaids revealing what appeared to be vampire-like fangs.

Another thing that bothered me was the lack of exploration of some of the lore introduced. Where did Blackbeard's voodoo powers come from? Why is his sword able to control his ship? I feel like this lack of storytelling is a result of the writers' need to introduce as many characters as possible and have them all have their own motives. Maybe it will all be explored in the next pirates film, as hinted at by the scene at the end of the credits. I just feel like if they shortened the beginning of the film and worked some script magic, they could have at least explored some of it during the meaty 137-minute runtime.

Either way, as you may have expected, I fully and wholeheartedly enjoyed the film - and will probably see it several more times. When it comes down to it, I'm a pirate fanboy at heart, and the franchise can do no wrong in my eyes. Objectively speaking of course, I suggest you set your sails and course your heading for the nearest theater. You just might be surprised.




Are you truly surprised at my final verdict?

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From Console to Silver Screen

Hollywood loves to take the games that we enjoy and turn them into a feature films. Why wouldn't they? Many video games have a cult following which equals big dollars in the eyes of studios. Unfortunately, the studios have no idea what they are doing sometimes we are presented with atrocities like Alone in the Dark (2005), or one of Uwe Boll's many other films.

I go into video game adaptions with extremely low expectations because history shows that they aren't usually good. There aren't really any great video game adaptions, except for Silent Hill (2006) and this past weekend's Prince of Persia (2010). Both of those films took what worked well in the games and translated them well to the big screen. I was particularly excited for Prince of Persia because it teams up two up my favorite Hollywood entities, Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney.

I think part of the reason that many of these adaptions don't do well is because the stories and characters are designed to work in an interactive world where you feel like you have control in what goes on, and not on the silver screen where you voyeuristically watch the plot unfold. Video games work because you become connected with your character. You live the game. With the film versions, you don't get the same character/story connection you would get otherwise.

Movies to Video Game translations also rarely work. I tend to stay away from video game adaptions of movies because they usually aren't very good. The only movie to video game adaption that I've really played was Spider-Man 2, and I liked that because it deviated from the linear plot of a film and allowed you to play in an open world with missions that tied in important plot points of the film. Most of these games don't work because they are extremely linear and carbon copies of their film.

Hollywood needs to step up their game if they are going to continue translating video games to movies and vice versa. There is a very fine line between the two, and it is extremely evident that that line is hard to translate.

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Iron Man 2

One of the last decade's larger contributions to the cinema was the Superhero genre, popularized by Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002. Since then, we have seen an abundance of hits or misses within the genre. In 2008, moviegoers were treated with arguably two of the best superhero films, Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Expectations for the superhero genre have been increased ten-fold since the release of these two films, especially after the third Spider-Man sequel left a sour taste in the viewers mouth the year before. This year, Marvel released the anticipated follow-up to the popular Iron Man film. Although the sequel doesn't quite live up to the prestige of the first film, Iron Man 2 does find a place among some of the better superhero films.

Iron Man 2 takes our beloved, eccentric Tony Stark into the world shortly after his public revealing as the armored hero. Everybody wants a piece of him: The public, the government, his rival, and even an imprisoned physicist who wants to seek revenge for his father. Stark has been taking all of this in a true rock-star fashion that only he can, until he realizes that his Iron Man technology is harming him. He begins to live his life carelessly which begins to put a strain on all of his relationships. Iron Man 2 does what few superhero sequels does, which is add further development to its characters and deliver on the action that viewers demand. It doesn’t go over the top with tons of action and no character development.

The first film did so well because it was a more subdued superhero film. It perfectly executed the origin story and not going over the top or losing site of the development of the hero. The second film takes that development one step further by giving us a story about how Tony Stark deals with his power. In Iron Man, Tony is a highly intelligent inventor who doesn't care how is inventions are being used. He is kidnapped by terrorists and forced to design a weapon, and in the process he is mortally wounded. He manages to take his weapon and turn it into a weapon/life-supporting device that he uses to escape and vows to use is invention to protect the world. In the sequel, he says he has "successfully privatized world peace." Unfortunately, the technology he is using to keep him alive is killing him at the same time.

This is just an example of one of the internal dilemmas that all of the characters are dealing with in the movie. It’s in the middle of the movie where all of the character development comes into play where you can feel the movie drag on a bit. Unfortunately, this is needed to advance the story and probably could have been executed better to keep up the pace of the movie. Despite this drag, Jon Favreau does an excellent job giving most of his characters enough depth, to be interesting. In addition to Stark's life-threatening issue, he has to deal with some of his daddy issues. Pepper, Stark's girlfriend, has to deal with running Stark's enterprise and Stark's new reckless-turned lifestyle. Rhodes, Stark's best friend, has to deal with whether his loyalties should lie with Stark or with the USAF.

Even Stark’s rival is dealing with the fact that he just can’t compete on the same level as Stark. Sam Rockwell does well with his role as Justin Hammer. You can just sense the desperation that Rockwell injects into the Hammer character. The best scenes with Hammer were when he is interacting the main villain of the film.

Unfortunately, the only place that Favreau falls short in the character department is with the main villain, Ivan Vanko (aka Whiplash). He is so bent on seeking revenge for sins committed against his father my the Stark family, that he seems too one-dimensional. Of all the characters, I would have liked to see a little more depth to the main villain. Mickey Rourke is such an excellent actor that he was unarguably underused in the role. I don’t know much about Iron Man comic and how much of a threat Whiplash truly was, but I just feel that there could have been more done with the character.

The highlight of the sequel is still Robert Downey Jr’s delivery of Tony Stark. The Stark we love is just as arrogant and self-centered as ever. Very few actors can pull of the swagger and confidence injected into the character that makes him so charming and endearing, and RDJ is among those elite. He seems to be able to deliver enough charisma and humor into his role without detracting from the scope of the film. It never feels forced or out of place.

I would be lying if I said I was thrilled with the climactic battle. It could have been so awesome to watch Iron Man and War Machine battle a squadron of androids, but Favreau seemed to copout by utilizing Iron Man’s laser beam to end the battle within seconds. The prior fly-around the expo sequence was exhilarating and was exciting to watch, but the end result was just so disappointing. Even following battle with Whiplash left something to be desired. Whiplash arrived in a suit that appeared indestructible, but Iron Man and War Machine were able to end the battle in no time at all.

I guess part of the reason that the end battle was so anticlimactic was because of the poor soundtrack. Honestly, I can’t even remember how any of the tracks go. The only music I can even remember is the iconic ‘Iron Man’ tune by Black Sabbath that was used in the first one, and I can’t even remember if it was utilized in this film. Superhero movies are supposed to have iconic scores that captivate the audience and enhance the movie going experience. When you have a soundtrack that fails to support the movie, the movie is unable to live up to its true potential. A soundtrack can make or break a movie, and I just wish that the Iron Man movies had a great one because it would make them a million times better than they already are.

On a side note, I love how Marvel is tying all of their movies together for the Avengers movie that will be hitting silver screens across the world in only a couple of years. One of my most favorite things that a movie can do is make references to other movies that take place in the same universe. Marvel has been doing this by making reference to other superheroes in its recent films. Iron Man made a brief cameo in The Incredible Hulk a couple of years ago and Captain America’s shield made a brief appearance in Iron Man 2. The one commonality that is tying all of these films together, of course, is the presence of SHIELD, which is the organization that puts together the Avengers. If you see the film, make sure you stay until the end of the credits because there is a scene that introduces Marvel’s next superhero film.

Overall, there isn’t much wrong with the Iron Man 2 as the positives far outweigh the negatives. Despite the weak soundtrack and the slow middle, the movie is exciting enough to keep your attention and leave you wanting more. The film offers a little bit of everything for everyone and is definitely worth every penny. I would check it out if you haven’t already.

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Pirates of the Caribbean 4

As we get closer and closer to next summer, more news is leaking about the new Pirates movie. If any of you know me, you know that some of my favorite movies belong to this franchise. So there is no surprise that I've been following this movie like a hawk from back when it was a rumor until now. Expect this movie to hit the Box Office on May 20, 2011.

So far, not much has leaked other than that this new installment will be loosely based on Tim Powers book, "On Stranger Tides". Basically, the story will involve the Fountain of Youth as the main plot (which was hinted at at the end of At World's End) and Blackbeard as the villain, and not much else is known as far as the story goes.

Ian McShane has been cast as Blackbeard. Unfortunately, I'm not well versed in his work, so I don't know how brilliant of a casting this is, but I trust their choice. They cast Penelope Cruz as Sparrow's foil, rival, love interest, equal, etc. I am so excited for this casting because I love Penelope Cruz and she is one of the only actresses I can think of that can keep up with the antics of Jack Sparrow.

I am a fanboy of Pirates, tried and true. I saw the last film six times in theatres. Granted, I saw it for free because I worked at the theatre at the time. I don't know how many times I'll see this one now that I have to pay. All I know is, I'm super stoked for "On Stranger Tides". Read more!

Summer 2010=Blah?

my thoughts exactly, jonah and russel.

I was just thinking about some of the movies that will be coming out this summer. And to tell you the truth, I'm not really as excited for as many releases as I have in previous years. The two movies I am most looking forward to are Iron Man 2 and Toy Story 3. A few others that I'm a little bit interested in are Robin Hood, Prince of Persia, and Salt. As of right now, I'll see most of everything else out of obligation to see more movies this year than I ever have before, but I'm not really that crazy about them as if they were, say, Pirates 4 or the second installment of HP7 (THAT'S NEXT SUMMER... AHHHHH!)

What do you guys think about the movies coming out this summer... Anything you are looking forward to? (And if you say Eclipse... I have some words for you -_- lol) Read more!