Captain Jack Is Back

     Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides takes place on just that -- stranger tides.  In this fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns, as hilarious as ever, to compete against a Spanish armada and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) as the head of the British navy in a race to the fountain of youth.  Along the way, he escapes from the king's palace where he's held prisoner, is captured by former love Angelica (Penélope Cruz) and her evil pirate father Blackbeard (Ian McShane), and encounters seductive, carnivorous mermaids.  The plot will leave you on the edge of your seat with each new obstacle.
     But the fourth movie in the Pirates series has little in common with the first three.  Taken over from director Gore Verbinski by Rob Marshall, Pirates 4 has a completely different feel to it than the first three; it's darker, less light-hearted.  Combat scenes were frenzied and short, instead of carefully plotted out.  They incorporated almost no classic Pirates music.
     While the previous films had several main characters, including William and Elizabeth Turner (Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley), On Stranger Tides  highlights Jack as the only main character, without even mentioning Will or Elizabeth.  It puts Captain Sparrow right in the middle of conflict, rather than simply along for the ride. The result is a feeling of incompleteness and unbalance.
     In the end, On Stranger Tides leaves you wondering if more sequals will follow.  If so, will they tell us about Elizabeth, Will, and the Black Pearl?  And just how many more Pirates movies will be produced?
     A worthwhile movie, just not the classic Pirates of the Caribbean we all know and love.