Lots of people including me thought the last 'Pirates' film, 'World's End' was a huge disappointment. For me, the movie was too hard to follow and was way too dark - nearly half the movie was filled with night scenes - that were nearly impossible to see what was going on. The fourth installment in the franchise corrects those mistakes. Yes, there are dark scenes, but you are still able to see what is going on, and yes, there were parts of the film that were harder to figure out what was going on, but most of the duration of the film is fairly easy to follow.
The story is about Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp, of course) and newcomer, Angelica (Penelope Cruz) who together search for the treasured fountain of youth. But as you can imagine, it's not all fun and games for the two. New villains appear in the film including Blackbeard (Ian Mcshane) and his crew (not all people on Blackbeard's ship are bad people, some are his slaves). With other familiar characters in the film including Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) - who will get to the fountain of youth first? And who will become "invincible" once the battle is all done? Well, you'll have to go see it to find out.
This film came with some controversy with two of it's main beloved characters played by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley both leaving the franchise to pursue other filming opportunities while trying to make a comeback after a rough third film. I will have to say, 'On Stranger's Tides' made up for 'At World's End' with as being already said, the two main faults in the last film were fixed, so that alone makes big improvements. As for the cast in POTCOST, Johnny Depp does it again as Jack Sparrow (who is shown in nearly every scene in the film it seems) and proves yet again that he is the perfect actor for the role. (Need a male actor that is experienced in putting make-up on? Call Johnny Depp.) Penelope Cruz is a welcome addition as Angelica, while Ian Mcshane plays Blackbeard pretty well. My only complaint with Blackbeard's character is that he was either very evil at times (hence when he *spoiler alert* tortures people) or he in some other scenes seemed to feel less like a villain. Even in a couple scenes, I felt Blackbeard almost seemed like a good guy. But that was probably just me. Overall, Mcshane played the villainous pirate pretty well. Geoffrey Rush is great again as Hector Barbossa - I actually thought he was one of the best actors in this film, to be honest. While the somewhat-daredevil Philip Swift (played by Sam Claflin) was also a very solid character as he rescues a mermaid he deemed Syrena (Astrid Berges-Frisbey - who is also very good in the film). The casting was very well picked as I didn't find too many flaws in the actors and actresses in the film at all.
With it being a movie about pirates, there are a couple frightening scenes for younger ones (especially one scene with mermaids - but I won't go too far into that since some of you may not have seen this film yet) and there are some pretty good action scenes as well - nothing too "outrageous", just enough to make you feel like you are watching a film about pirates - which is the main concept of the film, anyway. So action is also very good with plenty of sword fights, battles, and intense moments filling out the 2 hour movie quite well.
Overall, the movie isn't spectacular or anything, but it certainly is a big step forward compared to the previous installment in the franchise. With good casting, plenty of action, and a easier-to-follow story gives me the urge to give this film a 9\10 stars.
I recommend seeing it!