American swashbuckling films directed by Gor Verbinsky, Rob Marshall, Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Kevin McNally.
Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is a pirate who gets involved in many adventures, His trusted first mate is Gibbs, his competitor is Barbossa and they become entangled with a romantic couple of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. There is always some magical item being searched for, disputes over ships and supernatural enemies to contend with.
In typical Disney and Hollywood fashion, the first film was immensely successful. It was followed up with others which became stale and predictable very quickly. The plots were always interesting and Johnny Depp's performances always met my approval. I liked that there were many places, people and special effects. However, the moving set pieces got really old. I'm talking after Jack/Johnny and Will/Orlando first meet, seesaw floors should not have been repeated. It got to the point of Jack/Johnny being in a spinning guillotine. Some CG and compositing is nice, but having main characters based upon it is too much for a live action film (Davy Jones). Like Indiana Jones, I got a little tired of last minute escapes. I hope you like the theme music from the first film because all the others have it as well. If I were to pick a favorite scene, it would bo Jack/Johnny alone on The Pearl in Davy Jones' Locker. Regardless of how predictable and repetitive, folks say that the plots are too convoluted and I have found that watching these at least 2x all the way through makes them clearer. It also makes what was stale the first time even staler. I rate them adequate because they are relatively entertaining, the acting is good and the effects work.
An American swashbuckling film directed by Rowland V. Lee.
When the heir to an empire is arranged to be wed to a corrupt military general, a man who has fallen in love with her after a chance meeting joins a rebel group and plays the hero in order to save her and her kingdom.
The characters were identifiable and I could follow the plot decently through the whole film. It was shot well, as was the case in many older films like this, but not astoundingly so. The style was obviously from the time in which it was made, but not quite as dated as other films of that era. The audio and video were just good enough quality to suffer through. The pacing was a off, as it felt exceedingly long and drawn out (maybe partially due to style and quality). Overall, it was just a tad on the dry and boring side. I'm rating it o.k. because there weren't serious problems.
An Australian American swashbuckling action adventure directed by Byron Haskin, starring Robert Newton.
A pirate captain pretends to aid a governor in the capture of another pirate while all the time plotting to return to an island to get treasure. The other pirate has a boy that John knows as a cabin boy and John takes the boy with him because he has an item that indicates the location of said treasure. The tavern wench is betrothed to John, but he leaves before the wedding and together with the boy, they go in search of the treasure.
The main character, Long John Silver makes the film here. With all of his "AARRR" and "BELAY"s, he defines pirate talk. Everything else about the film takes a back seat to this. With style dictated by pirate talk, everything else becomes unimportant. I'm rating it adequate because his pirate talk was repetitive, but very in character. If ye don't agree, I'll make ye walk the plank!
An American action swashbuckling film directed by Thomas Carr, starring Richard Greene.
An infamous swashbuckler named Captain Scarlett saves a princess from highwaymen and from being married against her will. After escaping from jail with the exact highwayman from whom he saved the princess, the two men save the princess yet again.
I believe that this may be an early influence on such films as Fanfan La Tulipe (2003) and The Princess Bride (1987). There's also a Conan The Destroyer (1984) scene in which the group gathers around a campfire while the leading man teaches the leading woman swordplay. The video was grainy and gritty, but not nasty and the audio was equivalent. The plot and characters were good; I actually enjoyed watching and it kept my attention. The score for the soundtrack added style with some epic classical music similar to that of The Princess Bride. After saying so many nice things about this film, I would have to be a real jerk to rate it anything less than good.
