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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Josh Spiegel: I like the first three Pirates movies, as I've said previously on this site. I'm going to see this one (casting Al Swearengen as the bad guy was a smart move), and while this trailer isn't bad - certainly, it seems a little more focused than the previous two films - it's also not incredibly badass or cool or hilarious. I'm also still wary of Rob Marshall as an action movie director, but I'm going to plunk down ten bucks on this one. I can't resist Captain Jack as an action hero.

Brett Beach: I guess the greatest compliment I can pay this trailer (though I don't mean it as one) is that many of the scenes look like exact replicas of similar moments from the first three films. "We may be starting over with a new director and new plotlines but we've got Depp and Rush and some new people and everything is gonna be a-ok." There is no money shot, unless the mere return of Jack Sparrow counts as one. I wonder if this may not pull a Shrek Goes Forth in terms of underwhelming performance.

Shalimar Sahota: Brett nailed it in that many scenes look similar to the first three films. The trailer seems to do everything right - a bit of sword-fighting, a Jack Sparrow quip, an explosion and Hans Zimmer's musical score. Yet there's little that really makes this stand out. So I guess if it ain't broke, then no one really cares about the lack of Bloom or Knightley. As much as I liked The Curse of the Black Pearl, I found the sequels to be enjoyably unnecessary. I can see this opening huge, and even if it is more of the same, audiences will be happy enough to make it the next billion-dollar earner.

David Mumpower: Like Josh, I love the Pirates franchise and consider the casting of Ian MacShane to be a masterstroke perfectly in keeping with Bill Nighy's presence in the previous two films. In addition, the news that Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom would not be returning was a huge positive for me as those two characters have no story to tell in the short term. A sequel that once again focused on them would be forced and awkward. One that places Jack Sparrow and frenemy Barbossa in a new adventure is much more engaging.

This trailer does a nice job in that first minute of reminding us why we love the character of Jack Sparrow. Then, it introduces mermaids and loses me for a while. That next sequence forcibly reminds me of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's underwater challenge, which is not a movie I think I should be correlating to Pirates of the Caribbean. Still, there are a lot of positives in the trailer. The usage of Keith Richards, something controversial from At World's End, is exceptional here. "Was I the first?" is the perfect salacious note to sell the love/lust story. And Ian McShane was born to say, "I'm a bad man." Independent of subject matter, I would pay money to see any film that featured him saying that in the trailer. That this film is one of the biggest of the year is a foregone conclusion and this trailer does exactly what it needs to do to remind people why.

To a larger point, if I told you that there were a movie this year that starred Johnny Depp, Ian McShane, Penelope Cruz and Geoffrey Rush, is there anyone here who wouldn't want to watch it? That's two Oscar winners and two Golden Globes winners. Say what you will about the franchise, they have always prioritized acting talent with their casting decisions.

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