Slower ‘Tides’

The blockbuster fantasy-epic trilogy “Pirates of the Caribbean” made troves of money in the previous decade. A fourth part, “On Stranger Tides,” now surfaces and replicates to an extent its action-comedy formula, but it also reminds us that watching those first “Pirates” movies wasn’t always a smooth-sailing experience.

Like its predecessors, the simple adventure is unduly complicated. “On Stranger Tides” still focuses on the often-amoral and fey buccaneer Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), prone to missteps but still quite the resourceful adventurer. The previous parts were padded between plot points, and this new story also treads almost aimlessly between important scenes, but at a much slower pace.

Jack’s back, still the way you may remember him but now figuring in new exploits minus pirate pals played by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. He’s joined by the feisty Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a mystery woman from his muddled past, and later finds himself on a quest to find the long-hidden Fountain of Youth with the menacing Blackbeard (Ian McShane).

Bloom and Knightley were integral to the previous equation and their better moments are much missed. Oddly, however, background characters like the captive mermaid and the preacher (Astrid Berges-Frisbey and Sam Claflin) eventually stand out, pleasantly distracting and functioning as the requisite potential lovers. Jack still amuses but gets tiresome after a while. There’s less swashbuckling fun, and the film is characteristically and unnecessarily long, sinking and swimming at expected intervals.