It wasn’t the most anticipated of last night’s trailers premiering during Super Bowl XLV, but our new look at Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides tried to make its case for the May blockbuster. The minute-long TV spot — which doubled the length of most of last night’s competing trailers — is largely comprised of footage seen in previous looks at Tides, but there’s a bit more development of the story and a fair amount of swordplay. It’s not the most compelling collection of clips for those who have been keeping up with he movie, but the May 20 release is fast-approaching now and Disney is probably trying to avoid showing too much.
The first Pirates movie was an unexpected success — who knew a theme park ride could be turned into such an action-packed swashbuckling adventure? — but the two that followed failed to impress critics and fans alike. Chicago and Nine director Rob Marshall takes over for previous series helmer Gore Verbinski in Stranger Tides, and he’s brought along two new faces which make this fourth movie very appealing: Ian McShane (Deadwood‘s Al Swearengen!) as the fearsome pirate Blackbeard and Penelope Cruz as his daughter Angelica. They’ll be joined of course by Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush’s Hector Barbossa while previous series regulars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are left on the sidelines.
The Super Bowl TV spot shows only slightly more of McShane and Cruz than we’ve previously seen, and credit goes to Disney for keeping the mystery surrounding the two characters alive. With fans still smarting after the disappointment that was At World’s End, the third movie, McShane and Cruz — not to mention the Blackbeard character himself — ought to help bring crowds who are curious to see what the two seasoned actors bring to the experience. Marshall is a wild card as well, though as long as no song and dance numbers suddenly break out we should be all good. Check out the new trailer right here.
