Death of the Movie Star

A few years ago I read an article in People or Entertainment Weekly or some such magazine proclaiming that George Clooney was the last real movie star. "Preposterous!" you might proclaim if you're melodramatic or a time-traveler from before the 1940's, but they have a point. Clooney has even stopped being a movie star at this point. Some time in the last five years movie stars have died off and celebrities have taken their place. While the golden age of film had Ginger Rodgers, Fred Astaire, and Humphrey Bogart, we've got Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, and Dwayne Johnson. I'm not saying that our current celebrities don't make entertaining films, because they do. But a movie star was a force on screen and off-screen. They had to be malleable for any role, but they also had to be full of movie star swagger, confidence, and sometimes lovable-yet-despicable qualities like alcoholism that they could get away with because they were a freaking MOVIE STAR!

"It's a pirate's life for me, savvy?" - Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides

Before I get into the meat of the movie I should state outright that I love Johnny Depp and any evaluation of his performance will be skewed by my opinion of him. That said, his performance is definitely deserve of praise. He has taken a much-loved franchise character and given him new life by adding depth to the character. Depp made a conscious effort to do this, as evidenced by his involvement in the film beginning at the pre-production stages. It's wonderful to see an actor who takes enough pride in their work to make sure that their franchise did not continue in the unfortunate downhill spiral of the second and third.