Say what you will about Hans Zimmer's testosterone infused music, I enjoyed "Curse of the Black Pearl" immensely. Once "Dead Man's Chest" was released we saw what the first score may have been like had they had the luxury of more time to compose and record with an orchestra. "At World's End" made improvements again with music that was just downright superior in every way to the previous scores.

Now comes "On Stranger Tides", and it's by far the worst of the series (musically). It's almost as if he watched the film and noted "action sequence/action sequence/quiet dialogue/action sequence" and put no more thought into matching the music appropriately to its scene. Rob Marshal's style of directing was notably different from Gore Verbinski's, and thus required a different way of scoring. Throughout most of the movie, the music distracted from the scene rather than supported the mood/action.

It's a shame that the music was so horrible in a sequel that, in every other way, exceeded my expectations. I only hope if they make another movie, Rob Marshal stays at the helm while Hans Zimmer walks the plank.